YES or NO!

Facebook is simply bursting with links to TV interviews, speeches, twitters and blogs about the forthcoming referendum for the Greek people to decide whether they want to say Yes – to more years of austerity, and hard times or No and cast away the suggested proposals and protection of the EU and try to function alone with a vastly devalued currency.

In other words, Greece is perched between a rock and a hard place. None of the options are likely to solve the problem which – as most people will have gathered by now – has all to do with a monetary system which bears no relationship with reality. It is as if we are all in some bizarre symbolic version of Monopoly Wars with nations raising unimaginable quantities of banknotes based on no security whatsoever. I have to keep reminding ourselves that there is still food growing, bread in the shops and tourists largely unaffected by the drama of what is going on in people's lives. In addition, Crete is less affected by the austerity measures than the mainland because crops are still growing, tourists are still enjoying themselves and our Cretan friends with their rich Minoan history and tradition live close to their land and smallholdings. They do not suffer quite as much as the many others who left the villages, went to University, trained for professions and now find that these are the first people to find their urban lives so harshly affected. We have asked all our local friends about it. Niko at the Pharmacy says that for a short while it will be difficult, but he is optimistic. K now has to pay for his prescriptions in advance, while supply lines are shaky. Marina at the Cafe in Panormo says, “We don't want any more austerity but so long as we have barley rusks, tomatoes, olive oil and feta, we will survive OK”. Kimon's mates at the village Kafeneon talk about it constantly and nobody can really decide how to get out of this impasse.

Lots of graphs and economic explanations tell us that of all the bail out money received, only a small fraction of it actually helps anyone in Greece since it is paid back in interest to big banks in Germany and France and many other countries, including the UK before anything is available centrally. If you can believe statistics. Others raise the historical issue of the Bank of Greece's cancellation of a large debt owed by Germany after the second world war when things were bad and Germany was in the process of rebuilding the country. By Tuesday, there was so much divisive stuff that I turned the computer off in the end; none of this was helpful but it did launch me into a Utopian daydream about all countries around the world cancelling each others' debts and what the answers on the balance sheets would be in … Cloud Cuckoo Land.

It seems that Europe needs to work out what its priorities are and whether unity and security can be sustained under an economic system which, in spite of so many rules and regulations, manages to penalise the poor while the rich have all the aces to take evasive action. Do we really want to perpetuate a system of growth and inflation if the majority have a poor quality of life, in spite of what their bank balance tells them? I think quite a few people across the world admire Greece for getting people to stop and think about it.

Most of us expats do not have a vote either in our home countries or here in our country of residence, which is just as well as we have no idea how to solve the problem. We had a couple of days this week where there were some petrol supply blips and the banks have been closed, but in truth everyone we know kept minimal money in their Greek banks for some time now. This has all been going on for so long and in spite of pensions cuts, masses of extra taxes raised and austerity, Greece seems to be more indebted than ever.

Kimon was discussing the news with our friend Vassilis in Bali and they both said how sad they were that now we had to lock our houses each day when we went out and how times were changing. Worry did not stop Vassilis and Katerina from giving us a huge bag of oranges to take away with us from their trees. Kostas at the shop heard that I had learned how to make Kolokithiakeftedes – courgette rissoles - (delicious) and so cut half a dozen beauties from his kitchen garden for me to cook with. He refused to let K pay for them!

There is no price on love, care or friendship and fortunately, no rationing of that! None of this has spoiled the holiday of our son Leo and his friends who have been with us here in Crete this week.

The most moving photo from Facebook was a queue of people – not at the cash machine or at the garage but queuing up outside a church to light prayer candles. At last, we have realised that only God can sort this one out!