A snail in my coffee mug

After a moist month thus far things are looking up. It hasn't rained for nearly 24 hours which is a good start. Showers are forecast for the weekend but it does look as though it will start to dry off a bit next week. Just as well as I for one am running low on dry firewood and I found a snail in my coffee mug this morning. Fortunately he was spotted before I poured in the coffee and he is now munching his way through the Pedi valley. The resident tortoise, however, has gone back to sleep until things warm up and dry off. One of my resourceful neighbours is using the water from the lake that has formed on our access road to water his animals and to mix cement for the new shed he is building. Wading through this water feature is one of the reasons I have been in wellies even when it isn't actually raining. I must say, though, that tramping up and down the Kali Strata in wellingtons does wonders for the leg muscles, even if it is murder on the knees.

Walking down to work this morning there was wet washing hanging out on every balcony and railing, including the parapet of Lemonitissa church below the Kastro, and the chorus of water pumps suggested washing machines running in unison as housewives took advantage of the first dry morning in weeks to catch up on the backlog of socks and muddy jeans. Few houses on Symi have either the space or the wiring to cope with tumble driers. Unfortunately it is not so easy to catch up on other jobs and the painters, decorators and builders have been seriously set back by the prolonged wet and windy weather as sites are flooded and wood sodden. In comparison with other parts of Greece, however, Symi's problems are few. The Evros, the river that forms the natural border between Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey in the north has flooded to the greatest depth in over 40 years, causing extensive damage to farms and villages in the area as 30 000 hectares of countryside are underwater. Farmers struggled to rescue cows from flooded sheds before they were swept away and greenhouses and fields are completely submerged. As this is a main agricultural area in Greece this is going to have a significant impact on the cost of living in Greece this summer as it will be months before the area returns to any kind of normality. On a more positive note, the reservoirs that supply Athens are overflowing and the water company says it has sufficient water to meet Athens' needs for the next five years!

Have a warm dry weekend!

Regards,
Adriana
www.symivisitor.com