Sanders Blog

26th July, 2015

Another day of rain. The arid, yellowing lawns are already greening up and gardeners’ watering duties suspended. We were just preparing to go out to exercise when Amazon texted me to say they were about to deliver a parcel so enforced rest was observed. In Greece, Varoufakis has claimed that he was authorized by Alexis Tsipras last December to look into a parallel payment system that would operate using wiretapped tax registration numbers (AFMs) and could eventually work as a parallel banking system.

He was assisted by an international hedge fund led by Norman Lamont to plan a payment system that could operate in euros but which could be changed into drachmas “overnight” if necessary. Interesting and illuminating stuff!

27th July, 2015

Love Mondays – now in retirement. It has been an enjoyable and a sultry day. Morning cleaning and tidying the flat. Afternoon working out at the Health Club. Early evening saw a tenth visitor viewing the property. We left ten minutes before the estate agent brought the prospective buyers round. We had organised it so we could do a bit of shopping. We are gorging on boxes of black cherries from Kent, raspberries from Scotland, blackberries and strawberries from Kent. They make a wonderful sweet. We are also enjoying donut-shaped peaches from Spain which we first bought a couple of years ago in Mario’s Supermarket on Sifnos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Greeks have already started to attempt to resile from the agreement Tsipras signed. They have attempted to float the hope that they need not sell off power generation. The European taskmasters have come back quite strongly. Kathimerini reports:

the next issue to create friction is whether Greece will have to pass a third bill containing prior actions before completing the agreement with the institutions. European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva suggested that Athens would have to do more in the coming weeks.

“More reforms are expected from the Greek authorities to allow for a swift disbursement under the ESM,” she said at a briefing yesterday.

This will make Tsipras’ job in rallying his rag-tag coalition to face the inevitable. Meanwhile, the ECB is keeping its foot on the neck of the Greek economy and refusing to allow Greece to re-open the Athens Stock Exchange because of fears of capital flight through stock transactions. Kathimerini reports:

Over the weekend Frankfurt reportedly rejected at least three times proposals submitted by the Greek regulating authorities (the Bank of Greece and the Capital Market Commission) asking for the reopening of the bourse, which has now entered its second month of inactivity.

This just increases the Greek humiliation and underlines where the true power lies.

28th July, 2015

We live our lives on fairly calm, tranquil emotions of love and responsibility. We rarely see peaks and troughs but try to maintain a steady equilibrium. I am aware that there are those who prefer to indulge in the highs and lows of emotional experience but that is not me. Today, we were just getting in to our car after an hour’s hard exercise when I noticed a new, estate car reversing rather erratically out of its parking space and going dangerously close to another vehicle parked there. I had to look twice when the estate car hit the other vehicle at some pace. As it pulled away, I could see considerable damage to both vehicles. It looked as if the estate was going to leave without acknowledging the accident.

I didn’t quite take it in when the estate reversed at speed for a second time and hit the same car again. That’s a sign of panic, I thought in an attempt to rationalise what I’d just seen. A man came out of the Health Club and started to remonstrate with the estate driver as they reversed for a third time in to the same parked vehicle. My slow brain suddenly twigged that the actions were deliberate. I was watching, dumbstruck when a woman got out of the estate and started shouting at the man from the Health Club about him cheating on her with a woman down the road even though she, his partner, was suffering from cancer. The drama was all too much for me. We drove home in a daze.

Talking about being in a daze reminds me of what is happening or about to happen to Greek islanders. Not only is VAT being raised on their central earning power in tourism but that wonderful, left wing government is going to make sure they really pay all their taxes – VAT, (Real) Income Tax, (Accurate) Property Tax and all the other taxes that they’ve been trying to avoid for as many years as we’ve been going there. This is the way modern states get their inhabitants to pay for their infrastructure services. Currently, Greece has thousands of unfilled teacher places in its schools. I wonder why?

Ta Nea – the Greek News – is running a report of sweeping inspections and controls in the Aegean and Ionian islands which have thrown up massive incidents of tax evasion. They should have talked to me. I could have pointed them in the right direction. I have written extensively to Trifon Alexiadis, the new deputy finance minister, with some suggested targets to inspect. As I understand it, those caught deliberately evading tax payment will not be fined or blackmailed as before. They will be hauled before the courts with imprisonment at the end of it. This is what is required if the government want to get themselves out of this hole.

