The heat is on

The above photo was taken on the town beach on January 24th. The one below is of the same beach, but using the zoom on my camera, just three days later…

The prevailing winds here are from the north-to-north west, but if we get a south east wind, and especially with a strength of around 5-6 on the Beaufort Scale (which is how they rate wind strength here in Greece), then the result for the town beach is what you see above. Here’s another one from the northern-most end of the beach. In fact, if you check out the second photo in this post, it was taken at virtually the same spot, only on 24th January, whereas this one below was the 27th…

As you can see, it was a superb day weather-wise, but the wind direction put paid to any plans my wife, or indeed any of the locals had, to go for a swim. Up until a few days ago we’d been enjoying a truly beautiful, dry and mild winter. Apart from maybe one night back in December when the overnight temperature dipped to around 9 or 10ºC, we haven’t seen a cold spell the like of which usually occur two or three times a month during December through February. That’s all about to change now though. Sakis, our favourite TV weather man, always ends his report with a map showing the air masses across the entire continent of Europe. The colours range from deep red for very hot, through orange and yellow (warm) through green (temperate) into pale blue then deep blue to purple (ruddy freezing).

Well, Saki’s reports this past few days have shown deep blue over us, as a cold air mass descends upon us from the Urals. The result will be that daytime temperatures on Sunday and Monday will be lucky to reach the teens. It’s rare and usually doesn’t last for more than a few days, but when it happens there’s nothing for it but to put the heat on in the house. Maybe, owing to the expected precipitation we’re due to be getting on Sunday and Monday too, it’s a solid case for a hot cocoa with some falling down water in it (for medicinal purposes you understand), together with a good book on the sofa. Oh, and of course, the wonderful Six Nation Rugby Tournament starts this weekend, so I’ll be watching Wales v Ireland without a doubt.

Today, (well, actually, since it’s now past midnight I should say ‘yesterday,’ Friday 4th Feb) was a gorgeous day. We were forecast to get only around 14ºC, but we actually saw 18º, so we were well happy with that as we tucked into our bougatsa along with a couple of Freddo espressos. On cooler days in winter we often switch to Americano, which here is more often called Galliko, but we decided on the iced coffees while we sat in the Cup Café and enjoyed a good session of people-watching, since it’s in the very centre of the town.

Thursday’s demonstration in support of the local hospital and against its planned closure was massive. In fact the local radio station, Radio Lasithi, declared it the largest demonstration by the town’s population in its history. The whole thing kicked off in Ierapetra’s central square, then set off to the hospital, were a human chain surrounded the entire complex to symbolise their demands that no one should dare to close the place. It remains to be seen, of course, whether it will have any influence on the Government’s decision.

Finally, one or two photos I quite like. The first one is of a door and window in an abandoned cottage in the village…