It’s April and the sun is out, yet it’s still not warm enough to be in shorts. The island is the greenest we’ve ever seen it and full of all kinds of wonderful exotic plants. All around the island, people have woken up from their sleepy slumber of winter and everyone is getting ready for what promises to be a busy summer. You can’t walk anywhere without seeing somebody with a tin of paint in one hand and a paint brush in the other.

            At the beginning of this month you can hear the occasional bang in the distance and it gets closer and louder with each passing day. Easter is on its way and before you know it the island is rocking with the big drums of dynamite being set alight up in the hills. My Dad and brother are here for a week’s holiday and my dad is wary after one loud bang makes our windows and doors shake and the cat goes flying six feet in the air with shock. Impressive fireworks light the night sky to a chorus of ‘ooos’ and ‘ahhhs.’

            I must admit this year we didn’t go to the church service, instead we stayed in the comfort of Jennine and Ian’s courtyard where we had a fantastic view of all the different lighting displays. We overlooked Pedi, the Castro and Triada, (the church at the top of the village). I don’t think anybody else had such a good view as us. We watched all of this with Marj, Brian and a newcomer to the island, Rhiannon and I can’t believe that Sam, Jennine and Ian’s son, slept through the whole night. Rhiannon is the new owner of the Windmill restaurant up in Chorio and is half Greek half Welsh. She will be cooking Mediterranean and Greek food so you can now treat yourself to delicious plates of Mezzethes when you visit. We wish her luck in her new and exciting venture, as we do with Diana and Jo who have lived on the island for years and have now opened up a beauty and massage shop above the Harrani bar in Yalos.

            Also – while we’re talking shop - my shop is expanding this year and I am opening the room upstairs as a gallery. I am hoping to exhibit more of my photos and other peoples’ art work. If you are interested in exhibiting your own art, as long as it’s of Symi, please feel free to get in contact.

            It seems to me that more and more people are living there dream. We are and you can too if you really want to.