I read of the latest piece of nonsense to do with the ‘Elf and Safety mob – restaurants are no longer supplying toothpicks as they are extremely dangerous and participants in the pancake race are requested to walk rather than run; walking is that much safer! Have you ever in your life heard of anything more ridiculous? It really does beggar belief that there are people paid to think up this sort of crap and what is more it is taken seriously. What is one supposed to do? Go to bed wrapped up in a nice warm woollen blanket? No way, the wool could be a cause of allergies.
The temperature rises by the day. The forecast for Crete tomorrow is 35 degrees. I haven’t heard any cicadas yet but there are butterflies everywhere. In fact, as I type this, one has flown in and settled on my arm. Oh, he’s just taken off! I think he’s known as a fritillary, could that be right? He’s certainly brown and spotted. During the summer the cicadas kick up one hellava row all day long. They say the reason why there are so many is that Greek hunters who will shoot anything that moves have killed off all the birds that feasted on the zizikas, as the Greeks call them, so they have flourished like crazy. It’s like external tinnitus.
What on earth is happening with America’s weather? Floods galore; Nashville, Arkansas and now Oklahoma. Someone no doubt will put it down to global warming and ‘Elf and Safety if it were to happen in England, as it more than likely will somewhere or other, will wring its collective hands at being unable to tell nature how naughty she is.
The first lot of apricots being over – twelve jars of jam, twelve jars of chutney- it is now the turn of the plums, both red and yellow ripening and starting to fall. Unfortunately I didn’t manage to get to the last of the apricots in time for wine making. The ground around the tree is littered with windfall fruit. The second tree will come into fruit later in the year and hopefully this year we might see something of the guava. The first tomatoes are now ready as well.
We have just had a traditional Cretan wedding in our neck of the woods, a couple of houses down the lane, Elizabeth, that young girl when we first moved here, now a certified doctor, the daughter of Nikos and Maria. The festivities started three days before the actual ceremony and the number of guests was astronomical. The house was festooned with great swags of tulle, on each exterior door and all the way down the staircase and as large bows on the garden wall. There was enough tulle to make tutus for a whole chorus of the Bolshoi. Visitors to the house when it all started were thoroughly enjoying themselves and even in the early hours were still eating and drinking. The little church just down the road was far too small to accommodate them all so the service was held outside and the bride was led from house to church by two musicians with everyone following and applauding. The reception of course was enormous.
Weddings and baptisms I am here to tell you are not done by halves in Greece, no matter what the cost.