A change in the weather

Written 3rd October

To quote Bob Dylan " a change in the weather, it's goin' to be extreme". Bob wrote that back in the 1970's. If my memory serves me right, it's from "You're a big girl now" on Blood on the Tracks. That line has revisited me on the penultimate day of our stay in Crete.

I've woken with two differing sensations, the first is pain, my big toe is throbbing, the aftermath of our trip to the Gorge. I'm not that surprised as I've suffered from ingrowing toe nails for the past 50 years, and my feet took a hammering on the downhill section of Sunday's walk. The other sensation is that the weather is changing. I thought I could hear wind in the night, but in fact it was the sound of the waves. Having been near silent for the past twelve days perhaps this is a reminder that it's now October and autumn will soon hit even Crete.

In an attempt to get our legs back to normal , we decided to take a good walk around the old town of Rethymno, up past the Fortress before walking towards the sea. The waves are pounding the rocks in a way we've not seen before, the sea no longer a transparent blue is now the shade of grey familiar to anyone who has sat on a beach in the south of England.

For two minutes, no longer, at breakfast it rained. Now this would not warrant a mention at home, however in conversation with a local shopkeeper who was selling me a pair of sandals (the first pair I've had since childhood), she said that was the first rain since April. Stunningly she remembered the last time it rained well " it was a Sunday" she replied.

A summer of complete sunshine unlike in Britain. However that has not been good news to the people of Crete. Later in the day we spoke to a bar worker in the pub where we had spent time watching football and cricket during our visit. She said September had been a good month, but in comparison July and August had been poor. The reason, extreme heat. Temperatures had reached the mid 40's centigrade. Now whether the heat kept the tourists away is probably unknown, we sense that some people across Europe have been apprehensive about travelling to Greece. Scare stories about the Greek economy undoubtedly haven't helped.

My mind turned yet again to extreme weather. In Britain we had drought in early spring and high levels of rain throughout summer. In Crete no rain and intense heat, a similar pattern has occurred in much of the USA. As October brings the end of the tourist season , this was another sharp reminder that the effects of climate change are many, while our experiences have been different, both changes will have had an impact upon food production in this sense the effects of "extreme weather" are shared.