Day to day on Symi

What do you do in the Winter?

Yes, this old chestnut again – and yes, we do do chestnuts in the winter, if you can get them. I know it’s August, and 35° out there, you’re keen to be at the beach, or on the patio with a G&T under the parasol, but it’s only 7.00 and it’s cloudy, so you’re making do with this.

What do you do in the winter is one of the most asked questions around these parts, and it’s mostly asked by first time visitors. After a couple of visits, people realise they’ve asked the clichés and start looking for something more intelligent and deeper to ask, for example: What’s the weather like in the winter? Some rephrase it to sound knowledgeable: I suppose it’s quite warm in the winter? You suppose wrong, Sir. Come in February when it’s 5° inside the house if you venture further than three feet from the heater, where many can’t afford to run the aircon on warm, or more than one two-bar fire, where not everyone has a wood burner, carpets or gas central heating, and where you might end up sitting on an electric blanket, under another one, with your gloves on, watching John Mills in ‘Scott of the Antarctic’ and thinking he had it easy. No, what we do in the winter is a variety of things, and here are a few:

We play games. Not mind games like some, but cribbage, mainly. It’s an opportunity to visit family, catch up on gossip and forget whose go it was.
We entertain the boys. Or, we have been doing so. Now they are grown up and fully fledged, no doubt there will be less of this. Sadly. I spy one of Neil’s curries being served for someone with a cold, hence the Gripomed.
Neil bakes, and we get fatter.
I sometimes do a jigsaw, if I can find enough table space.
I play the piano. No more the piano lessons with my star pupil, no more the delight of an hour imparting years of knowledge, not unless I pop over to Rhodes now and then later in the year. Still, it allegedly gives me more time to work up some new pieces, like this one, my old grade six exam, Mozart Fantasia.
Then, along comes Christmas…

These are all indoor things, obviously. There are outdoor winter sports to enjoy too, such as making your way home against the flooded lanes as the rain pours, and the lightning knocks out your router for a few days. There’s the game of ‘Hunt for Fresh’ in the supermarkets when the boats are delayed or not running, and there’s the constant round of Hunt the Bucket to play when the roof leaks. Oh, and we also kneel on sofas, taking photos of music stands for no discernible reason.