All around there are signs of life after a long, cold winter here in Greece. It is 19 degrees here and the snow on the mountain tops is clearly melting before my eyes. Hence the dry river which one must cross to get up the Greek Hovel is now, as you can see below, a babbling brook. Little streams are appearing from nowhere keeping the roads wet although the puddles on the mud track are shrinking with every day. Everything is green with flowers of many colours springing to life. Sadly they are not the only things springing to life.
Spotting numerous lizards scuttling across the road, I thought it wise to buy some snake repellent canisters to lay around the house. The man at the hardware shop said that he had already seen one viper but had not managed to kill it. I asked him to say no more but he then told me the whole story of how it had escaped. Touchingly he then reflected on how adders do good things like killing rats and, after all, we were invading their space. I said that I’d rather they did not invade my space and he promised that, next time, he’d do the decent thing and go for the kill.
So far I have yet to meet a snake but I did encounter a far more loveable member of the wildlife diverstity community on the road to Kambos yesterday. More on that, with photos, later. Pro tem I have a man up here to strim the long grass all around the house and pool. It won’t keep the snakes away but at least you will be able to see them coming..
