No solar eclipse viewing for us yesterday. I don’t think it was visible from where we are, but if it was, we didn’t see it. We see lots of sunrises though, if that helps. As the sun sets behind the island, as it were, we tend not to see much of that, only the start of it. To see the sunset proper, you’d have to go up high or over to the west side of the island. It can look dramatic just before it dips behind the hills behind Yialos, but you won’t see it sizzling into the sea. Similarly, you won’t see it rise from the sea, but from behind Turkish mountains to the east.

If you are staying in Horio, you can easily see the sunrise from up in the village, though the higher the better, as you will need an unrestricted view of Pedi Bay to catch it all. Or, you can be down on the shore in Pedi. To see it from elsewhere, you’d have to get yourself to a place somewhere along the east coast of the island, or just off it if you’re on a boat.

Yesterday, Neil took this one from up on the main village road where you can see the sun come up over the bay.

The best place though might still be down by the water, where the colours change by the second once the spectacle starts.

Now, who’d want to hide such a view as this with a pair of cheap paper and plastic glasses bought from an online retail store? (Just don’t stare at it openly for too long.)

I just picked up on two pieces of news that might be of interest but bear no relation to the photos I am adding to brighten the page. (The photos are to remind you how sultry the weather is right now.)

First, ‘Scientific research focuses on creating chocolate that does not melt in the heat.’ I mean, forget everything else, let science take a pause for a moment and stop trying to get computers to do everything for us, from heart operations to writing Mills & Boon romances, and concentrate on the real things that matter: Chocolate that doesn’t melt. Very Willy Wonka if you ask me, but if successful, you’ll be able to take your Quality Street to the beach and have it beside your sunbed all day with no fear of sticky fingers. Whatever next? An initiative to stop the world from overheating? An end to famine?

Mind you, you have to get to the beach first, and on your way, you may once again encounter a problem: News item number two, the on/off situation regarding Schengen entry requirements.

In Greece, this was ‘on’ earlier in the year during that quietest of travel times in Greece, Easter. Yeah, great idea. After that fiasco, it was ‘off’ again, and as far as I can make out, was then both off and on depending which airport you were using. Then, there was a quiet ‘off’ period, according to travellers in and out of Rhodes, but now, according to whatever the UK Government happens to be right now, it’s back ‘on.’ Whether it will be on when you get off your plane, or off when you get back on, I can’t tell you. I tend not to hang about airports watching the queues, so maybe the best advice is simply to be prepared for delays.

If you’re coming from the UK or any other non-Schengen country, you may need to register your biometric details, such as fingerprints and a photo when you arrive and before reaching the immigration desk. (Or you may not if it’s a busy time of day.) This can cause delays. You may also need to provide either your fingerprint or photo when you leave the Schengen area. This might also cause delays. But then, it might not.

So, there you are, now you know. If you are coming from the UK, you might want to check the latest news on this with the official UKGov website; here’s the latest page.

In more local news, the festival continues. There is a dance performance in Yialos this evening, and a concert from ‘Locomondo’ tomorrow night, and two more concerts at the weekend. All free, all in the main square, and all starting around nine PM.

And in even more local news, I might need to fiddle around with this website again at the weekend. The theme it runs on doesn’t easily support the left column where I put info about books and things. Judging by the click reports, not many pay attention to it anyway, but I want something there so I can keep up the link to Neil’s Symi Calendar, making it easy for you to order hundreds of copies, and right now, I can’t work out how to do it. So, if you notice odd pages or an odd look while you’re browsing, or get error messages, it’s because I am making the change ‘live.’ Obviously, I will be live while doing it, but so will the site. The alternative is to pay more to the hosting company so I can keep version A running while I work on version B, but as I only intend to spend an hour or so doing it live, that seems pointless. Anyway, now you know the news, and can take your Milk Tray with you to the airport knowing it won’t melt while you stand in a queue for hours waiting to be processed, because it is ‘on’ again. Make sure you don’t buy the kind of chocolate that melts, though, else your fingerprints won’t take and you’ll have to go to the back of the queue.

What can I tell you today? Yesterday started well with the main water being turned on and filling the tank from 04.00 in the morning. The valves you see around the village attached to the black pipes are opened manually, so either the conscientious operative did it on the way home from a concert or a late night, or gets up and goes to work as early as I do. Either way, the trickle and drip is always a welcome sound. The pressure is also better at that time of day because, I guess, other properties haven’t opened their sterna intakes because, like most sensible people, they are asleep, so we get a head start. Our tank was full by eight, ready for a day’s battering from the four people who now have to share it.

That seen to, and after knocking out a draft chapter, we headed down so I could continue upgrading my teeth, and Neil could search out gifts for the grandchildren for when he sees them in November.

Now there’s a thing. What to buy? What’s a classic Greek souvenir that you can only find here, has been made here, says ‘Greece’ and sparks in the young person an interest in another country? There are plenty of choices. For example, a bottle opener in the shape of a phallus. A mug bearing the face of a surprised donkey. A plate in the ancient style, mass-produced in Asia. A bottle of wine with ‘Malaka’ on the label (for the grown-up children, and it’s actually a very nice wine), and other such ‘must-haves’ are to be found everywhere. There are, of course, the slightly less low end of the market trinkets, including evil eye keyrings, colourful pottery and similar things produced mainly overseas. Then, there’s the top end (which wouldn’t be suitable for the grandchildren yet), such as the pottery and jewellery you can find in the more specialised shops in Yialos. So, the world is your oyster when it comes to taking special gifts back to young people. So far, they have a tin of baklava each, and we’re still scratching our heads.

