Well, I seem to have neglected my Blog lately.........its just so hot, it makes my brain go twirly. I am still resident in Greece, but this is about to change as I prepare to pack up and ship my life back to UK for a while.
It's funny, this paradise thing. When we arrived in Greece as part of our big European tour, it was nearly Christmas, and it was warm enough to spend Christmas day on the beach. Festivities included a beach barbecue. Now for a UK resident, this seemed like paradise. I hate the cold and wet. I loathe snow. I abhor wind and am frightened of storms. Here, by the beach, in the sun, with the temperature in the high 20's and the sea twinkling in the morning light, I thought I had found the place of my dreams. This, I told everyone, is where I am going to spend the rest of my days.
I think that all that sun must have affected my power of logical thought. If I had given just one hour to this process, I would have realised that a place that has winter temperatures in the high 20's was going to get pretty damn hot in the summer. By May, the midday temperature in the sun on my patio was in the high 30's, and I had turned into a recluse, going out only in the early morning or late evening, and spending the rest of the day in the comparitive cool of the house. Used to sitting outside in the long English summer evenings, I was disconcerted by the speedy onset of darkness here....about 1/2 an hour after sunset. Sitting outside in the cooler night air seemed a good option, except that the mosquitoes think likewise, and they want to sit on,and bite, ME.
And that's another thing......CREATURES! In my hour of logical thought, if I had one, I would have realised that any place that gets REALLY hot would be home to creatures that LIKE it really hot. So there are a geckos living in the house, snakes, scorpions and BIG lizards living in the garden and any number of wriggling, flying, stinging and biting things that just won't leave me alone. We have some nameless, possibly huge and violent, possibly small and creepy, creature living in our roof space, and I dread the day when he works out how to get into bed with me.
I found myself longing for English rain!! I want to live where, although there are creatures, they are known and mostly leave me alone (Why don't UK mozzies bite me?) Suddenly, paradise as a concept is suspect. Is there a place on earth where EVERYTHING is perfect? I imagine that I am going to have to compromise, wherever I settle. So I am coming back to England, I will be stoic about the unpredictability of the weather in return for a bit of nice rain and temperatures more suited for humans, rather than lizards.
Yesterday, the temperature on our patio in the sun reached 110 deg F. Enough is enough.
