Welcome to Crete. I expect you will be
sick of Brexit fall out or speculation about the future of our
nation, our currency, our international relationships while
politicians in London grapple about for words or plans for the
outcome of the referendum - which, it seems, was totally unexpected.
Needless to say, people living here who regard themselves as British
and European hoped to remain in the EU and never expected that
everything would turn inside out at this stage of their lives.
For the first few days, we went through
all the emotions of 48% of those back home .. disbelief, anger,
bereavement over the spirit of Britain and eventually thanked God
that we were living in austerity burdened Greece. In spite of living
through desperate and increasing poverty here (pensions are now one
third of what they were five years ago), Greek people have never
stopped looking after each other or the thousands of refugees arriving on their
shores to the best of their ability. The danger of this journey and
the camps where refugees are housed convince them that no one would
attempt it unless they were absolutely desperate. They
have not stopped reaching out. When we first arrived in Crete and went
to pay our first Water Bill, the clerk listened as K explained that
we had bought an old stone house in need of renovation and planned to
settle here forever. The young man stretched out his hand and said
“Congratulations and welcome!” Though born and educated in England, this sense of welcome had never been
extended to K in his life before. It puts the blinkers of many Brits
into sharp comparison. All the expert advice about Brexit was
soundly ignored. A campaign based on big fat lies won a very hollow
victory by a vote backed by a political leadership, no more stable
than a house of cards. The worst result is that racism and bullying
are now deemed to be acceptable among those people who believe that
they have won “their country back”. The cosy Miss Marple idea of
their 'Britain' has nothing to do with reality; Britain has been
invaded by waves of incomers before the times of the Romans and
Vikings for millennia and the illusion is blinding them to the value
of communities made up of all their parts, no matter who or from
where. So many of the real issues of concern like oversubscribed
schools and getting medical appointments in these hard times will not
be helped in any way by leaving Europe and needed to be sorted out by
national and local government. The best we can say is that Britain
scored a home goal, but let's not talk about the football either!
Meanwhile there are many Greeks who are
openly envious of the Brits' escape and wish they had left Europe
five years ago, so it is good to have given them a bit of a lift!
Anyway, we cannot do anything and are having to leave exchange rate changes and health care worries on the
back burner. We need to stay positive at the moment because Crete is
welcoming lots of tourists this year and it is the growing season.
All the shops and wayside stalls are full of wonderful greek salad
fare, melons, fruits and the grape vine clinging to the front fence
has done us proud with pounds and pounds of lovely grapes.
We are also delighted to have had a
visit from our son and girlfriend, which means we can go out and
about a lot to see the sights and enjoy the very hot weather. We
have been travelling about more widely recently, visiting folk at
more distant parts of the island. Fathers Day in Plakas, near Vamos;
shopping at the English shop at Litsarda called Greengibble for tea
bags and my first visit to the Open Air Cinema in Rethymno to see the
film “The Dressmaker”. It was one of Anna's first outings
since the fractured leg and thoroughly enjoyed by us all.
So we have been consoling ourselves and
overeating, enjoying the sunshine and trying to do as little cooking
as possible in this fierce heat. Our plan is to visit Rethymnon and for the
youngsters to mooch about the medieval town with its shady alley ways
and pretty garden restaurants. Trips to Margeritas for ceramics and Lake
Kournas as well as a bus trip to Chania are planned and all of these
holiday jaunts are followed up by falling into the sea at teatime
each evening to cool us down a bit. We thank our lucky stars that
there are compensations to all this uncertainty.
For the UK, this has not been 'our
finest hour', but hours pass and we resignedly wait for the next
chapter of the drama.
