Symi in the past

[ola]

[img]http://thumbs4.ebaystatic.com/pict/2205084251598080_1.jpg[/img]
This postcard is on sale on E-bay - nice picture of the Mouraio quay before the widening - and nice hairdo...

[Kojak]

Hmmm, must dig out those plastic bags in the bottom of the wardrobe, I've got loads of Symi 1980s photos. I could be rich!

[Jan]

The hairdo is indeed stunning. I guess the picture (and the hair) dates from the very early 1980s - the road to Chorio had been blasted away and the quay was widened in ?1984 (someone with a better memory than mine please correct me here).

I wonder which inter-island rust bucket that is in the background. It looks far too smart to be any of the ones we travelled on in those days.

[Kojak]

I think work on widening the quay began in 1980/81. I can remember staying at Pedi and going over to Yialos one night with a Greek friend who lives in Pedi. We had a drink in a bar on the quayside which had the only padded seats on the island! The downside was that we were in among concrete blocks etc. which were used as the foundations for the new quayside. I also recall being down there during the day and watching a man in a diving suit bending forward to empty water out of it!

[Jan]

I bow to Kojak's superior memory (not difficult to be superior to mine!). K - do you remember the floating crane in the harbour with the surveyor sitting on one of the concrete blocks under his sun umbrella? That was at the time the widening was taking place just outside the Symi Restaurant as-was. Somewhere I have some photos...

[Kojak]

Jan, I wouldn't call my memory superior at all! I can't remember that bit - depends when you were there, we were August people at that time. I do remember when they started work on the other side of the harbour and I saw the night watchman sitting on the crane with a small table set for dinner complete with a candle in a bottle! Another memory that comes to mind is when they started excavating along in front of Pachos. They undermined the quayside which dropped a few feet. Although there's not much difference in tide levels it was enough to flood most of the seating areas of the tavernas that used to be along there!

[Richard]

This crane?



The piledriver did make a lot of noise before dawn each morning.

[Kojak]

That's the one! Again, he was perched on one of the concrete blocks. I never did manage to see whether he was dining alone or sharing a romantic? evening with someone. I do know that Pat's dog, Mickey was a frequent visitor. Perhaps he was just checking that work was being carried out correctly!

[Jan]

If the weather stays as it is today, I'll have a look for those photos tomorrow, though they're probably so faded as to be unrecognisable.