The joy of spring

Zapi

Today I woke to heavy rain which has continued, on and off, all through the day.  Yesterday was very different, a beautiful, slightly hazy, soft-light, warm spring day.  I spent it as pleasantly as it deserved.  First gathering pebbles for a "beach" feature I am making in my garden, then strolling, with my regular strolling companion, along an undulating track lined with flowering sage, gorse and a multitude of smaller plants.  The heavily scented track led us from the pebble covered beach which we had plundered, around the back of a headland, to the sandy beach at Zapi where we ate picnics, talked life and books and read poems in the sunshine at Maria's, closed for the winter, taverna.

Shocking scenes

Kasimiotis' Hotel: the remains of the covered dining area floor.

Until last Thursday I had not visited Kosta's beachside hotel since the storms struck in February.  The scenes of destruction I saw there on Thursday shocked me.  The hotel has suffered no damage but what have hitherto been its dining and play areas have been totally destroyed.  For years he has thrown a party there for Easter lunch.  I doubt he will be able to do so this year.  Indeed, he will be hard pushed to get the place ready for the summer season which usually begins on the first weekend of May.

In past summers I have often dined here at a table on the beach from where I watched younger,  fitter types play volleyball.  When I saw it last Thursday their pitch was no more than a depository for piles of smashed trees.  

Lady in red

She is quite a lot younger, less angular, a little more rounded, unblemished, cleaner, a lot less open and, although sprightlier in most ways, she feels a lot tighter.  The man from whom I bought her treated me kindly as well he might; this is my second purchase from him, my last was but eleven years ago, and he has every reason to look forward to more custom from me eleven years rom now.