A Delightful Time of Year

It is a glorious spring day and the flags for tomorrow’s Independence Day parade are fluttering gaily in the breeze. Webcam devotees will be able to watch part of the parade live on the webcam as the dignitaries walk along the front when they leave St John’s church and go along to the war memorial.  It is a bank holiday long weekend in Greece which is why I am posting this blog a day early. Two fields of potatoes are still waiting to be dug up so I know how I will be spending the holiday.

The latest update on the boat saga is that yesterday the Tilos Star, a catamaran belonging to the nearby island of Tilos, called in en route from Rhodes to Tilos with its football team, and was kept here overnight due to a gale warning for a Force 8 northerly in the stretch between Symi and Tilos and is still here. Yialos is full of bored teenage footballers. Mind you, there is slightly more life on Symi, with 3000 winter inhabitants, than Tilos which only has about 300, but even so they would like to go home now please.

The Dodecanese Seaways catamaran also came through yesterday, heading from Kos to Rhodes, but they weren’t forced to overnight on Symi as they were heading away from the weather. The Proteus came in from Rhodes, empty, to bunker up with fuel and then set off for Rhodes early this morning. She was supposed to be leaving Rhodes at 16.00 this afternoon but this has now been deferred to later this evening. According to Symi’s truckers, she will be bringing goods onto the island. For those who are unfamiliar with the system, the usual practice is for a driver to put a truck on the ferry in Rhodes and then for another trucker to drive it off in Symi. It is then unloaded at leisure and sent back. This saves truckers getting stuck in odd places and keeps costs down for the companies because by using local drivers they don’t have to worry about accommodation and subsistence.

We are all waiting to find out when, if at all, any kind of formal schedule for ANES is going to appear. At the time of writing, there is still no announcement on ANES’ website.

Today’s photographs were taken by Ged Horton. As you can see, it is a delightful time of the year for walkers.

Have a good week.

Regards,

Adriana