At a splendid birthday bash the other
evening (26 guests) at a delightful restaurant famous for its jube-jube tree, I
never knew jube-jubes actually existed or grew on trees, the talk naturally got
around to the crisis. Judging by the food that was being served you certainly
wouldn’t know a crisis existed and two English girls dining on their own were invited
to join us. They declined with thanks as they had already ordered and started their
meal but one of our lot got talking to them and it turned out they were on
holiday for a couple more days and couldn’t wait for their next visit. They
went on about how beautiful the island is and more importantly how warm,
hospitable friendly and generous are the Cretans. Sure there are bad apples,
there always are. It would be very strange if there weren’t but, on the whole,
visitors don’t tend to be ripped off despite reading at least one letter in Athens News every week someone’s tale of woe of it happening
to them, and the British press has a lot to answer for in their lies and ignorant
denigration of Greece that has devastated the tourist industry.
It would seem there is hardly a country
that isn’t undergoing some degree if financial crisis: Ireland, Spain, Italy,
Portugal, US of A and the UK isn’t exactly far behind but then it appears to me
that when it comes to spending (or overspending) no one is ready and able to
say, okay, this is the line, don’t cross it and so-called savings are
inevitably made in the wrong direction. For example maybe cutting back on the
armed forces is logical if Britain
isn’t going to go to war at the drop of a hat but cutting back on the police is
plainly ridiculous and dangerous. Not that they seem to be up to much cop these
days (unintended pun) with all the paperwork they have to do and all the elf
and safety precautions they have to take and the possibility of criminals
screaming of their yuman rights and trying to sue left right and centre. So how
is it in Britain
these days? I ask the question because one of the rumours circulating at the
dinner party was that 80% of panicking ex-pats have put their houses on the market
and are ready to return to the country they blithely abandoned when the going
here was so good. It is very foolish if true. One, it isn’t a seller’s market even
before being flooded with unwanted houses, and even if they manage to sell at a
much reduced price, what will that get them in England?
I hate to sound snobbish or ‘told you so’
but a great many of these ex-pats coming out here seeking the good life have never
made any attempt to integrate or contribute to Greek society. Some of them,
letting their homes for holidays, have the money paid in sterling into a British
bank which doesn’t do anything for the Greek economy even though the holiday
makers themselves obviously spend money whilst here. But they see bad times
ahead and have decided to make a run for it, the days of sand, sea, cheap
booze and cheap cigarettes are over. For some reason we nicknamed them the
Dagenham Brigade because despite their age their whole mentality is chav.
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