Snow in Athens

In Athens, it only snows about two or three days a year, and the infrastructure is closed down, along with most shops, as the logic goes; It's cheaper to close everything than to maintain snow clearing equipment.

Having not seen snow in some time, I regarded it as a bit of a novelty.

A snow cat I sculpted in Piraeus to commemorate the occasion.

My first attempt at a snow cat sculpture.

In Piraeus, where we were staying, there was but a light sprinkle of snow faerie dust upon the landscape. Nothing drastic. Not too cold. Not too windy. Just enough to saturate the air with a quality of fantastical mystique.

A small snowman overlooking the sea in Piraeus, crafted by an unknown local.

Another creative snowman, melting in the Greek sun.

A snowman found on the sidewalk in Piraeus.

Kate brought me back down to Earth, and popped the bubble of my fanciful fantasy, explaining how it's a bit of a vacation for everyone due to the weather anomaly.

"MALAKIA WEATHER!." she swore, and proceeded to give me an impromptu Greek language masterclass.

"Malakia," is used when describing a thing or referring to a situation, while "Malaka" is used to describe a person in an unfavorable light. It literally translates to "man who masturbates," but also can mean "soft," "weak," "stupid," "depraved," "wanker," or refer to a mental illness. Depending on the context and intention of the speaker, this magical word can be used to offend or be an endearing an affectionate pet name you employ when referring to a close mate.

Before adding this naughty word to your vocabulary, please keep the following local connotations in mind:

Kate continued to impress the dangers of snow in Athens on my ignorant psyche:

It's very dangerous with so many closed roads and people trapped for more than six hours. They can't go anywhere. Someone might die from the cold. They won't have fuel forever. And most of them don't have water or food with them or even chargers for their phones or pills they may need to take.

Lesson learned.