And back to Symi…
Well, we’ve been back here over a week, but what I mean is that the blog returns to the more usual Symi news, our news and general day-to-day on a Greek island, which is what the blog is partly about. So, what’s new?
Writing this on Friday, and I’ve seen four boats come in today, two went out again and two are staying, the other two will be calling back later and then the staying two will go. Things are picking up, summer-wise, and I just saw a large group of people get off the Dodekanisos Express. That came in not long after the Sea Dreams (the Symi) had arrived. That pulls in on this side of the harbour so I can’t see how many people came in on it. The Blue Star Paros came and went speedily and efficiently and early. The Diagoras, our usual Blue Star, is being worked on as it usually is this time of year, so we have the faster and more stable Paros. And the Dodekanisos Pride came in this morning from Rhodes on its run up to the other islands and back. So, Friday is a good day to get to Symi by boat at the moment.
We went down to Yialos on Thursday and I bought a ticket for Rhodes on Monday, as I am going back to see the cardiologist again and also meet my nephew who is coming to stay. Neil will be staying here working and looking after the Alarm Cat. He’s getting on a bit now and is having trouble with his leg (the cat, I mean, not Neil). He’s also losing a little fur in places but not enough for me to think it’s a mite or anything, not yet at least. He is in his 14th year after all. He’s currently up on the roof finding shade and having his morning snooze. He’s also become rather fond of the red sofas, which is why there are towels and blankets down; it’s not incontinence, it’s moulting time now that the temperatures are up in the 20s. (I am wearing shorts for the first time in months, but you don’t want to picture that.)
We’ve also just come back from a shopping trip to the supermarket, always an adventure. We ordered a tray of cat food for the strays and that was delivered to the house while we were still in the shop meeting and greeting half the village. It’s all a bit mad in there at times, which makes shopping a laugh, but we came out with what we wanted, I think. You sometimes have to do your own bagging at the moment, not an issue, as Sotiris had another hand operation recently and must rest it. Meanwhile, George was slicing meat for some ladies, Sultana was weighing our vegetables (neither of which are euphemisms), Spiros was discussing his moustache with Neil and Habib was taking care of everything else. It’s like a sitcom at times and, as long as you don’t let yourself get stressed out over it, it’s great fun.
You may see, in small, local shops, the way that locals do their shopping. We go for the basket approach (we are basket cases, clearly) and gather things together in one and carry it around. Others go for the stack-’em at the till approach; heading off to pick up a can of this or a packet of that, bringing it back to the till desk and leaving it there while they then go off for other things, repeating the exercise until the table is awash with produce and no one is too sure what belongs to whom. ‘Whose is this salami?’ shouts Sotiris. ‘Diko mou einai,’ replies someone from behind the crispbreads. (It’s mine.) Someone else calls out something I shan’t repeat here, everyone has a good laugh and whoops there go the onions. It’s been that kind of a morning so far.
So I shall get on with the rest of the day which today means sweeping up the courtyard, tidying up the kitchen, making lunch, turning off the water intake as we are now full up, and then maybe later getting some more work done on ‘Remotely’ as more edits and typos have been found by my readers and we are keen to get the thing ‘put to bed.’
