Tales from Crete | 72

What do you do when you're sitting on a wet Thursday night like this and have just come in with a drenched dog, whose name is of course Raki, who, like me, didn't think it was funny at all to come out and pee at night.

Yes, in my case, I thought of the story I would like to have ready by Friday morning. But what was I supposed to write about today when the inspiration was so-so?

Earlier in the evening I spoke on the phone with a really good friend in Crete, who could tell that the weather in Crete was basically the same as in Denmark right now and the usual Cretan winter weather, there had been basically none of it, just like us Denmark hasn't had any winter weather this winter either.

There are plenty of excuses and explanations, but none of us really know why the weather has changed as significantly as it has over the last few decades. Maybe it has something to do with Poseidon. According to Greek mythology, he was one of the 12 Olympian gods who ruled the sea, rivers, creeks, streams, springs and drinking water from his underwater abode and was the god of boats and chariots and horses. In pictures you can recognize him on the sea, the horses, and his trident, which looks like a huge fork. But like the other Olympian gods, Poseidon did not live on top of Mount Olympus, but, as I said, in the sea. With his characteristic trident, he could with a single wave create earthquakes and floods, and when there was thunder and lightning, according to mythology, it was Poseidon's horses and chariots that rumbled in the sky.

I think there are several places in Greek mythology that parallels can be drawn to Norse mythology. Thor in Norse mythology created lightning and thunder when he swung his hammer in his chariot pulled by goats and with his weapon he could fight the evil giants who lived in Udgård. It reminds me a bit of Poseidon.

Whether it is Poseidon or Thor who is the reason why the weather has changed as much as it has over the ages, whether it is because of us humans who over the millennia have increasingly spoiled nature, whether it is because of Co2 emissions, the greenhouse effect, felling of rainforests or whatever, I don't have to be smart about it. It could also be that our Christian God intended it to be this way or it's just a coincidence....who dares to give the final say reply? - I dare not. But in that question, as in so many other questions that we humans cannot answer with certainty, it has throughout all ages been very convenient to believe. "If faith can move mountains, it can easily move a small cliff like me", said the good Mr. Klint in the old Hostrup comedy Gjenboerne, and yes it can and it has always been able to, at least I believe.

But just on one point, I now neither believe that faith can move mountains, nor that anything else should be able to help, when a drenched dog with lots of fur enters the entrance, stands for a while and waits for the right moment, so that shake so that everything nearby becomes drenched.

Happy wet weekend to you all