Winter on Symi – it’s getting closer every day.
Spending a Sunday morning doing some bits and pieces around the house. Neil’s hoovering, I’ve tidied up the courtyard and swept, and have some washing on the go, we’ve had breakfast, that’s all cleared away and washed up and even Jack has been helping by doing his fire-scape officer duty…
When he is not being kept devilishly busy with that position of responsibility, he is also to be found helping the coastguard by keeping a vigilant lookout for refugee boats that might be out in the bay…
Talking of refugees… we did our session at the aid centre on Saturday, though there were no refugees on the island that morning. We tidied up the balcony area and tried to weatherproof some of the supplies that live out there; moved them away from the open side, put down plastic bags to protect things from a damp floor, and also on the walls, organised what was there, labelled it and covered it. We also sorted out some more bags of donated clothes: to have them come in ready washed, sorted and labelled is a great help. We also did a bit of general tidying ready for when the rooms are needed again, I checked the medical room was clean and tidy (that’s becoming one of the regular weekly jobs I set for myself) and basically did what we could. After that it was game on for (possibly) our last lunch out for the season, another trip to Meraklis which was almost full with day-trippers wearing their all-inclusive arm bands.
The two boats when out on Saturday, the Poseidon and then the Diagoras, we were having coffee at Roloi when they passed us within about ten minutes of each other. Roloi, by the clock tower (the names means ‘clock’) is one of the bars that stays open in Yialos through the winter. It, like several others, drop down plastic sheets to protect the inside from the elements. And talking of plastic sheets… That’s one of our pre-winter jobs. We need to find four bricks, some rope and some plastic sheet so that we can safely dispose of a body in the sterna, weigh it down and then put the lid back on so no one will suspect. No, actually, I was just seeing if you were awake – it’s so that we can put the outside table up on bricks away from the rain, and then cover it with plastic for the same reason, tie it all up and hope for the best. Rain is expected next Wednesday with storms on the way.
We also need to gaffer tape the plumbing so that when it rains the water-collector-pipes don’t let water spurt out through their cracks and more rain water gets into the sterna. There’s the oxeye window to get re-glazed, or rather have some Perspex put over it as the existing glass doesn’t quite fit the north facing hole and there’s a large chunk missing. So, we’re borrowing a ladder, one of us is going up and we’re going to measure what’s needed, make a template and then, hopefully, get something made up. We then need to find some wood to fit between balcony door and shutters where there’s a gap, again facing north, and then find a curtain rail and curtain for the main front door, put up the outside curtain to keep the draft out of that direction and then… Well, that’s a start and it should help keep us a bit warmer. You see, winter, on Symi, can be a pretty cool place to be.
