I had an idea, on Friday evening, to take photos of various flags on boats in the harbour, so we could see how many countries were here. Then I ran out of light, but I took some.
We were down there to meet some friends from the Blue Star when it came in, only slightly late. But before we went to Taverna Xaris on the south side of the harbour, right next to the taxi rank, and very nice it was too. Good service, very attentive, good Greek food served with potatoes rather than chips which makes a very welcome change, and generous offers of free afters. No matter how much we declined we were still treated to a slice of cake and a glass of Samos sweet wine. And all a reasonable price. Thanks James.
We waited for the boat at Elpida’s kafeneion, a very popular place amount locals and visitors alike, and then, after greeting our friends, went to wait at Pacho’s (also very popular with locals and visitors) while they checked into the new Symi Centre apartments by the nautical museum and has a bite to eat at To Spitiko.
And so the weekend went on, as it does when friends visit. Visits to the house, meeting up at a kafeneion, lunch there, dinner here, walks around the village, I was well and truly done in by Sunday morning and couldn’t get the energy together to do anything else but read and listen to music. I also had a bad throat and headache so I must have picked something up while out and about. But enough of that! We are now officially a ‘No moan zone’ so please bear that in mind if you bump into us at work or out and about.
I did notice, while down in Yialos, that everything was running as normal, the place was busy, the harbour was packed with boats, new visitors and old friends alike were pouring in and the day boats and ferries were coming and going as usual. It was good to see so many flags from various countries, Germany, Spain, Turkey, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and elsewhere. Over the weekend, we also so a few refugees with their whole life in a bag, looking for somewhere to stay while they wait for the big boat on Wednesday. And that kind of puts the holiday atmosphere into perspective.
I spent some time on Sunday looking for flights as my nephew said he might be coming over in September (not sure if Symi is quite ready for that but…). Apparently Ryan Air is doing a flight for £5.00 or something though I couldn’t find it, and it would probably end up at £500.00 once you’d paid for each individual piece of clothing in your 20cm x 30cm baggage alowance, paid for your seat belt, put 20ps in the meter for your decompression, used the loo (cheques taken), paid for your breathing space, paid 50p a time to read the magazine, put down a deposit on a life jacket just in case, topped the thing up with four star, and promised the driver at huge tip at the other end. Easy Jet and Aegean were doing better and probably more trusted deals where you don’t have to bring your own fuel, so I pointed him in their direction.
Before that though, we have a few weeks off from visitors before Neil’s son returns to Symi for the first time in nine years, or something. So, on that note, I am going to put the house back in order, make the beds and be a happy little house husband before starting work on another draft of another book, as Cole Porter might have said had he written books instead of songs.
