Dark and blustery
(Photos today from Neil and a few years old.)
I started writing this post during a brief power cut at 6.15 yesterday morning, but all I could think of to describe was the darkness. The wind was howling, the temperature down to eight degrees out of the wind, and there were few stars to see. Not that I ventured onto the roof in my slippers for long, for fear of being blown off it and/or freezing. Then the lights came back on, and normality was restored. Normality right now being, work at the desk on a kneel-up stool (the piano stool is on its way to the bin) surrounded by the bits and pieces from Neil’s room which is still in the being-painted stage and my own clutter which is waiting for the new furniture to arrive.
This happened four years ago – the wait for Ikea, I mean. When we moved house, I ordered some new things for the new house, and we sent off an order to Ikea. There’s a showroom in Rhodes, apparently, but you can’t nip over and buy and bring back; you have to order. We do it online. It’s much easier and more cost effective unless you happen to be in Rhodes anyway. Four years ago, the order was on its way, but strong winds caused boats to be cancelled, and we watched the ferry pass the island for about two weeks before it landed. Our new sofas were having a great, if rough, cruise, while we sat on garden chairs which had seen better days and fell apart beneath us. This time, the new computer table and other things are taking the trip, or, more likely, waiting in a container somewhere, but that’s how it is at this time of year. At least with the new harbour, the big ferry can get in in rough weather – as long as it’s allowed to sail, which at the moment, it isn’t.
The sea has popped into Yialos to flood the road a little but nothing too drastic and nothing we’re not used to. Luckily, there has been no repeat f the storm of 2017, though I expect some of the loose rocks and topsoil has been washed away, and the sea, when it rains, has turned a dark reddish brown as it does when the soil ends up washed down from the mountains and straight into the harbour. I don’t know for sure, the shutters are closed, and I’m not going back on that roof unless I have to.
