Meanwhile, On Symi…
Okay, so we’re back to the more usual blog for now. What’s been going on here while we’ve been looking at holiday snaps? Well, the temperature last week reached 28 degrees in our courtyard in the shade, but Monday was slightly cooler, with a breeze and some thin cloud. It’s all still wonderfully spring-like and flowering, warm enough for no jackets, and my legs have had an outing. The startling news there is that my last year’s shorts still fit me. If anything, they were slightly loose. I did drop a belt hole while on holiday, that is, take an inch off the waist, but that was soon back on once we returned.
One of the great dilemmas of Symi living in the summer is to bar or not to bar, that is the question. For my part, I tend to work from early in the morning up until lunchtime, taking a brief walk when I can, or slipping out for an hour for shopping or necessities in Yialos. Then I have an hour off for lunch and then work again usually until half four or five, sometimes I sneak away from the boss (me) at four and say, ‘That’s enough for one day.’ Trouble is, when you know there’s the bar, and Neil is working there, and that’s where our friends gather, and you’re not there, you might be missing out on something, but you really should stay home and avoid temptation… Well, you can get the picture.
I don’t go every day, though it must seem like it to people who pass and see us sitting in the same seats nearly every time. And all that has nothing to do with what’s been going on recently, except that with returning friends offering dinners and drinks and a soiree, it’s hard to say no, especially when you’ve not seen them for months. Meanwhile, other things have been going on. A quick visit to Yialos on Friday to fetch the rent money showed me the Poseidon coming into its morning place for the summer, just about every business open or putting the finishing touches, the day boats (Sea Dreams and The Panagia, plus the Spanos) unloading day-trippers, and more of the tavernas set up ready to welcome guests. It also offered us a drink at Pacho’s, a quick lunch at Meraklis, a taxi home… All the usual summer temptations that are irresistible. They also included an afternoon with people we’d not seen for a while, and before you know it, whoops, there goes the rest of the day.
You, of course, can do all this while on holiday here without the need to stop for work or get involved in any of that kind of thing. Basically, life is the same here now as it was last year, and it’s warming up after the winter and Symi is preparing for another season of sun, sea and siesta. And so am I.
