Well Served in Many Ways

It is a clear chilly day on Symi but that is only relative. Looking at the reports on the BBC World Service Symi is still one of the warmest places in Europe at the moment with midday temperatures touching 15 degrees centigrade, dropping to about 7 degrees centigrade at night. Another rainy front is moving into Greece from the west and the Hellenic Meteorological Service is forecasting a wet weekend for the whole of Greece with snow in the north and on high ground and rain everywhere else. It looks as though the so-called halcyon days may be running a bit late this year.

Here on Symi the winter holidays are officially over and the Christmas decorations are being packed away. This does not mean, however, that the Easter bunny is being dusted off – Carnival is the next major event on the Greek calendar and Clean Monday, the holiday that marks the end of Carnival and the beginning of Lent, falls on 2 March this year. Although fancy dress costumes haven’t hit the shops yet, Kostas Kontas’ stationery shop in Chorio has a wonderful collection of materials for making masks and costumes including all kinds of shiny stars, gaudy spangles, moulds for masks and brightly coloured sheets of felt – it is difficult to avoid getting side-tracked when shopping for more mundane items such as printer ink and envelopes. Over the years the range of specialist items available in the shops on Symi has steadily improved and, for a community of 3000 people, we are well served in many ways.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana