Never say no to Greeks bearing gifts
Neil was the recipient of classic Greek hospitality while on Rhodes on Monday. He was waiting for his brother at the Plaza bar when someone started buying drinks for everyone in there. Not sure if he’d won the lottery, finally got his first pension payment after waiting four years, or was just an eccentric rich-person, but he was buying all the drinks. Neil only wanted one of those small bottles of red wine, just enough for one glass. But the chap insisted on buying him a €70.00 bottle instead. He tried to refuse but you simply can’t when a Greek person wants to buy you a drink, it’s not the done thing. Lefteris the barman guided him through the acceptance speech and, like it or not, you just have to thank and accept and then get on with it. I think the two whisky chasers the guy bought everyone afterwards probably made for the shaky start on Tuesday morning.
The Cyprus cruise ship has been in, bringing more much needed visitors to the island; the day boats were also doing their usual visits. We had a good old breeze on Monday but that’s dropped again now and things are once more warmer, perfect for relaxing by the sea or hanging out in a café watching the world go by; the best entertainment around – sitting at a café viewing the visitors and checking out the variations in costume, hats and languages.
I am not as rushed today, though I still have little news. We think we got to the bottom of the recent Tannoy outbreak; Neil heard the news in Rhodes. You might know, there are speakers across Symi all wired up to the Town Hall. These are used to make announcements about what and who is appearing when in the Symi Festival, and they are also used for public service announcements such as: ‘Mrs Farmakidis has lost her purse, if anyone finds it please hand it in.’ News about power cuts and the water supply is also broadcast from them from time to time. And, I guess, they would also be used in times of crisis or emergency such as when Pacho’s runs out of beer or when there is no ouzo left in the shop. (Both unlikely occurrences, I should add.)
The thing is, they have not been working recently, I don’t remember hearing an announcement up here for over a year now, at least. And so they are being repaired. Instead of subjecting us all to the hiss and crackle and feedback while the repairs are going on, they made them silently and then started testing each set of speakers, one per night – or something like that. That’s why you might have heard Zorba’s Dance coming from the police station, or ‘Ena, thio, tria,’ coming from near Agia Triada (which means the Holy Trinity – see what I did there?) or the rock version of some piece of traditional Greek bouzouki music hailing from H Lemonitisa area. And so it is now all explained.
At least it is if what we heard is true. You never know. Without the Tannoy system to tell us, how are we to know? And so: onwards with another great day on ‘the rock’, aka Symi. Have a good one yourself.