29th July, 2015

Quite a cool morning although very sunny. We were warned that temperatures would drop last night. I must wish Happy Birthday to my sister, Jane BG, who is 63 today – a figure that is greater than her weight by any measure!

She’s been on the run for as long as I can remember. They’ll catch up with her one day. Heard from an old, Sifnos friend today which was nice. I’m feeling a bit nervous because I’m taking Pauline to hospital at St Peter’s for an endoscopy examination. Fortunately, Pauline seems quite calm. I’ll be leaving her there for two or three hours and coming home to try and take my mind off it by watching the Test Match. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Of course, I should have predicted it but the Estate Agent has phoned twice in the last hour. The lady who came to view last night wants to come back for a second viewing on Friday afternoon. Suddenly the phone goes again and someone else wants to come and view this afternoon. I can’t refuse so I’ve got an hour to straighten up before I go to collect Pauline. Just when the Test Match was going so well as England have Australia 93 for 6. Happy Days!

Three hours later, I have collected Pauline from the hospital – a little groggy because of the sedation. We took a slow drive home and just managed to miss the viewing but, half an hour later as we were preparing our meal, the potential buyer wanted an instant second viewing and rather surprised us.

30th July, 2015

Took Pauline in to town to have her hair cut and to perk her up after her ordeal yesterday. I sat in a coffee shop with Wi-Fi and read my paper. As soon as we got home, I enjoyed England turning the screw on the Australians and then went to the Health Club while Pauline prepared Duck and salad for our meal. At lunchtime (a misnomer in our case) tomorrow, we have another ‘second viewing’ of our property which means our morning activities are largely prescribed. We are going to a family barbecue on Sunday so Pauline is busily planning sweet treats to take with us.

In Greece it never rains but it heatwaves – to coin a phrase:

• Two high-speed ferry boats collided today while setting sail from the Port of Piraeus. The Jet-1 catamaran, headed to Sifnos, Milos, Ios and Santorini with 307 passengers on board, and the Athina flying dolphin, en route for Angistri and Aegina with 60 people on board, collided as they started to sail out of the port.
• Not content with the economic disaster of recent weeks, the union representing Greece’s air traffic controllers today announced a four-hour walkout on Wednesday, August 5, and warned of further action
• The government will not only continue to impose the Single Property Tax (ENFIA) on owners but it will also use existing objective values – property rates used for tax purposes that are typically above market prices – to determine the level of the tax payable by owners. The Government intend to front load the tax so that those with properties valued at €300,000+ will pay an extra charge – and only rightly!

The temperature at 10.30 am (Greek Time) was 35C/95F and now, at 11.15 pm (Greek Time), it is 30C/85F. As a number of bloggers wrote today – UNCOMFORTABLE!

31st July, 2015

The last day of July, 2015. It is twelve months since we last clapped eyes on the Poison Dwarf. What Joy! Today was a lovely one for weather and activity. Warm and sunny, we did an early Sainsbury’s shop, watched England win the Test Match by annihilating Australia and then did an hour in the gym. We returned home to find the lady who had come for a second viewing of our property was just leaving. We stopped to have a chat with her. She is delightful and loves the flat. She wants it but hasn’t sold hers yet.

1st August, 2015

Enjoy August, 2015. It’s the only one you’ll ever see.

Do you know what Chuggers are? Apparently, it is the sobriquet allocated to those considered Charity Muggers. It is a concept featured on the front of this morning’s copy of The Times. Charities, it reports, are to face criminal sanctions unless they stop bullying the public for money, the regulator has warned them. Readers, it argues, are no longer willing to support globalised commercial charities which are ruthless in their marketing for new donations.

It may shock some readers to learn but I made a decision early in my university life never to contribute to formal charitable organisations. Originally, I made the decision on, what I considered marxist principles that argued charities were the cover or sticking plaster that allowed government to abnegate its responsibilities. If charities funded a social need, governments were able to walk away from funding it from taxation. I still think that but my original principle has been deepened by the experience of ‘big charity’.

The current controversy centres around an elderly and impoverished charity worker who was constantly bombarded with demands to sign up to contracts to commit all her meagre income to their cause. It is accompanied by background research which shows charity staff being trained in hard – take no prisoners – demand campaigns irrespective of the victims ability to pay. It is accompanied by the huge salaries of those directing the charities and the small proportions of the charities’ income that goes to their stated ’cause’. There is a sense that the charities are not being run for the sake of the headline cause but to support and enrich the structures leading those organisations.

