Three-Dimensional Damp

Thirty-eight millimeters of rain isn’t a bad New Year’s gift from St Basil for an island with a perennial water shortage. As you can see from the photographs even the barren hillside on the hot side of the Pedi valley is turning green and Pontikokastro (Mouse Castle) is now surrounded by vegetation of sorts. Nearby Rhodes fared rather less well with flash floods in many areas.

New Year passed off fairly quietly on Symi with no fireworks, just some dynamite and lots of bells. From our roof we could see the faint flare of distant fireworks over Turkey. The rain came the following morning, a persistent drizzle that escalated into the continuous and penetrating rain that finds its way in under shutters and seeps through the walls, making the whitewash bloom. A good supply of dry firewood is always useful when Symi has one of its spells of three-dimensional damp and the aroma of woodsmoke still lingered on the air as I was walking to work this morning.

Most businesses are still closed today and the on going rain is keeping people indoors. The weather is expected to clear again tomorrow as the wind changes to the north, bringing with it a drop in temperatures. At the moment it looks as though the Epiphany ceremony on 6 January may well be quite chilly. With much of the high ground in Greece and Turkey under snow even here on Symi a northerly wind can bring wind chill down to below freezing.

Have a good week.

Regards,
Adriana