I wish you a good winter

The school holidays have officially come to an end. Schools in Greece start up again today after a long three-month summer break. This may sound rather late to many of you, but that's got nothing to do with me; ask the government why Greek children go back to school in the iddle of September. I also can't understand why teachers get 12 weeks away from school in the summer (not to mention the 2-week Easter and 2-week Christmas breaks), and still complain that they are underpaid.

When people in Greece come back to school or work after the long summer vacation, they wish each other Καλό χειμώνα (kalo heemona), which means "I wish you a good winter."



Snow does not fall often in Hania. We do not really understand the phenomenon, as it falls very rarely. When it's snowing, everyone treats the moment as a happy hour. The fractures clinic at the local hospital has a field day trying to cope with the numbers of idiots who go out into the snow without the right footwear, while insurance agents lay claim after claim for crashed cars. But when it does snow here, it is a real treat.

This photo was taken on February 13 2004 when my neighbourhood (my house is the one on the right) was covered in snow - the only time we have ever had such a heavy snowfall in my town since I have been living here (for the last 15 years). But I wasn't there to see it (my neighbour took the photo). I was on a Singapore Airlines flight heading to Athens, when suddenly we were informed that we were going to land in Thessaloniki instead, because the airport in Athens was closed to all flights due to the heavy snowfall. As we flew over the country, we noticed that icebergs had sprouted in the sea - at least, that's what the Greek islands looked like after they were covered in snow.

We landed in Thessaloniki, capital of Macedonia, with the sun shining brightly. It did seem a sort of paradox that Athens (as well as Hania) was covered in snow, while the north of Greece, always colder than the south, had no snow. I'd never been to Thessaloniki before, so I thought my family could do some exploring there. We were wearing the summer clothes we had travelled with on our two-month journey to the Antipodes. My sister was to bring our winter coats with her when she picked us up at Athens airport, which of course was not going to happen now. We left the airplane in great excitement.

To our dismay, it was freezing: -8 degrees Celsius. Bright sunlight, no snow, freezing temperatures. We were taken to Kempinski Hotel for the night (yes, it was very grand, thank you Singapore Airlines), and there we stayed, not venturing outdoors, not even onto the balcony. We left the next morning, slightly dazed, feeling an opportunity lost to the elements.