Thinking about Sunblock and Sunhats

The view from my balcony is changing again.  The water taxis are back in their berths and should soon be operational.  Someone is busy sanding the ticket booth..

The Greek flag, fluttering high above the harbour, Yialos.

Lantana on the Kali Strata.

Pomegranate flowers.

No one can remember what this bit of cabling was for but it is handy for a May Day posy.

The roses are splendid this year.

My neighbour's little boat, almost ready for launching.

It is a bright sunny day on Symi.  A pleasant breeze is drifting through the balcony doors, bringing with it the aroma of vanilla from the nearby bakery.  The Panagia Skiadeni is just docking by the clock tower, the Symi excursion boat is already berthed by the bus stop and the harbour is buzzing.  It is a lot noisier in the evenings now too.  At midnight last night even in our relatively remote location in the Pedi valley we could hear the excited squeals of children playing and the hum of conversation on the evening air.  The Greeks do a lot of living and they tend to do much of it out of doors.

The long range forecast seems to be sunshine all the way now.  We may have a downpour at the end of May - we often do - but generally speaking we can assume that the dry season is now upon us and that's it for rain really until October.  Temperatures are rising and it is really only those who ride on motorbikes who are still wrapped up in winter woollies. The rest of us are shedding layers rapidly and thinking about sunblock and sunhats.

There is a meeting of New Horizons at the Olive Tree this evening at 7 at which Lefteris Papakalodoukas, the current Mayor, will present his manifesto to the expat electorate.  As town hall elections on Symi tend to run along family lines, the foreign vote is quite important and can swing the results one way or the other, even though there are only about a hundred of us here to vote.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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Spring will Soon be Over

It has been trying to rain properly for days but all we get are passing mud sprinkles and the island is very dry.

Despite the clouds the view from my office window is becoming more summery, with the Panagia Skiadeni and the Symi facing off across the harbour and an increasing number of yachts.

The excursion boat Poseidon, freshly painted and ready to start the season.  She is going out on her shake down cruise on 1 May, weather permitting. 

Yachts and yes, that is a Turkish gulet over there by the clock tower.

The hanging baskets all still look bright and perky.

As do the window boxes.

Composition in grey and terracotta.

Cheery pelargoniums at the back of the town square in Yialos.

April is drawing to a close and spring will soon be over.  Spring is very short on Symi as the days warm up rapidly in May and the rainy season is drawing to a close.  If we don't have some proper rain in the next few days we are unlikely to have any at all again until October.  These are the last cool days.

The first of May is traditionally a bank and political holiday in Greece, celebrated by going out into the countryside and gathering flowers which are then hung as posies or garlands on the entrance to ones home. There are also likely to be strikes and demonstrations in Athens, but that is a long way from our little island.  As it has been such a dry spring there are few suitable wild flowers left to gather on Symi but most householders have flowering plants around their homes at the moment, even though gardens in the conventional sense are very rare on Symi.  With the houses so densely packed together and the terrain so steeply inhospitable, the forefathers of Symi expended little effort in hewing gardens out of the rocky hillsides on which they built their houses.  Until recently there was little or no water to spare for frivolous flower gardens as everyone was entirely dependent on harvesting the winter rains in cisterns to survive the summer and there was no prospect of water from any other source. These days we have a small desalination plant on the Pedi road, augmented by water ships coming over from Rhodes, but Symi is still a famously dry island and we all have to do our best to make what water we have last as long as possible.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana

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