Symi Shakespeare
I came across an expression in Greek yesterday and typed it into the online translator. Πολύ κακό για το τίποτα, was the expression and it was being used by the chairman of the town council to describe something or other that was going on, on Symi, the other day. It translates as ‘much ado about nothing,’ and that put me in mind of other Shakespeare titles that could apply to our little island.
So, I went to my complete works, dragged it down from the shelf, put it down on the desk with a resounding thump and had a look at the list of plays.
It’s not a sparrow, it’s too big apparently…?
It strikes me that a trip to one of our supermarkets when news of fresh produce reaches us in the winter could also be much ado about nothing, and the sorting out of the country’s economic problems is currently a comedy of errors, if you are able to laugh at what’s going on. But a trip to Symi (a must for every traveller) will give you the chance to have your holiday just as you like it and, measure for measure, you will have a good time. Sitting out in a courtyard on a clear might in June, watching stars and listening to the owls overhead is definitely a midsummer night’s dream and by the twelth night of your holiday you will be fluent in the language of ouzo and relaxation, if you haven’t achieved that before. Obviously, if you journey here between December and March, and it’s possible, you will return home with a winter’s tale to tell though there may be a tempest or two to contend with during those months. You could take a walk and visit one of the island’s hamlets, the small farming communities out in the hills and whatever way you take your Symi holiday it will be a case of all’s well that ends well.
I could go all silly and suggest you might meet the merry wives of Horio and the two gentlemen of Nimborio, but that would be gilding the lily, as my uncle would have put it. Or, as Shakespeare himself may have put it – in fact he did: “If all the year were playing holidays; To sport would be as tedious as to work.”
Make of all this what you Will.