Anyway, the harbour was busy, but we were out before the great twelve-to-two rush. Constantinos, who drove us up, tells me that’s the worst time of the day for foot traffic, the taxis and the bus. The Sebeco comes in on the south side, the red trainer ‘boot’ boats too, and the larger ships dock in the Petalo port. They all bear passengers who want to get into town, with most walking on the road because they’ve never seen a road before, and others cramming around the six-foot-wide piece of harbour front as they trudge along like refugees from a sunbed encampment. Between twelve and two is the time not to be driving around the harbour, yet people must. I am glad I don’t have to; I wouldn’t have the patience.

What else? Er…The temperature seems to have been a pretty regular 37° in the shade in our courtyard for the past month at least, occasionally only getting to 35° now and then – and that’s a lot cooler than usual for this time of year. The humidity has been reasonably bearable too, and the promised Meltemi hasn’t yet made itself known to any extent at all. When that blows in August, it’s usually like sitting in front of a hairdryer, but I’ve not noticed that yet.

And so on into the rest of the week ahead.

We’ve had concerts, dance shows, a play, and all manner of festival entertainment going on, and it continues. If you want to see the programme, click this link to see the PDF. Scroll down it for the English translation. This week, there are four more concerts and a dance performance, all in the main square in Yialos.

What other news do I have after a quiet weekend…? Another tooth situation successfully resolved, and a checkup this morning… Quiet afternoons in the square when I go for coffee; everyone’s at the beach or having a siesta, and it is August, which always sees quiet afternoons up here; evenings are probably a different matter. The water supply was open again at 04.00 this morning; not complaining, even with a larger tank, keen washing lady below almost drained it over two days. Still waiting for a new and hopefully quieter water pump to arrive so we don’t have to close all doors and windows when her downstairs is at her taps. Er… Spectacular sunrises seen at Pedi…

As for me, another chapter or two done in draft for a thing I am working on. Research about blacksmithing read, though there’s too much info to remember, I’m absorbing the background of the craft and some terms. Supermarket supplies continue to be up and down. I.e., this week, no suitable shampoo or deodorant available, but loads of fresh veg (though how long it stays fresh for in this heat is another matter, and as most is untainted by preservation chemicals, you have to pick your moment). Sunrise, although I can’t directly see it, is also spectacular from my window.

And finally, Cyryl… (Who remembers that, Eh? Only my generation and older British, I bet.)
Finally, I can report that a breakaway tourist group made it to the village and were discovered attempting to march on Pedi, when they were discovered on the Pedi road where they had attracted the attention of locals who had come, I hope, to remove that pile of stuff and take it up to the tip.

It’s the end of the week, which means not much to me other than it’s another day. I don’t suppose weekends mean much to those who work 18 hours a day, seven days a week through the summer either. No clocking off early, no POETS day, down the pub early, ‘See you on Monday’ kind of hurried office departure, or anything like that. Simply another day at work. For those on holiday, another day of sun, sea and other things beginning with S, such as souvlaki, sunbeds, sensational views, safe swimming, spectacle and Symi. The Festival concerts and events continued last night with a concert in the main square, a brief blackout during the tech rehearsal, and then, I hope, a great time had by all.

You may wonder what those who work every day through the summer season do for holidays. You can’t book two weeks off between May and October if those are the months you make your yearly income, and as for going away to lie on a beach and read a book, why do that somewhere else if you can do it at home in your lunch break? (What lunch break?) Many people take their holidays in the winter months, as we did last Christmas, and unless you can afford to travel far south for sun, sea and S things, then it’s a case of staying at home or exploring Europe. For those who reside in Greece and pay tax here through the Taxisnet system, the good news is that you can now claim up to €600 in digital accommodation vouchers. In other words, the government are offering residents ‘free money’ to put towards their holidays, and to encourage out-of-season travel. The report I tried to read stated: The programme is designed to make holidays within Greece more affordable for Greek households while encouraging travel outside the peak summer season. Applications close at 11.59 pm on Friday, 21 August 2026.

I have to say, I started to read the report in Greek City Times, but even though I am eligible to apply for the scheme, I got lost among the details. It’s unlikely I’ll be applying for a €300 low-season travel voucher (as a ‘general applicant’, retired, non-disabled, no-children, married person), and I am not sure how many nights €300 would buy me these days. About two hours in some accommodation on Symi (the end of the market that’s so high, it would cost me two months’ pension just to stay for a week), or maybe five nights in other places. It might replace the money spent on getting to Athens and back by boat (though not with a cabin, perhaps), and I could easily get through that amount during a weekend in Rhodes or elsewhere, where a dinner for two can range from between €10.00 if you only have a giros each, to well over €100.00 if you go posh.

Still, it’s a great scheme, and if you want to read all the details and pick your way through all the possibilities of how to claim according to the various conditions, you can read the full article (in English) at Greek City Times.  

I can’t help thinking that, with people unable to afford electricity and basic needs for families, this money might have been aimed at something more practical. It’s as if the thing that matters most to humans these days is a good holiday – tourism rules, got to get your Insta-pout photos in. ‘We’re giving you up to €600, but you have to spend it on leisure, not feeding the family…’ Then again, there is talk of a general election early next year

For me? No plans to travel anywhere until next spring. Last New Year’s Day, somewhere between Bucharest and Athens at 30,000 feet, we won two free flights on Aegean Airways. We’ve used one of these for Neil to go and see his various generations in November, but although the flights are free, the cost of accommodation, travel and subsistence prohibits me from going too. I might have a couple of days in Rhodes instead, so maybe I will apply for the travel voucher after all. Anyway, have a good weekend, or enjoy your next two-day shift at work, whichever.