Looking at the amount of paper used in the elections and thinking of how much must have been used nationally both in sheets and envelopes, I wonder how many trees had to bite the dust to provide it. People’s ideas on economics seem to be very strange. Greece is billions and billions of Euro in debt but Athens is to get a new metro line at the cost of more billions that surely must add to the debt and I wonder just how much these elections cost. When the Euro came into being it was decided it would have no plural, just Euro and Euro, not Euros and it always sounds strange. I suppose the reason was that as it is the currency of so many countries and the grammar of each country is different, there would be no universal plural anyway. Sounds logical. What would it be in Greek? Well first of all it has to be decided if the Euro is masculine, feminine, or neuter What would its plural be in Greek Eurea? (not very nice sounding) Eures? Ah well, I suppose life goes on its merry merry unfathomable way. Evidently next Sunday the voting will be much simpler: just two pieces of paper this time and you don’t even have to put a mark on them. You decide which party you want to vote for and simply put their sheet in the envelope. It was the communist party, the KKE that got knocked out. I have to hand it to them, they do try hard even if they never get anywhere, and if they did get anywhere would they know what to do when they got there? That is a big question.
Evidently there were already some nasty goings on and chicanery last Sunday, in Almerida and Plaka, two areas inundated with Brits and other assorted Europeans who were either intimidated or locked out of their respective polling stations for a while, so I am told. I don’t know how true this is but one has to ask, is Greece a third rate country? It’s the kind of thing one hears about in Africa for example, Iran, Afghanistan, the Balkans, but Greece? As far as the quality of life is concerned, according to the United Nations Human Development Index (there’s a mouthful look you as a Welshman might say) Greece is listed at 22, the UK at 26. Norway heads the list so why doesn’t everybody want to go and live in Norway? Norwegians in fact are coming to Greece, so are the Russians.
Wax mats! Have you heard of wax mats? They are little squares of irresistible something or other for rats and they contain poison. You put them under the roof. Douglas and Chris discovered them while out shopping the other day. Again perhaps a nasty way to go but at least our consciences are clear with the failure of the glue pads.
Also discovered was a special insect spray. We were at our wits end with the plague of flies, all due to the weather we’re informed. Ordinary fly spray is fine if you can use it where there is no food or surfaces on which food is prepared. This one evidently you spray on walls and floors. After only a few days a new fly paper went up and within minutes caught its first victims.
The first mandarin of the year- being windfall not quite ripe so not as sweet as it could be. The tree is doing so well, the biggest crop of mandarins ever. The wind has been so fierce I’m rather surprised there haven’t been more on the ground.

PS: Because of the number of Brits living in Plaka, the Baxter kids renamed it “Upper Plaka Garden City”. I’m so glad we didn’t buy there.