In the News

 For those waiting with baited breath for this account of Greyrocks' final weeks in September it is here at last! 

The theme of this post is the ways in which we have been touched by world events:

1.The effect of Climate Change

Firstly the the general warming, for we enjoyed what most agreed was the warmest September in living memory! The sea was a little cooler than earlier in the season, and the evenings became chilly, but there were maximum temperatures over 30 degrees on over half of the days in the month.

Forest fires remained a worry. Chloë and Jack arrived with further tales of the devastation on Evia that they had seen during their short stay with friend Tim and his γιαγιά. On our rare trips outside Paleo we would see swathes of scorched land.

Yet more dramatic has been the volcanic eruption and tremors on the Canary Island of La Palma, which began on 19th September.

 We have been following unfolding events in the Canarian press, and there are appeals for financial help for the victims, but as yet there are no discernible effects on the eastern islands. The national paper El Pais has full coverage in English, and - of course there is plenty on YouTube. We await ash cloud and acid rain.

Eight days after the volcano so close to our home there was a serious earthquake in Arkalochori whilst we were still in Crete. It happened at about 9.15 am and several friends said they felt it. 

Through our final days in Crete there was consternation, sympathy and some anger! The last at a policy whereby only vaccinated homeless could use the emergency shelters and the weather was deteriorating!  (Greece continues to have much ant-vax stuff going on!)

An update is that on October 12th there was a 6.3 earthquake at sea, off of Sitia threatening a tsunami!!

2. Migration

The Canaries has - throughout the summer - been the destination of numerous "pateras" with  refugees from conflict and destitution in many third world nations. The migration crisis is the source of much argument between the autonomous region and central government over the process of transporting them to the mainland, as only a few wish to stay on whichever island has received them. The statistics are striking. 24th September was the day with the most arrivals at 340 in 8 boats into Gran Canaria and La Graciosa. The figure for the year at that point was over 11,000 and that does not include those lost at sea, which is estimated as 785 including 50 children. The authorities expect the high numbers to continue into the autumn.

Crete in general and in particular Paleochora has over the years seen some irregular migration by boat, but on 24th September an incident involving 150 migrants in a "stand-off" took place in the sea off of Paleochora.  Chloë and Jack, who stay on the "stony side" witnessed the action.

And - still on migration and from the tragic to the absurd- Greyrocks performed its annual migration from Crete to Fuerteventura as September ended. It needed to be done without landfall in any "third country" and take no more than two days. Details of the complications are in following posts. We also needed to clear all belongings from the rooms we have used each of eight summers to our new place. Our usual driver was not around so we were joined by Chloë and Jack in an attempt to shift it all in one trip on foot. Bob "borrowed" a supermarket trolley. When he returned it empty an employee came out to assist the old man with retrieval of the euro!

3. Covid data and restrictions

In Paleo there was a sense of "recovery" as more tourists arrived, the kids went back to school and curfews were eased, but there was little music beyond the street musicians and masks were still needed in the supermarkets. Fuerteventura, conversely, found itself the only island still on Level 3 restrictions, and that was what we expected to find on our return. We downloaded and completed the special form for entry into Level 3 islands, giving "return to regular domicile" as our justification. It went into the large folder of documents for travel, but it wasn't needed as on the day before migration the level dropped to 2. (Update: two weeks at Level 2 - as of 14th October Level 1 with all the other islands!)

4. Pulling down statues

Not as in Bristol etc the unseating of colonialist, racist slavers, but the loss of an iconic statue in Paleo. The silhouette in brown sheet metal was created by a Dutch artist, and based on a contemporaneous sepia photograph of early visitors, which has been on sale in postcard form for many years. He donated it to the village, but this was not universally welcomed and it has been located in several places - the most recent of which has been near the Palm Tree forming a pleasing addition to sunset shots!

But sometime in September it disappeared! There is a rumour that it was seen beside the road on the way to Chania. We hope it is there for repair (as it was getting a bit worn and vandalised) and no other reason! What did the guys do wrong - let alone the donkey? 

Waves

 

It's looking as if the fifth wave of Covid is over in Spain, and particularly in the Canaries, where Lanzarote has startled onlookers such as Greyrocks  with its speedy and dramatic reduction in active cases. Meanwhile on Fuerteventura it has been a mixed picture, with this week a new death (now standing at 17)  a drop below 100 in the active cases followed by a resurgence (currently 112) and the highest 7-day IA of all the islands. The good news is that as of yesterday there are no cases in the hospital. As Greyrocks sees their migration looming there is a sigh of relief,

The nome of Chania has also continued to see  much better numbers for daily cases, although there is a blip for yesterday at 56.

September has seen the third wave of tourists as far as Greyrocks is concerned. Older, child-free, deeply loyal to Paleo and determined to find a sunbed and umbrella - which is very tricky this year if they want to be in the naturist zone! The September thing has been recorded elsewhere in the blog, but what is striking this year is the shortfall of umbrellas. In charge this season is Yiannis' stepson - Boris (Bobby) from Northern Macedonia. He gets a hard time over this, as there are swathes of sand without any kit, and there are piles of unused beds. The reason is that erosion of sand has left so little on top of rock that further umbrellas cannot be buried sufficiently. There is also the issue of spacing for compliance this season.  He has also - in spite of it being well ultra vires - defended our tree spot and explained our situation to angry folk!

The heatwave is now a distant memory! But there has been a run of days with high and forceful marine waves! This has kept Ruth - at least - out of the sea for fear of being knocked over. We have seen several falls of this type, but some people never learn! Hassan was back after quite an interlude and produced a sand sculpture with two of his favourite subjects: a lion being cuddled by a young woman. It was destroyed overnight by the waves, and he is now unlikely to create any more this season! 

And finally a tribute to The Wave taverna (To Kyma) which hosted a party of 23 for Ju's 65th birthday. Many of us went for the fresh fish for which in Greyrocks' opinion this place is top of the pile (with some real "sharks" around)!

During the meal the strolling players came onto the terrace to sing and dance, and after it we  were entertained by Rainer's boys, and then Charlie. A lovely warm gathering of friends of long standing, taking place on the coldest evening this season!

 

Amber Update

 ... a speedily composed post to record some good news for Greyrocks!

Wind speed and gusts on 3rd Sept.

Yesterday (Friday) was "nothing to write home about"!

At 6.30 am Ruth was awakened by a gust of wind recorded as 74 km/hr! It was clear that we would not be going to the beach. We would be sand-blasted just on the walk! So we spent time on "useful things" at spiti, and then wandered around the village collecting free extra drinks and mezedes. "Someone has to do it!"

We were out early for dinner as we had an accommodation-related engagement, both of which activities turned out to involve more free drinks and sweets! Late in the evening we became aware that To Liri tis Papas was playing its usual excellent mix of music at normal volume and the atmosphere was jolly! Greyrocks had failed to catch the news - spread by word of mouth - that this was the day on which the nome of Chania (along with Rethymnon) came out of its three week "mini-lockdown". An end to the curfew and an end to the ban on music in bars etc! Apparently over at the cantina the band had "got together again" with gusto, but Greyrocks had missed it!

The relaxation of the rules is wonderful news for self-interest, but does also indicate that three-quarters of the island has seen much improved data, with Chania's latest figure for daily new cases down to 37 from well over 100 last week. 

 

We're out of the red!