A Tale of Two Trips…

We travelled twice to Crete
once was a holidayof two weeks
once was something different for six months.
The first time we stayed with
my sister-in-law and her partner
who gave up their bed
for her sister and I.

We hired a car
and left him to his work
and her to hers
rescuing cats
thankless by Cretans
and we travelled that corner of Crete
the lofty coast road south to Sitia
great banks of flowering shrubs
in their pomp
painting our way
giving glimpses of the empty sea
blue below.
Returning, the sunset meal
above a dizzying drop
down to the sea
and opposite the entrance
the coolest water flowing silently
into a trough
out of the heart of the mountain.
We gazed in awe at the Ha Gorge
where only younger people
in wetsuits might slide down
from pool to pool
and then not without risk
to life and limb.

In the year of the pandemic
in September, the disease settling in
for the long haul and we
periodically locked down
made an escape before borders
clanged firmly shut
at the sister-in-law’s suggestion
because Crete had no cases
and the winter would be warmer
than that in England
and we could keep company
installed in a winter vacant flat next door.
Two weeks in
Crete locked down
with a decisive severity
at odds with England’s ‘s Boris led
shilly-shallying silliness
even though Crete was almost Covid free
and England certainly was not!

The winter, as promised
as warm as an English summer
as befits a country
a mere stone’s throw from Africa
with only the occasional storm
thundering around the many mountains.
Oh! We had a grandstand view
from our apartment in Elounda
the sun bursting up across the bay
the evening light rendering
the mountains purple and gold
so crisply shadowed
you felt you could reach out
across twenty miles
and touch their roughness
where they fought
a losing battle against the elements
solid slabs descending into slopes of scree.

But when all was said and done
we were trapped in a gilded cage
on a short leash at best
allowed to local shops
suitably masked and sidestepping
others in a semblance of social distancing
but longer trips forbidden
more living but less sightseeing.

And yet…
on my solitary exercise walks
down to the two town supermarkets
I watched the tiny Cretan olives
ripen to purple-blackish bloom
the family bubbles
spread the nets beneath the trees
and mechanically flail
the harvest to the ground
afterward – pruning-burning bonfires
raising columns of smoke
all over the island
and eventually I saw
the tiny olive flowers
blossom to make next year’s crop
sights you wouldn’t see
on a two-week holiday.

My reward when I reach the town
a masked conversation
with the supermarket’s owner
at her checkout
an unexpected Pink Floyd superfan
telling of a last ticket
last minute flight
to see the group play
an ancient Athens amphitheatre
whilst I exchange a treasured memory
of the week I worked for the group
in the run-up to the premiere of The Wall
my bucket list never saw that coming!
I add the memories
and many photos
to my store.

We do not look back on it
as a holiday
more time served
under lockdown
albeit in a beautiful cell
and though we can say
we lived in Crete for six months
it was not life as we know it…

Posted for dVerse Poets Pub to the prompt Vacation. We don’t use the word vacation so much as holiday if I may be permitted…
© Andrew Wilson 2023