Monday, March 05, 2012

The Stormbringer

It’s enough to make a man turn to Zeus. I walked out onto my little balcony overlooking the bay. I just did my finances after shopping for food for the week. 100 euros left after setting aside accommodation, travel back to Athens and 50 for contingency. The car hire man charges 30 euro a day, so I am a little stuck in Vathi, although I will probably blow 60 euros on car hire leaving me with 40 for petrol and nice things with whatever is left. Essentially, I am on a crazy tight budget. So I go out onto the balcony to make a decision in the open air.

“What shall I do today then? Is it a working day or an exploring day?”

No sooner have I finished the sentence, but there is a jagged lash of forked lightning off to the right of the bay, an almighty crack of thunder, the temperature drops about 4 degrees and it starts to shit it down with rain. Then a cloud descends over the hill opposite pretty much completely obscuring it from view. Well, according to Zeus, it’s a working day. This looks like it has set in for the morning, and I’m not renting a car to drive on the right on unfamiliar mountain roads in a fogstorm. In fact, thinking about it, we’re IN the stormcloud. Larding it on a bit thick aren’t you Zeus?

Well – perfect time for me to be getting on with some work.

I have a windy rain thing – what are they called? Lintel? Awning? That thing you get over shops. I wind it down. Now I am typing beneath it. I lucked out with this accommodation.

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