Today, there is a report in The Guardian titled, ‘Athens swallowed up by orange haze from Sahara dust storm.’ This is one of the images: Photo from the Guardian It’s true, we are currently under a cloud of dust from the south, as are other parts of Europe. We get this every year and often more than once a year, though spring is the most common season. If it rains, we call it ‘red rain’ because it leaves behind a layer of red/orange dust. We haven’t had rain since last weekend, but we have had and still are having very high winds. They are blowing the dust everywhere, so the washing is drying i ..read more

Another windy day today, with predictions of force seven or eight in some parts later. For me, another day at home is planned as I plough on through the next draft chapter of the next book, and in the evening, maybe another couple of Hornblowers. We stumbled across the 1999 British series last night, thought we’d give one a go, and really enjoyed it, so we watched another. Apart from everything else, it’s a good game to say, ‘I recognise him…’ then spend ages trying to remember where and in what. Failing, I end up looking him up on the internet, and that usually comes with a, ‘Well I never!’ o ..read more

Here on Symi, we are back to having weather. Cloudy today, sunny/cloudy yesterday, wet and wild on Saturday morning but the rain was/is much needed. There is a short article in Ekathimerini talking about how Europe is suffering its biggest drought in 500 years, and how Greece is facing a ‘high risk’ drought, or will be soon. I’ve heard that Rhodes is having trouble meeting its own demands, and can no longer send water out to us and the other smaller islands that have no natural water. (We have a few underground springs, but they’ve all got church complexes built on them). It’s important to rem ..read more

I don’t really have anything to tell you today, so I’ll show you a photo of an inscription you may or may not have seen on Symi. It’s up where the road coming up from Yialos joins the lane into the village, on the crest of the hill, by the windmills. I sent this image to a friend of mine who has spent his life working in theatre, mime, dance, clowning, and such larks, and he said, LOVE this! But alas not a true story, no. Perdolino is from Lower Bergamo, he then became ‘Pierrot’ years later in France. Perhaps it’s one of those urban myths or something that can’t ever be proved either way, or m ..read more

We popped over to Rhodes yesterday, and it was a bit odd. We were sailing on the Blue Star, and were overtaken by the Sebeco. I have to say, it was a slow crossing for us. The journey is usually about 70 minutes, but yesterday, it was two hours, and it wasn’t particularly windy or rough. We slowed almost to a standstill when just off Rhodes, and I think that was because we had to wait for the SAOS ferry to give up its parking space. I’ve learnt recently that as the ship backs into the harbour in Rhodes, it takes a good ten minutes before you can get off. The reverse approach is slow by necessi ..read more

I’ve added a service to the blog. It’s got nothing to do with me other than I’ve used it to find ferry tickets in the past, and if you book a ferry through it, I get two drachmae or something, which may help towards the cost of running the blog. There’s a box over there on the right >> and if you click on that, it’ll open the search site in a new window. Here it is if you want to give it a go and see what ferries are available right now, or when you’re intending to visit Symi. I’ve added this because hosting a blog isn’t free. It doesn’t cost me that much, but it costs something, roughl ..read more

Yesterday was a day of boats. Mind you, from now until October will hopefully see a day of boats every day, but yesterday, I noticed and counted for the first time this season. Soon, I intend to put a widget up on the blog, over there >> in the right-hand column. It will be a link to FerryScanner.com, a place where you can book ferries in Greece; Athens to Symi, Rhodes to Symi, Kos to Symi, anywhere to anywhere… That kind of thing. I just need to sort out a bit of code and I’ll set it up. But that’s not the reason I’m mentioning the boats… I can’t remember when the day boats started com ..read more

I had a pleasant day out on Friday when I popped over to Rhodes for some bits and pieces and teamed up with Jenine for most of the day. I set off into a calm and slightly humid morning and arrived at the top of the Kali Strata just as the ferry came around the headland. Years ago, that would have had me running, but these days, I know how long it takes to reach us from there, how long it takes me to get down, and anyway, if it says 7.45 on the ticket, it won’t leave before then (it’s not allowed to), even if it arrives early. So, I wandered down past the school, along towards Haritomeni Taver ..read more

As promised yesterday, while I am journeying across the sea to the great metropolis of Rhodes to buy a pair of shorts or whatever, here are some recent random Symi photos to see you through the weekend. The post The End of the Week That Was appeared first on Symi Dream ..read more

I’ll have to load up two blog posts today as I’ll be off to Rhodes tomorrow for a day trip, and won’t remember to post anything before I leave. The day boats have been coming the other way too, and they’ve been full, or so I am told by those who go to Yialos in the morning – which I do when I need to. So, that’s good news for the businesses which have already opened. Many of them have, and most in the village have been open all winter anyway. The Kali Strat Restaurant with its outside seating hasn’t been, but is now again open for lunch and dinner should you be heading this way and up. The las ..read more