The world from my window

In Kerkyra, the holidaymakers have packed up and have gone home. Direct flights will, for the winter months at least, be a thing of the past and we will need to go via Athens if we want to get back to the Enchanted Village. Tavernas are closed, tables and chairs are stacked up in the corners. In Corfu Town, gift shop prices have been slashed in the old town. Novelty olivewood products, ancient Greek erotic calendars and evil eyes try to charm the visitors from the cruise ships as the tourists wander around, idly, not sure if they will, not sure if they won't, thank you very much. The pace is much slower. Even the boy racers have stopped racing. The smell of woodsmoke replaces the sweet and sour smell of old drains. The nets are out beneath the olive trees, in case any olives should drop before the harvest in a few months' time. Like the UK, the clocks have gone back. We are still two hours ahead but it gets darker much earlier. But the sea is still warm. Beautiful...

The month here is hurtling towards its end and Halloween, the Witch's New Year. A time when the veil between past, present and future is oh so thin. So thin you might just be able to see beyond into the other world. Here in Agios Magikades, as in many other Greek villages, the dead have the best view of all. No trick or treaters, I hope. For this is the land of ancient magic, where Thessalian witches drew down the moon and people still believe in charms to protect against the evil eye. More of that later in the week, perhaps. But today, as the clocks went back, Greece recalled a less ancient and more modern history. Here in Corfu, war memorials, public buildings and village squares were awash with Greek flags. There were marching bands and recollections of stronger, firmer times when in October 1940, the prime minister Ioannis Metaxas said  'ohi ' to Mussolini's ultimatum on an Italian occupation. It brought Greece into the war on the allied side and 'No...