Treats on the Calendar

Oh where, oh where has the Symi sun gone? Readers who regularly log onto the webcam must be asking themselves the same question as those of us who live on the island in the winter. The sunny intervals have been like English summers lately – blink and you’ve missed it. At least it does look as though it is going to be clear, if cold, for the Carnival festivities on Sunday and the traditional picnics and kite flying on Clean Monday. The shops are already packing out the traditional Clean Monday picnic foods – pickled vegetables, taramasalata, halvah, shell fish and octopus. On Monday the bakers also bake a special sesame-seeded flat bread, lagana, which is only made on this day of the year. One of the nice things about living in Greece is that seasonal specialities still are just that – things to look forward to in celebration of special occasions, rather than everyday items which quickly lose their novelty. With hot cross buns, mince pies and chocolate Easter eggs available in the English-speaking world virtually all year round, who has even the faintest glimmer of anticipation for these treats on the calendar?

The hawkers have arrived on Symi in time for the holiday long weekend and trucks are trundling around the island selling everything from sensible pyjamas and village cheeses to live poultry and huge pale green cabbages. Webcam visitors may also have noticed that these trucks often park outside Pachos, enabling traders to sell their wares from the cosy environs of the cafeneion while the rain streams past the windows. .

One of the secrets of survival in a small and isolated community is an ability to create ones own entertainment and this is particularly important in the winter. Those with no interests quickly abandon island life and head for the big cities as boredom sets in. Writers, painters, photographers and poets have no such worries. What can seem like a prison to some is an inspiration to others. This poster, designed by Symi Art, is for the up-coming series of one night exhibitions by artist in residence, Ian Haycox. For more details log onto haycoxart.com.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

Click on image for larger version

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Art Workshop on Symi

Those of you who have stayed at Symi Visitor Accommodation's Villa Irene in Chorio, may be interested to see what happens when the owner, artist Ian Haycox, is in residence.  We have put up some photographs, kindly provided by Symi Art, on the Out and About page. 

Here are pictures, also by Symi Art, of some of the end products.  Cheerful enough to brighten the dullest day...

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Weather Statistics for January 2009

The following charts are recorded from the weather station at my farm at the top of the Pedi valley on the island of Symi and cover the period from 1-31 January 2009.  A total of 288 millimetres of rain fell that month.

Outdoor temperatures - the green line shows the dew point, which dropped to freezing twice during the month.  January was abnormally warm this year with midday temperatures in the high teens, mainly due to the same southerly winds which are also responsible for the high rainfall.

The green line shows the gusts, the red the average wind speeds.  As you can see, we experienced winds up to 45 km/ph several times during the month. 

If anyone would like more information on these statistics, please email me.

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Conversation in the Streets and Cafeneions

Today started with a new variation on the Symi all-embracing rain theme – sleet in Chorio, light snow (yes, snow) on the top of the Vigla and the regular wet stuff down in the harbour. It was a bit weird driving down to work early this morning, watching the blobs of dissolving ice slithering down the windscreen. The sun is out now but the temperature is still around 7 degrees with a windchill of 3 degrees centigrade and the forecast for the whole of Greece for the next few days remains chilly and unsettled. There is a surreal feeling about this time of the year – the calendar shows that the holiday season starts in about 6 weeks, but nature has decided that this is mid-winter and all plans for preseason preparations and titivations are put back on hold.

Meanwhile down in Pedi work on the new marina has ground to a standstill again, apparently due to cash flow problems from the various Greek government bodies responsible for funding the project. As the quayside has been ground into a morass, the construction site covers a wide area and the floating crane is an unlovely object, even those locals who initially thought the marina was a ‘good idea’ and would have the people of Pedi ‘eating with golden spoons’ are starting to grumble about the interminable delays and mess. The undercover sports stadium in Chorio, on the other hand, is looking quite promising and even though the project is taking longer than anticipated it is not proving to be as disruptive as many feared. The other hot topic of conversation in the streets and cafeneions of Symi is the fact that Greece has once again made the international press for all the wrong reasons. The BBC World News even paused in its Oscar coverage to report this one, probably because this sounds so much like something Hollywood would dream up. Here is ERT’s report on yesterday’s astonishing gaol break from Athens’ high security prison.

It is not all bad news, however. Greek heart-throb Sakis Rouvas is heading for Moscow with Greece’s Eurovision hopes pinned to his sleeve.  It is his second attempt – last time he lost with good grace to an energetic Ukrainian . In a country where virtually everyone has an active interest in music, whether it be singing or playing an instrument, and even small communities like Symi have a thriving musical life, Eurovision is taken very seriously and the cynicism with which it is regarded in the United Kingdom is rare.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana

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Fragmentary Rainbows

It is a day of growling thunder and sharp squalls driven by a cold north-westerly wind. Heavy showers of icy rain and hail pound Symi, punctuated by brief intervals of blinding sunshine and fragmentary rainbows, the clouds rolling along too fast for the arcs to form completely before they are overtaken by the next storm. The weather is set to turn colder over the next few days with strong northerly winds bringing snow and sleet to most of Greece. Here on Symi the wind chill is expected to drop below freezing for the next 3 nights – definitely log fires and hot water bottles rather than cocktails on the terrace.