As this research is taken further, dubious practices are uncovered. It is reported that the chairman of the Charity Commission has accused the RSPCA of grotesque conduct and zealotry, warning that Britain’s largest animal welfare charity was inadequately run and governed. He has also claimed that charity money was being diverted to Islamist terrorist-related causes and warned against the danger of a “victim culture” among some Muslims.

Then there is the case of the charity, Kids Company, hailed by politicians and celebrities for its work with some of Britain’s most troubled youngsters, which has been placed under investigation by Scotland Yard’s child abuse command. Former, senior members of Kids Company, claim that there are ‘exaggerations’ in the numbers of people it says it helps.

Instead of claiming to help a few troubled kids, it also lumps in all the other children in their schools plus all the staff and parents – a ruse which grossly inflates the numbers in its ambit and, therefore, more easily justifies its income and expenditure.

I’m not opposed to individual acts of charitable help to other individuals. I have and will continue to do it myself. However, I am opposed to the charitable status given to large organisations and I particularly include religious institutions. People, however deluded, join them of their own volition. Indeed, they are the body of that institution and should finance it with no aid of the state. I am also vehemently opposed to the charitable status of schools. If people must be allowed to buy privilege through education – and I would deny that as well – there is absolutely no justification for those who can’t afford to buy it being forced to subsidise this structured inequality through the sanction of charitable status.

Phew! I feel better after that.

 

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19th July, 2015

This day last year we were  shopping in Reims and preparing for the last leg of our European journey from Greece to Surrey. So much has happened in that year – not least in the decline of Greece. Fascinating article in The Sunday Times today about the whole debacle which will leave Greece in austerity limbo and lead to the end of Merkel.

Forcing the Greeks to submit to a diktat already feels like a pyrrhic victory for the Germans. Indeed, she might echo Pyrrhus himself: “One more such victory over the Romans and we are lost.” The deal she struck with Alexis Tsipras has been greeted with derision and dismay on all sides: from Athens to Berlin, from the mandarins of the International Monetary Fund to the middle-class taxpayers of small towns in Germany, to whom Merkel owes her power. “Merkel saves Greece with our money!” howled the front page of Bild.

They are predicting Merkel’s resignation within the next twelve months and Greece’s enslavement for the next twenty years. German newspapers are currently talking about ‘the state formerly known as Greece’ a la FYROM (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia).

Merkel celebrates her victory.

20th July, 2015

A young lady who worked with us, retired from teaching yesterday and made us feel absolutely ancient. We suspect that, after the elation of Friday afternoon on the last day of term, she will just be beginning to feel a hint of anti-climax. We certainly did. In fact, we are into our seventh year of retirement and, this time next year, I will be receiving my pension.

On this day six years ago, we were aboard Superfast V sailing down the Adriatic to Patras on another adventure. A lot has happened between then and now but there is still a lot more to go. Certainly, we are looking forward to setting off for Greece shortly.

21st July, 2015

We have done an hour or so of gym exercise for the past nine out of ten days. Today, we decided to have a holiday. We had lots of bitty jobs to complete:

• Collecting Pauline’s repaired mobile phone from EE in town.
• Reinstalling all the apps on her reset phone, synching the email accounts and the on-line calendars, etc. with my phone and both of our iPads and three computers.
• Collecting post from a relative who is away,
• Planning the route for our day out tomorrow.
• Preparing food for the picnic. We leave at 6.00 am.
• Checking the tyres and oil in the car.
• Catching up on emails to friends.
• Reading the newspapers – English and Greek.
• reading about twenty English and Greek Blogs.

When you’re retired, a bunch of small things can fill a day quite easily and leave one wondering how they got done when we were working.

It’s 8.30 in the evening of a wonderful day that has reached a sticky 26C/79F and I am beginning to regret not exercising. Never mind, there will be other days although it was a bit of a shock to read that David Frost’s 31 year old son died jogging yesterday. Gives one pause for thought.

22nd July, 2015

One of those really enjoyable days. The weather has been fine, dry, sunny and warm reaching 25C/77F. Having lived on the island of Sifnos between April and October for fifteen years, I know that July was the month when we felt trapped, confined and limited. It was the month that we went to Athens just to feel alive and ‘normal’ again. Well, today was a wonderfully expansive day when we travelled to Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Kent and Surrey in less than 12 hrs.

