In the interests of assuring the world that I’m still alive, here’s an observation about the weather in Greece compared to the weather in the Netherlands.

No, not the one you’re thinking of.

What I’ve noticed is that Greece has seasons that don’t mess around. Dutch seasons are defined by averages: you’re only sure that Winter is over in hindsight (when the last cold snap turns out, indeed, to be the last) and Spring shades imperceptibly into Summer. Here when Spring hits: bam it’s warm every day, and the trees come out in ridiculous amounts of blossom. Greeks put away their winter clothes because they know they’re not going to need them any more, and move their furniture outside because they know that if it rains at all from now on, it’ll be short-lived and everything will dry out quickly.

I suspect the transition to Summer will be equally clear: there will come a day when the heat is harsh, not gentle, and then we’ll know that we’re in for a solid two months of hiding indoors or ducking off to the beach in the afternoon, and sweating through the night.

For the moment, though, the afternoons are too hot for digging ditches but perfect for picking cherries; the tomatoes are ripening and the cucumbers heavy on the vine; and I’m not missing Amsterdam at all.