Down in Symi harbour the dim shapes of huddled coffee-drinkers are just visible through the rain-streaked plastic drop-cloths of the café bars as locals wait for a gap between showers to dash to the next destination. Up in Chorio the shopkeepers have laid elaborate arrangements of duckboards, cardboard and old carpets in the hopes of minimizing the amount of mud tracked into their shops by sodden customers and everyone is selling umbrellas. The vegetable hawkers are sheltering their wares under sheets of plastic, dimly glowing oranges and cabbages pressed against the dripping covers like strange fish in an aquarium.

The annual municipal Smokey Thursday BBQ was cancelled yesterday due to the weather and so far carnival activities on Symi have been muted. This is disappointing for the island’s children who always look forward to this time of year to show off their fancy costumes. At the moment they are rebelliously wrapped up in raincoats, gumboots and brollies instead of strutting their stuff as cowboys and princesses.

Have a warm weekend.

Regards,

Adriana 

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Almond Blossom Time on Symi

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Nihat Akkaraca

We are sorry to report the recent death of Nihat Akkaraca, well-known Datça historian and occasional contributor to the Symi Visitor newspaper over the years. A founder of the Datça Local History Group, Nihat documented oral tradition and recorded many stories connected with the region, and with life in Old Datça in the days when the village still had a Greek community. Nihat was an enthusiastic believer in strengthening ties between the communities of Datça and Symi and was one of the driving forces behind the founding of the World Peace Day Swim between the two. As one of his friends, Alim Erginoglu, says, Nihat believed that Greeks and Turks were two halves of the same apple.

He will be missed by many, both Greek and Turk alike, as well as the many friends he made from all over the world over the years. Our sympathies to his family, friends and colleagues at the Datça Local History Group.

Please see the tribute written by his long-time friend, Hugo Tyler, which is below, as well as a message of condolence from Lemonia and Lefteris of Syllogos Restaurant. Anyone who would like to add their own messages, please email me at symi-vis@otenet.gr.

Adriana

Nihat Akkaraca

Nihat Akkaraca, left, with Hugo Tyler

I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of my friend Nihat Akkaraca, who was such a thoroughly decent and charming man. We first met on September 1st 2003 on the occasion of Symi and Datça’s first joint celebration of World Peace Day, and thereafter no visit to Datça was complete without some time spent in his company. And excellent company it proved to be as Nihat was a mine of information about Datça’s history and traditions.

Always happy to put himself out for friends, Nihat would often take me and others on excursions in his car, to Eski (Old) Datça, to his country house at Mesudiye, to ancient Knidos or other local places of interest. On one occasion I found myself squeezed into Nihat’s car with three Greek men, all of whose families had lived in Eski Datça in the days when it was still a mixed Greek/Turkish community. “Those were our fields” sighed one. “Those were our olive groves” cried the second. “That was my grandfather’s house” wailed the third.

On another occasion we ‘kidnapped’ an English lady from a pavement restaurant in Datça, much to the surprise of her two companions; roared up the main street and disappeared into the countryside, where we led her down a woody path and she finally got her zakkum. Well, she had said that she wanted to buy an oleander bush, so Nihat took us to a nursery garden.

Born in Eski Datça in 1931, Nihat moved to Sinop on Turkey’s Black Sea Coast in search of work; taught himself English and secured a job at a USAF base. He then taught himself electronics and was given a better job by the USAF. Subsequently he opened his own shop, which he ran until he retired to his home area, where he became a stalwart of various local societies and community projects.

Clearly he was a believer in education with his elder daughter becoming a lawyer and his younger daughter a lecturer in international relations at an Istanbul University. While on another front one of his projects was the education and training of Kurdish migrants to the Datça area.

One of his many interests was local folklore and he regularly contributed articles to a local paper before going on to write a widely acclaimed book. With his first book having gone to a reprint, Nihat was working on a second book at the time of his death.

I will greatly miss Nihat, who added an extra dimension to my appreciation of Datça, and I extend my deepest sympathy to his wife and two daughters.

Hugo Tyler

Adio

Farewell, Nihat, a good friend for 10 years. We shall miss you. Our sympathies to his wife and children.

Lefteris and Lemonia, Syllogos.

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Some of Summer's Pleasures

Plump white and grey rain clouds are hanging low over Greece today and it has been raining intermittently on Symi since the early hours of the morning. Occasional patches of blinding blue break through the general gloom and the harbour sparkles briefly before the next clouds roll in. The long range forecast is rain, rain and more rain, with the possibility of the odd thunderstorm by way of a diversion. Yesterday we had a few dry hours accompanied by a brisk breeze and every villa in Symi erupted with laundry. No balcony or railing was left unfestooned as sheets and jeans fluttered in the wind. Symi’s compact neo-classical houses with their small kitchens rarely have luxuries like tumble driers – after all, in the summer the laundry is crisp on the line in an hour – so drying winter washing is a perennial problem, as regular readers of this diary over the years will have noticed.

The Aegli did not make her scheduled run today and is currently tied up outside Elpida’s. The Dodecanese Seaways catamaran came in on time, however. The vagaries of the winter ferry service are also a frequent theme on these pages over the years – some things never change!

Have a good weekend. I am going to spend mine in the greenhouse, potting on the globe artichokes and planting trays of cherry tomatoes and peppers – it may be mid-winter but some of summer’s pleasures are wrapped up in cheerful seed packets - just add soil, water and sunshine!

Regards,

Adriana

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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

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