Up at 5.00 am and out an hour later, we were in Lowestoft by 10.30 am at a wet fish shop on the sea front. Dressed crabs, sole, plaice, skate we loaded into the fridges in our car and then on to Great Yarmouth where we visited Pauline’s relatives who were on holiday there.

We were back on the road at mid day and back home by 3.30 pm., tired but happy.

23rd July, 2015

A warm – 24C/75F – but not terribly sunny day today. It didn’t matter. We were too knackered to care. After 7 hours driving yesterday, I was still exhausted this morning when I woke. We did go the Health Club but, after 40 minutes in the gym, I gave up. I just couldn’t do it. We came home. After our trip to the fishing port of Lowestoft yesterday, we had a wonderful fresh crab and smoked salmon salad for our meal today.

An economic section of Euro News Blog headlines:

Domestic tourism in Greece suffers dramatic downturn as debt crisis deepens

Domestic tourism in Greece has suffered a dramatic downturn as a result of the debt crisis with many Greeks unable to afford to take a holiday. The once busy ferry terminals are a clear indication that all is not well. Comparing ferry traffic data with the same period last year, we see that this year passenger numbers are 40 percent down.

Lissandros Tsilidis from the Hellenic Association of Travel Agencies reported:

Consumers are scared. Scared and terrified. They had to decide whether to go on holiday or to stay home and save money. They have chosen to stay at home. I fear that we will be forced to cut staff, as our main revenue of the high season has gone.

One tourist is getting his money’s worth but then he has it for free!

24th July, 2015

We woke to rain like manna from heaven – if you believe in heaven and that manna could come from it, which I don’t – light becoming heavy. the gardens were groaning with delight – if you believe gardens can groan, which is marginally more plausible than concepts of heaven. We did the main, weekly shop at Sainsbury’s – only £100.00 but free to us because we still have vouchers from our Nat.West Points.

Pauline made a lovely meal of Roast Hake with Skordallia (if you don’t know what that is, ask the Poison Dwarf – although she probably won’t know either – and Greek Salad. We spent the rest of the day on correspondence and financial activities.

It never rains but it pours in Greece as well. Last night an earthquake struck around Nisyros island. It was circa 5 on the Richter Scale so significant and was felt in Rhodes and Kos. We spent three weeks on Nisyros in 1991 and enjoyed this volcanic island. We walked across the hot, smoking, volcanic crater and still have two chunks of rock that we brought back. I listened to my short wave radio, enthralled by reports of the kidnap of Gorbachev which led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

 

If you want peace and tranquillity, I would recommend Nysiros and Tilos. Also today, Kathimerini features an article headed:

Hotels risk food shortages

 The Greek market may experience food shortages in August if applications to facilitate imports continue to be processed at the current slow rate, the Association of Hellenic Food Enterprises (SEET) warned on Thursday. SEET argued that the first victims will be hotels and tourism in general, as most hotel units do not have the necessary infrastructure to store large quantities of food.

No wonder late bookers are switching to Spain and Turkey.

25th July, 2015

After twelve hours of rain yesterday, the world looked washed and clean and smelling wonderful. Rain in July! It’s years since we’ve seen it. It was still warm today although I’m pleased to say that we are not expecting the 40C/104F+ heat wave that Greece is forecast to be experiencing in the coming week. Four years ago we suffered 43C/109F on a trip to Athens and just walking from the ferry to a taxi was almost beyond me. I had never known such heat and I hope never to again. We did an hour in the Gym today and really enjoyed it. When I suffered in the heat four years ago, I weighed 10.5 st/66Kgs heavier than I do now. It is a great feeling to be so much fitter.

It’s lucky that we hadn’t decided to start our drive across Europe this weekend because the tunnel is blockaded again. I just hope it’s sorted out before we set off. Pauline is having an investigative endoscopy this week. We’ve also go a tenth viewing of our property and a family barbecue later in the week.

The upside of the collapsed Greek economy is its effect on the illegal immigrant problem in Patras Port. So few lorries can afford to make the crossing that they are averaging a woeful 50 per day over three ferries. There is such reduced opportunity to sneak on to a truck and get to Italy that the migrants have all but vanished. The downside is that Syriza is badly split about the agreement Tsipras was forced to sign. Now he is busily trying to wriggle out of selling off ADMIE, the National Electricity Company to appease his far, far left wingers.

Good luck with that!

