Wat in de zomer aandoenlijk lijkt kan in de winter minder vrolijk stemmen. Dat ondervond de Canadese schrijver David Solway¹ toen zijn vakantiehuis op Paxos ten prooi viel aan novemberstormen. Een Griekse klusjesman kwam de tochtende voordeur repareren: ‘Casting around for a shim of wood to patch the hole in the lower part of the door, he seized upon our breadboard, instantly chopped it into three segments with two decisive strokes of his axe, and hammered one of the scraps into place. The wind still bullies through. He affixed several thin slats of wood over the longitudinal cracks. Now I have to flatten out the nails that poke alarmingly out of the front of the door before someone inadvertently crucifies himself."