For the last couple of years the Tsiknopempti party has been held at the school due to bad weather. But this year, on Thursday, the weather was fine, cold, but fine and so the party was held in the village square. I took some photos but they are really far too dark to see much, but you know, I do the words, not the pictures.
We’d been down to Yialos in the afternoon to get the rent money out, called in to see Takis who is working on his latest masterpiece, and then walked back up. Jenine had called to say the party was on, so we met up for a pre-party drink at Mandeio’s and then headed to the square.
The party celebrates ‘smoke Thursday’, the traditional day for eating meat before Lent starts in a week or so’s time. The town hall provide the souvlakies and the band this year were some of the music students – I am not sure if they are from the Symi Music School, or the general school, or have private tuition, I guess perhaps all three. They were great, and it’s really heart-warming to see and hear young, talented people, doing so well. They entertained for a good two, maybe three hours, with traditional dances and other songs with drums, bouzouki, accordion and guitars. All the made for a very special night, and the free wine helped slightly too.
Friday dawned cold and clear again and, after getting some work done, Neil went off to pay another bill and check up on Monday morning. All is now set for collecting the keys at 09.00 on Monday. There’s not a lot more packing we can do here, not until we have emptied some of these crates and boxes.
If you’re on Symi and reading this and have nothing better to do during the week, and fancy trudging back and forth from Ag Thanasis area to the village square carrying boxes and bags, feel free to join in, drop me a line or give us a ring. We will probably start on Monday and just keep going until it is done, hiring a couple of strong folk to shift the really heavy stuff. We were planning an all-day event on Saturday or Sunday but I reckon we will be mostly in by then. Because the phone should be going in on Tuesday, we’ll probably aim to be ‘working’ from the house on Wednesday, by which I mean posting the blog and stuff.
So, I’ll try and do a post on Sunday/Monday – and Monday will be ‘Moving house on Symi day 36’ – but if there is no post for a few days you will know why. I’ll post photos eventually, don’t worry, there will be photos of the moving, I may even share an image of the new furniture in situ to bore you, and there will certainly be endless pictures of the new view.
So, that’s me off to see what else can be packed while I await the arrival of the Ikea order which, we think, might be on the boat that came in this morning. If not, then next Wednesday. Watch this (almost empty) space.