12th July, 2015

Warm rain falleth this morning. it is quite delightful and soon replaced by light sunshine and dry conditions. We did an hour’s exercise and then watched the Wimbledon Men’s Final. You’ll never believe who won it!

Europe is determined to rub Greeks’ faces in the dust for daring to vote against austerity. Reuters reports this evening:

The Eurogroup … came to the conclusion that there is not yet the basis to start the negotiations on a new program. Greece must pass laws to change its value added tax and pension systems, reform bankruptcy rules and strengthen the independence of its statistics office before bailout talks can even begin.

What is certain is that Greek banks will remain closed for the foreseeable future.

13th July, 2015

Well the Greeks will be slaves to the Germans for the next twenty years – at least. How can they allow that to happen? Where is their pride?

How can the people who voted with such strength to reject austerity, just roll over in abject subjugation? Personally, I would rather be poverty stricken but free!

Varoufakis has revealed in an interview today what many of us had suspected all along – that he favoured Grexit from the outset but that Tsipras stood in the way. Varoufakis wanted to issue euro-denominated IOUs; apply a “haircut” to the bonds Greece issued to the ECB in 2012, reducing Greece’s debt; and seize control of the Bank of Greece from the ECB. Personally, I think this was the best way forward. It would have meant severe pain for 3 – 5 years instead of moderate-severe pain for 15 – 20 years or more. When the Germans take control of tax collection, the Greeks will wonder what’s hit them. The #ThisIsACoup has been trending ever since. Watch this space but it really is appropriate on #poisondwarfnameday.

14th July, 2015

A pleasant but overcast summer’s day. The night was muggy again. In fact, I have slept on top of the sheets for more than a month now. It is quite a joy to see English gardens in bloom for the first time for years.

The ‘Greek negotiation’ has been described as the political and economic waterboarding of a once proud nation. The European Union in general and Germany in particular may come to regret its savagery. It is being characterised as the return of the Junta.

It really is seen as total humiliation as Greek mythology abounds across the media. Caught between Scylla (Germans) and Charybdis (GREXIT) is a favourite but Icarus crashing and burning is another and this is the over riding sentiment:

 

15th July, 2015

St Swithin’s day opened with warm, light rain. Like all Saints, Swithin will be proved wrong again. There is no chance of 40 days and 40 nights of rain. Just a bit will be welcome. It’s still, warm and muggy. It makes exercise in the gym less comfortable but it has to be done especially because it is the last Prime Minister’s Questions of the Summer. Got to make the most of it.

16th July, 2015

Mid-July and a warm – 24C/75F – and muggy day. We’ve done an hour’s exercise in air conditioned splendour while watching the opening overs of the Second Ashes Test from Lords and keeping an eye on the Greek developments. The Euro has fallen to the unprecedented £1.00 = €1.44 and it’s almost time to buy a few thousand for future use. We have a French trip soon and then a trip to Greece to finance in hard, euro notes. Later in the Winter, we are intending to make an extended stay in Italy/Spain/France and we’ll spend the rest there.

The British government are busy insisting that they will pay no contribution to the Greek Sinking Fund but Mario Drahgi announced an increase in Emergency Liquidity Assistance for Greek banks. They will probably re-open on Monday after three weeks of closure but the withdrawal limit will remain at €60.00 for a while. It is already agreed that this situation with Greek European membership cannot hold for much longer whatever the settlement and the anti-European cause in UK has been vastly strengthened by this debacle.

17th July, 2015

The gardeners are here today, mowing lawns, trimming bushes, watering plants and generally making the place look trim and beautiful. One of our specimen trees is an echo of our Greek garden. Here we have a thirty foot Eucalyptus and it is growing just as well as the one we had in the front of our garden on Sifnos but something which I never saw growing there is currently looking beautiful here – and that is hydrangeas.

They are looking wonderful around here at the moment.

The Greeks are about to be welcomed to the normal world of VAT. The islands were said to keep variable rates but that rumour has been scotched with the announcement of no exemptions. As commentators have pointed out, the imposition has lots of anomalies. In Britain, it was a different rate on hot pasties compared with cold ones. In Greece the VAT changes that came into force on Thursday saw spaghetti placed in the 13 percent value-added tax bracket while its stuffed-pasta sibling tortellini incurred a 23 percent rate. Cereal grains stay in the 13 percent bracket, but boxed breakfast cereals climb to 23 percent. Salmon remains at 13 percent, but beef shifts to 23 percent. These and other unpleasant surprises await shoppers once all enterprises have managed to change the VAT rates on merchandise according to the government’s decisions.

