Symi in Late November

The wild cyclamens are up in my garden and all the shady places in the Pedi valley.

The Vigla was wrapped in mist this morning.

A damp and misty morning in the Pedi valley.

The Christmas lights are up in Lieni.

The new shops at Kampos are taking shape.  Although everything on Symi has to be built in the neo-classical style, all buildings have to meet earthquake specifications, hence the heavy reinforcing rod frame work.  When ruins are rebuilt they have to have concrete ring beams and lintels.  These strict building regulations apply throughout Greece which is why even though we have many tremors every year, damage is rare.

Not much happening in Harani or Yialos.

Although there still hasn't been any proper rain, the heavy dew every night is nourishing the wild seeds between the paving stones of the Kali Strata, turning the cracks and crevices into tiny gardens.

We don't get autumn leaves on Symi but the Virginia Creepers more than make up for it.

Christmas stars and ornamental trees in Yialos

Symi has definitely drifted into winter mode in the fortnight I have been away.  The plastic shopfronts have been rolled down, the tourist items packed away and the smaller Christmas decorations have been put up.

Temperatures are still quite mild for the time of year and there has not been a proper start to the rainy season so few people have done their autumn ploughing and planting.  According the forecast the weather should break on Sunday night with rain and storms forecast for all of next week, followed by a drop in temperatures as the wind then changes to the north.  At the moment temperatures are around 16 degrees at midday whereas next week they will be closer to 12, dropping to single figures at night.

Have a warm weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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Autumn Crocuses

Autumn crocuses in a field in the Pedi valley.



Preparing for celebrations at the little chapel on my corner on Tuesday. It drizzled intermittently with squalls all day but the main rain held off until evening.



The name means The One Who Comes Swiftly. 



A grape vine with ambition on the Kali Strata. 



Rain clouds over Pedi at 7 a.m. on Wednesday morning.



The view from my office window just after 9 on Wednesday morning, as the rain began. The heavens opened a few minutes later and we received 22 millimetres of rain, most of it within the space of twenty minutes or so.  The Kataraktis flowed, as did every gully, street and staircase and the harbour was quickly a sea of mud.  We can safely say that the Rainy Season Has Begun.



On a clear day you can see forever - almost. 



Patterns in the sand.  Much of the run off from the mountain road to Panormitis comes swooshing down into Lieni, hits a rather badly designed culvert and floods into the dirt road at the bottom bend, from whence it spills over into the small farms and allotments below.  The bits of old lathe wall have been lying here for a while, probably waiting to be recycled into a chicken coop, but the flow of water made some interesting patterns in the sand that washed down.



The Friday morning Blue Star Diagoras, hauling up her anchor in a stiff breeze.  She is usually able to hold her place in Yialos with bow thrusters and two stern ropes but this morning the wind was so strong she had to lay an anchor as well which delayed her departure. The 7.30 a.m. boat actually left here shortly before 9 a.m. so the same scenario had probably played out at every stop along the way from Piraeus.

We are all shivering in the sudden cold and smelling vaguely of mothballs as winter clothes that haven't been worn since March are being dug out of storage.  Temperatures have plummeted as first everything was soaked in two days of rainy weather on Tuesday and Wednesday and then the wind swung to the north, bringing with it unseasonably low temperatures.  It was about 12 degrees centrigrade last night which is chilly indeed when a week ago it was still warm enough to eat outside at night.  It is not expected to get much about 20 degrees today.  The weather is expected to improve from Sunday when the wind drops and should settle into the more seasonable mid twenties.

Have a good weekend.

Regards,
Adriana

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