Letter to the month of March

My dear friend March,

I hope you're looking forward to your time in Tilos. We can't wait to have you here. If possible, please could you bring us some warm days (we had a couple in February and they were lovely, but it would be great to have some more!). Don't bother bringing any rain that floods the roads or freezing cold wind that whips up the sea into the air, or any of that thunder and lightning stuff - we had loads of it in February and to be honest we're a bit sick of it... I don't have any more jumpers and socks to put on. Moreover, Stelios hasn't been able to go fishing for a week and he's getting far too good at playing biriba and doing things like buying 30 litres of fresh olive oil which he then tries to decant into small bottles while I'm trying to have a serious conversation with my office.

Also, March, if you see any boats on the way, could you ask them to come to Tilos please and bring some meat and veg with them - oh, and the books I ordered weeks ago from Amazon? With all that cold weather I've been getting through quite a lot of reading.

Sorry you missed Kathari Deftera, but I guess you always do - you always come in Lent, between Clean Monday and Easter, and miss all the fun. Stelios and I went to eat lunch with a dozen friends, and for once I was quite grateful for a rainstorm in the morning as it meant we didn't have to drive up the treacherous road to Ayios Panteleimonas for it - I always have visions of one tiny slip of the steering wheel thanks to a rockslide and it's hasta la very sheer and very high cliff into the sea. Instead we celebrated indoors, and everyone brought mounds of seafood - crab legs, shellfish, taramasalata, kalamaria and of course lovely octopus - as well as bean salads and chick pea fritters and homemade semolina halva for dessert. Pretty much any foodstuff that isn't meat. The idea is to go out and fly kites afterwards, but most people just felt like collapsing. It felt like Christmas Day. I came back home and had to work for five hours, but at least I didn't have to break to make any snacks.

Well, here are some photos from the days when I did manage to get outside recently. There may come a time when I tire of sunny days walking to Eristos or Skafi, but I can't see it coming any time soon. Looking forward to seeing you, March!

Lots of love,
Jen

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