Saturday in Yialos
Although Saturday was sunny, the wind was from the North-West and chilly, so I found myself heading out in a thermal top, a shirt and a hoodie over it all. We had a few things to attend to ‘downtown’, and set off in the late morning after feeding the stray cats up the lane.
As usual, there were a few stop-offs on the way, to say good morning to people at the café, to pop into the Olive Tree to see how the painting is going (very well; it will be open after Easter), and then on down to the big city. There had been some light rain overnight and recently painted and cleaned café tables were spotted with disturbed dust. Many places are now fully open while others are finishing off their preparations. The Trata taverna was open, only a few days ago the building was still under renovation, and parts of it still are, but work has paused now, and the tables and chairs are all out, ready for customers. We walked up to the banks to find the rent money, passing Takis at his leather shop, the new souvenir shop next to it, Nikos’ souvenir shop and the other cafes. Los, the ‘art yacht club’ was being done up ready to be open very soon. The harbour is quickly coming back to summer season life after the winter.
A walk around to the garden centre to look at plants and other things we might need for our courtyard, a wander around the square, more hellos and how are yous, and off to Taxas for some supplies we can only get from there, and then to Pacho’s to catch up with friends. A group of children passed by, taking part in a parading of the icon for the day of Lazarus. This reminded me that few days before we had heard and seen the scout group passing our house, brooms and bags in hand, singing as they headed off up into the village to clean up some lanes. Great to see this kind of thing going on. Later, on Saturday, there was lunch at Meraklis where we chatted to some visiting Belgians and where many locals and day-trippers had stopped for lunch. The Dodekanisos catamaran had come in for the day, staying in the harbour and bringing some day visitors with it, so there were a few tourists about. To Spitiko opened its doors and later, when we passed, was nearly full; good to see.
Back in the village with our shopping, we were met by our godson who was out to play. He sat with us for an ice cream while Neil gave Yiannis an hour off to go home and freshen up. Great isn’t it, that you can be left looking after a business while the boss heads home. Mind you, Neil does work there now, and I did for nearly ten years. This gave us a pause in the day to sit and wonder when the cold wind would die down – it was colder up in the village than it had been in Yialos – and finally we wandered home, still full from a very reasonable lunch. Jack was waiting for us, keen to get onto someone’s lap.
And talking of Jack, it’s his birthday today, and he is now 14 years old. That’s not a bad run for a Symi cat, born of a rescue cat in our first house. Who’d have thought we would still have him after 14 years? He’s getting on, but still mobile and mostly lucid. He has his eccentricities, and now he has his bad ears and nose, but otherwise, last time he had a check-up (November) he was all fine and dandy internally. So, happy birthday to the Alarm Cat and now I will let you get on with the rest of your day and the rest of Great Week and the lead-up to Easter.