18th July, 2015

The day is glorious with clear blue, Mediterranean skies  but a moderated temperature of 24C/75F. Even though it’s Saturday, we’ve decided to go to the Health Club before sitting down to a lovely meal of mixed shellfish – crayfish, crevettes, prawns and crab with Greek Salad.

This photo illustrates perfectly the subjugation of Greece – – tired, beaten and depressed.

I trawl lots of Greek Blogs and so many islanders talk of the urgent need to regenerate the tourist industry quickly in order to salvage this season. In UK, the pound is doing its bit by rising to its highest against the euro for seven years and, this weekend, sits at a really cheap £1.00 = €1.44. We are receiving contradictory information in the media with travel firms desperately trying to market holiday packages at 50% reduction to make up for all the cancellations while the media chit-chat continues to warn of travel to Greece because of shortages and likelihood of political protests.

 

5th July, 2015

A long day and a long night. We were in Greece all of the time – well virtually. Lots of Greek friends were in touch – I even got a tweet from Skiathan Man! We followed every twist and turn even from our running machine at the Health Club. The one thing you can say about the Greeks is that they don’t lack courage. I still believed they would nudge ‘Yes’ right up to the point when a huge majority for ‘No’ was announced. Just shows how much I know. Now they have to live with the consequences.

6th July, 2015

We danced all night in Syndagma Square via CNN and BBC News, sharing the display of defiance with the revellers but silently offering thanks to Plutus. A 60% – 40% result will offer a dire future to our older friends and may well decimate Greeks wealth and property values but Greece has oscillated between far Right and Far Left, Generals and Communists, over a long history. It is unlikely to stop now. It is the chance of the Left to support the Poor and to tax the Wealth creators to pay for it. Oh hell!

Ironically, it is exactly one year ago today that a Greek gave us oodles of his cash for our house on Sifnos and we certainly wouldn’t have got that now. Even if we had, the terrible exchange rate would have severely reduced it and we wouldn’t have been able to get it out of the country. It may even have been sequestered by a desperate, left wing government. The British Government are issuing emergency advice to British travellers and to ex-pats who receive their pensions through Greek banks. British tourists are rejecting Greece largely but those go are advised to take lots of cash and all required medicines.

7th July, 2015

We have been through and stayed in Calais, France so many times since the 1980s and we have charted the rise of the ‘illegal immigrant’ problem as they swarm the roads, fields and parks in desperate attempts to board vehicles bound for Britain .

We have spent a great deal of time in Patras, Greece over the past fifteen years and watched the port become over run by ‘illegal migrants’ desperate to get on ferries to Italy.

Yesterday, we were utterly amazed to find the ‘illegal migrant’ problem had arrived in leafy Surrey. As we drove through West Byfleet, dodging the Mercedes, BMWs and Porches, we both drew the same conclusion at seeing a group of young men sitting on the grass verge and seconds later, we flagged a police Jeep down and he shot off to pick them up. Illegal immigrants in West Byfleet? They’ll be allowing citizens to chew gum next!

In the mean time, a meeting of all European Heads of State has been called for Sunday to co-ordinate the humanitarian aid the Greek people will need in the event of an exit from the European Union and the Euro and the collapse of their banks. The infrastructure is already collapsing. More and more enterprises in the private sector, from all fields and around the country, are telling staff not to come in to work, cutting their hours or even placing them on forced leave. Tourism professionals in northern Greece and on the Aegean islands have been forced to start accept transactions with international holidaymakers in their own national currencies. The cash economy emerging after the closure of Greece’s banks is beginning to paralyze the country’s vital olive oil industry as farmers demand cash for supplies that distributors are unable to pay.

Amusingly, the new Greek Finance Minister, Euclid Tsakalotos, who was expected to formally produce new proposals, arrived with three or four lines hand written on a sheet of hotel notepaper. The Council has demanded firm proposals by Thursday which will be agreed or rejected on Sunday. At that point a decision will be made one way or the other. 

8th July, 2015

A warm but windy day of sunshine and showers. I’m ashamed to say that this is the third consecutive day without a trip to the gym. I have been feeling a little under the weather although that is no excuse. Circumstances have also conspired against us as well. I will definitely do an hour and a half tomorrow.

