Warmer Than Usual

A Sunny Interval in Pedi on 12 February 2009

It is amazing how much can change in the garden in a month away – the almond trees are in full confetti, the dry stone walls are a mass of gently nodding cyclamen blossoms and the yellow corona daisies are taller than the sheep. Winter is the rainy season in the Mediterranean and this winter has certainly seen plenty of it, with more to come, judging by the long range forecast. The recent barometric low combined with a full moon also had the interesting effect of raising the sea level by several centimetres, flooding sections of the waterfront in Yialos and Pedi. A gentle reminder of what the effects of global warming would be on Symi. I will be putting up the complete weather statistics for January 2009 in the next day or so.

Preparations for the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup are well under way down in South Africa and the massive number of infrastructural projects going on around the country is, for now, helping to keep the impact of the global credit crunch at bay. A word of advice to any football fans planning to visit South Africa next year (and any other visitors too, of course) – Oliver Tambo Airport in Johannesburg, the main international airport in the country apart from Cape Town, is absolutely ruthless about charging for excess baggage. Not just Olympic Airways but all the carriers are charging for every extra kilo, so don’t go too wild in those huge shopping malls, even if everything is amazingly cheap thanks to the weak rand and strong euro.

This little female meerkat has taken up residence in my cousin's farmhouse in the Orange Free State.

Meanwhile, back on Symi, work is proceeding slowly on the marina and the undercover sports stadium. The wet weather has turned all the building sites into swamps and the high clay content in much of Symi’s soil makes the mud particularly sticky. On the plus side, the temperatures all over Greece are warmer than usual for the time of year with midday temperatures on Symi hovering as high as 20 degrees centigrade and night time minimums currently no lower than 10 degrees centigrade. If you don’t mind three-dimensional damp, it is a marvelous time for botanists and photographers as many of the spring flowers are already lighting up the terraces and the island is lush and green.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana