Earlier this week, here in Athens, we were experiencing all the winter that we have missed for the past three months. It was witch weather: wild winds from the north, flashes of lightning, long rolls of thunder and torrential sleet and rain. The mountains that I usually look at from my windows disappeared behind screens of opaque cloud and, when they did appear, their tops were frosted with snow. Removed as I am from the heart of the city, I could see Lykavitos, Filopappos and the Acropolis loom ghostly from the mist, like ships at sea. Everything was damp and cold and grey, but it was no less beautiful.