Watched the Budget speech and analysis today. Public Sector workers are having their pay rises pegged to 1% per annum for the next four years. As a Public Sector worker for nearly 40 years, I predict a riot! People who retire from the Public Sector, like teachers, have their Pensions protected from the exigencies of inflation but tend to be left behind by the general growth in wages of the colleagues they have left in work. We have been retired for just over six years in which time pay has been frozen. We have gained considerably compared with our still working ex-colleagues. In that respect, there has never been a better time to be retired although investment income has been negligible. It looks as if we will more than hold our own for the next four years as well. Thank goodness we’re not Greek!

9th July, 2015

The world is an unstable place as those in Greece and Tunisia will acknowledge. Today, the Greeks are expected to submit their survival proposals to the EU. At the same time, the British Government is ordering the evacuation of British tourists in Tunisia. Lucky Brits enjoy sun, strawberries, champagne, Wimbledon and Test cricket. The contrast couldn’t be greater. We have some similarities. Kathimerini reports today:

Coast guard officers intercepted more than 1,650 undocumented immigrants off various islands in the Aegean within 48 hours.

and the BBC was announcing illegal immigrants running across the M25 in Surrey this morning. However the scale of the problem bears no comparison. The Greek economy is close to being destroyed. It is reported today by Reuters that some Greek banks have been so damaged by the chaotic situation that they may have to be closed and merged with stronger rivals. The big four — National Bank of Greece, Eurobank, Piraeus and Alpha Bank — might be reduced to two. The Greek economy is in ruins. We put hundreds of thousands of Euros through the NBG and Piraeus Bank.

My blood runs cold when I think of what could have gone wrong.

10th July, 2015

Wonderful day of sunshine and Test cricket. England set Australia a total of 412 runs to win with two days remaining. Can’t help thinking a bit more persistence and a few hours batting tomorrow could have raised that to an unassailable 500 but it should be enough. Greece are going to capitulate and agree terms that 61% of the referendum vote rejected 5 days ago:

• VAT or Sales Tax will rise to 23%.
• Tax reductions/exemptions for the islands will go.
• Measures to ensure tax on earnings is paid will be introduced.
• Preferential tax treatment of farmers in the income tax code will go.
• Introduce reform of the income tax code for farmers and the self- employed.
• Subsidies for excise on diesel oil for farmers will be abolished.
• Heating oil subsidies will be halved.
• The hated solidarity surcharge on earnings will be raised.
• Property tax rates will be adjusted upwards.
• Increase the rate of the tonnage tax and phase out special tax treatments of the shipping industry
• Reduce the expenditure ceiling for military spending by €100 million in 2015 and by €200 million in 2016.
• Raise the corporate tax rate from 26% to 28%.

Pension Reform

• Create strong disincentives to early retirement, including the adjustment of early retirement penalties
• Lift the retirement age to 67 years.
• Integrate into ETEA all supplementary pension funds and ensure they are only financed by own contributions.
• Increase the health contributions for pensioners from 4% to 6%.
• Broaden and modernise the contribution and pension base for all self-employed, including by switching from notional to actual income.

In addition, there is much on privatisation of major, state industries including the power industry and on the breaking of professional monopolies and freeing up of the labour market. Few advanced, post-industrial countries would find much to object to in these changes but one has to wonder what the referendum meant when all of most of this was roundly rejected.

11th July, 2015

What a lovely day – warm (26C/79F) and sunny and delightfully free of any pressing engagements. We did an hour at the gym but the rest of the day was given over to the Test Match. England really looked like a team and they humiliated Australia. Only rightly. Coincidentally, it looks like that is exactly what Europe is about to do to Greece. Today is the anniversary of our leaving Sifnos. I thought I would be sad but, with everything that has happened, I am just relieved. I just imagine how we would be feeling now in the current climate if we hadn’t sold.

28th June, 2015

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

William Butler Yeats: The Second Coming

For years we thought the Greeks were waving to welcome us but now, as I have been suggesting for some time and the world has come to realise, they are not waving but drowning.

It looks as if capital controls will be presaged by an ad hoc Bank Holiday on Monday. Very difficult times are ahead. This year’s earnings from tourism will be severely dented and next year’s may be even worse if the country can’t afford imports we’ve all come to rely on.

This evening, it is confirmed. Not just a Bank Holiday Monday but a Bank Holiday week and a half. The Banks in Greece are set to be closed until a week on Tuesday.

