I went for one of my nocturnal walks around the village at around 6.00am the other day. If I do the circuit any time from around 1.00am until 6.00, I can guarantee that the only company I’ll come across will be the local cat population and the occasional farmer’s dog asleep in the back of a pickup. Maybe, if I’m really in luck, I’ll also spot one of the barn owls that live in the empty buildings in the heart of the village.

On this particular occasion, though, since it was 6.00am, people were stirring, and those were, as expected, all the ya-yas and papoudes, ie: the old folk. As I crested the top of the village, passing the tiny church that sits at the apex of the narrow street, and began to descend towards the north end of the village, there was Popi just sliding open her glass door on to her terrace. No chance there then of quietly striding by on my power walk. She spotted me instantly and so we had to have the expected polite exchange of greetings before I could carry on my way.

Rounding the tight bend at the bottom of the slope and heading back through the village, this time on the ‘main road,’ passing the kafeneio on my right, to the left, sitting at his rickety old plastic patio table, covered with the regulation oilcloth tablecloth, was Filia’s next-door neighbour (I forget his name), a chap with a shock of thick wavy grey hair, probably in his mid seventies, quietly preparing his first self-rolled ciggie of the day, an Elliniko steaming on the table in front of him.

As I passed the high wall, along the top of which is the lane where there is a series of dwellings, among them Angla’i’a and Giorgo’s, there, as I expected, was Angla’i’a herself sweeping up some leaves, apron on, already having started the daily routine. No, you can’t walk around the village at the crack of dawn without having to say hello to quite a few people, none of them under 75 years of age. It’s their generation, isn’t it? They’ve probably been rising at 6.00am or thereabouts for most of their lives.

As I type this there’s a fire raging about twenty kilometres to our east, along the coast in the Koutsounari, Ferma, Agia Fotia (uncomfortably close to the truth, that name, since it means ‘Holy Fire’) and Achlia areas.

It’s a bad one, and last night I could smell burning as I stood on the veranda and saw a glow in the eastern sky at around 2.00am. This time of the year, every year, everyone’s on tenterhooks about fires, everyone’s on edge, and it’s easy to understand why. Every year there are ‘wildfires’ all across Greece and many of them are extinguished quite quickly, but, there are always the ones that get out of control, cause untold damage and destruction to property and the environment, and are usually avoidable. Fire fighters and equipment have arrived today from Athens to help with the work of trying to contain it and put it out, but with winds of 9 on the Beaufort Scale, they have their work cut out. The current word going around is that it may have been started by thoughtless tourists having a barbecue. I hope to goodness that’s not the case, but let’s face it, 90% of these fires are not started by natural causes, they’re usually human error or deliberate arson, almost unbelievable though that is.

In fact, I’ve been communicating with a few friends in the town about whether we ought to form a team and offer ourselves as volunteers, …watch this space. I’m pretty sure some of the lads from the village here have already gone to help, because, apart from the sound of the wind ruffling the olives trees, the village is very quiet right now, as I type this at 1.15pm.

Every summer, and we’re now in our 21st since moving here from the UK, people get nervy about fires. Before moving here, I thought that it was only earthquakes that we needed to worry about. It turns out that, in general, people here take most quakes in their stride, but fires? They’re always unexpected, always unpredictable, and usually destroy valuable countryside or farm land, not to mention houses, holiday accommodation and businesses. We can only hope that this current fire is contained and extinguished before it reaches Makry Gialos, because it’s headed that way.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but we’re all on edge here, and it’s as yet uncertain as to how this one’s going to turn out.

Nevertheless, here are some photos, only one of which is new, the others are from my archive…

Above: The town beach on Friday at around midday. Bliss.

Above: A photo taken on Naxos back in 2016. And, finally, below, here’s yours truly back when I was an excursion escort doing regular trips to Halki from Rhodes. this one was taken (I think) around 2017 on the quay at Halki…

•

Click HERE to go to my Amazon Author Page, where you can browse and purchase all of my seventeen written works.