More Festive Cheer, Symi Style.

The official Symi town nativity scene, set up on the stage in the town square.  It is illuminated at night.  I apologise for the rather unpicturesque municipal car park in the background but it cannot be helped.

The butcher was putting an illuminated plastic festive elf in his window as I walked past this morning.

Merry Christmas on the Kali Strata.

Meanwhile the work continues at Pachos, next door to the Symi Visitor Accommodation office. For those of you who don't know, my desk is just behind the green doors on that balcony to the right, above the Sunflower laundry.  That small white blob on the balcony railing is our famous webcam which broadcasts a live view of Symi harbour, updated every 30 seconds 7 days a week, except during power cuts.  Our entrance is actually in the lane to the left of the photograph, on the other side of Pachos.

And it's off again!  A third attempt at sorting out the leaks in the massive roof of the new undercover sports facility.  The architectural style had to be in keeping with Symi's existing aesthetic but building a typical Symi neo-classical roof on such a huge scale is proving problematic.

This time they seem to be replacing the original battens with much thicker ones so that the roof will be more rigid.  They are going to have to speed things up as heavy rain is expected tonight (see below).  I wonder if the ancient Greeks had the same problems when they built the Parthenon...

The lambing season has begun and these chaps really aren't too fussed about whether the gym roof leaks or not - they're enjoying some fresh horta, the soft wild greens that sprout everywhere at this time of the year.

A big storm is heading our way and even the BBC mentioned rain and strong winds in the Greek islands and along the Turkish coast in their weather forecast this morning.  The heaviest rain is expected to reach us this evening with up to 50 millimetres anticipated on Rhodes and environs.  For those of you who don't think in metric, that is about 2 inches which is a not inconsiderable amount of water.  The floods we had a few weeks ago were more than 60 millimetres of rain - that was as far as my rain water gauge could go before it overflowed so I don't have an exact measurement.  As the wind is from the south temperatures are quite mild and it is very humid.  It looks as though it is going to remain wet and unsettled for the rest of the week, with midday highs around 18 degrees and lows of about 12 degrees.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana