What can I tell you…? Over the weekend, I’ve watched various boats take people away from the island after the Panormitis festival. The Panagia Skiedani collected many cars and people, there was a traffic queue for the Friday Blue Star which ran all the way back to the main road, and if you’ve ever used that part of the port you’ll know that’s a fair distance. There were other boats too, but the Dodekanisos catamaran looked busy with arrivals and departures over the weekend, and on Saturday evening, just after dark, a flotilla of small yachts came in and left the next day. I counted ten of them, but I wasn’t watching for long. Not massive numbers, maybe, but for this time of year, not bad, and on Sunday afternoon, the north side of the harbour looked as busy as it was in summer, if not busier.
The weather has been busy too, with some showers (brief) and cloudy skies, but temperatures in our courtyard up to 24 at night. This will be pleasing news for the visitors who came for the day with the King Saron, or the ‘Queeny Shaz’, as I call it. Why? Who knows? It just evolved that way. From King Saron to King Sharon, to Queen Sharon, to Queen Shaz, ultimately leading to Queeny Shaz. Sometimes, you have to make your own entertainment. Like we do when we’re on the balcony watching the world go by during the summer when we play a daft game for no reason. The first one to spot the yellow bus gets a point, as does the first one to spot the train. This year, we added a particular white van to the list, which helped the score, which is never remembered and doesn’t matter. It’s just a bit of a lark.
More interesting is the bird watching. Not that I am a great twitcher, and I only recognise some species, but we keep a lookout. The robins are back flitting about the wasteland, and the black redstarts are still here along with the warblers, thrush, blackbirds, sparrows, doves, pigeons and others. I’ve heard the ravens and seen some larger birds of prey, buzzards or a kind of eagle, and I’ve seen and heard the seagulls. So, the wildlife continues to enjoy the island along with a few visitors and sailors, and us, of course, despite the cloud you see in today’s photos. There are probably more gathering above as I write. It’s still dark, but we’ve just had a brief downpour. The house hasn’t leaked, as yet, so that’s good news as we head into the middle days of November.