Very limited – €60.00/£40.00 withdrawals will be allowed from ATMs. You won’t see much spending going on.

29th June, 2015

A hot and sultry day. We were out early at the supermarket and then out again exercising to coincide with people having a second viewing of our apartment. It couldn’t have been a better day for it. The gardens looked wonderful and the rooms were flooded with sunlight. It is south facing and that is definitely a selling point. We hope to hear the outcome before the Greeks hear their outcome.

30th June, 2015

The last day of June reached 30C/86F in Surrey. It is forecast to reach 34C/93F tomorrow.We went strawberry and raspberry picking and then gorged on them when we got home.

Our estate agent phoned to say that the ‘second viewers’ of our property from yesterday were going to phone him to make an offer by mid-morning and a new viewer was coming all the way from Wales to see it in the afternoon.

As I write at 8.00 pm UK Time, the outside temperature is a sticky 27C/81F while I watch live reports from a very wet Athens. Just over a week ago, I wrote about the Greeks propensity for a deus ex machine ending and it looks tonight as if that is exactly what is going to happen. The European negotiating groups will meet at midnight tonight to consider newly submitted proposals by the Tsipras government which will be much more painful but acceptable to Europe. With one bound they were free… or not in this case.

1st July, 2015

Must be going gaga. Welcome July.

Sleeping on top of the bedsheet was the order of the night a la grecque. Temperatures didn’t fall below 22C/70F. At 9.00 am, we reached 27C/81F and, as I write at 10.30 am, we have reached 32C/90F. We are forecast to hit 35-36C/96-97F this afternoon and the media is just as bad as we have been used to in Greece each Summer. Just in case you missed it or don’t understand, hot temperatures mean you should drink more water and stay in the shade. I think I’ve got it.

Done an hour and a half at the Health Club and Pauline is now roasting Salmon with pesto crust, mushrooms, shallots and fennel. At 10.30 pm, the temperature here is 27C/81F and BBC News has announced that today has been the hottest July day ever recorded.

2nd July, 2015

Hot and humid day but not as uncomfortable as yesterday. We even had five minutes of rain this morning just as the gardener was about to start mowing the lawns. Fortunately, he was soon able to resume his work and leave pleasing stripes on the grass.

When we returned from the Health Club, soaked in sweat, tired and hungry, I collected the mail. One letter stood out with a postal frank of Burton Upon Trent. It was from a solicitor. He had handled the administration of my Mother’s estate when she died in 2008. It had included a parcel of Barclays shares that Mum had bought with the proceeds of the sale of Sanders & Sons on the death of my father in the mid-60s. Bank shares are in the doldrums compared with when Mum held them but I was shocked by my emotional response to the solicitor’s letter.

The legal firm were a partnership which I had never heard of but I was surprised to find that it had subsumed an earlier firm called Goodger Auden. This was a long established firm which dad had used. His solicitor was Colonel Auden throughout the time that I was conscious of such things. Colonel Auden was related to the poet, WH Auden, who went to school in my home village of Repton.

 

I found the cyclical relationship so moving that the cheque became irrelevant.

3rd July, 2015

Another seriously warm day. At 5.00 pm we were recording 27C/81F and rather humid. We did a quick shop and then decided to miss our exercise in favour of some garlic stuffed Halkidiki olives and a bottle of iced Pinot Grigiot which we consumed outside on the patio where we eventually grilled rump steak to eat with delicious Greek salad.

Talking about Greeks – which we weren’t – the nation are renowned for snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. They are doing it in spades this time. Their one hope of income for the winter is through tourism. What do they do? Destroy tourism. Spanish bookings are up more than 100% and discretionary bookings in Greece are massively down. All European governments are warning their citizens of the dangers of holidaying in Greece. If you only have a couple of weeks each summer, why would you risk it in a country where they may run out of food supplies, fuel for taxis and ferries and the ATMS are likely to run dry? Why not find your sun in Spain or Turkey? Lefteris Lazarou, a popular TV chef who was the country’s first to be given a Michelin star, told To Vima radio that tourists would be left furious and starving if capital controls continued.

Tourists are cancelling 50,000 bookings a day amid food shortage fears. Holiday bookings are down by 50,000 a day since the government’s announcement of a referendum and the introduction of capital controls, the Greek tourist association said yesterday. One in five bookings at Greek hotels is made at the last minute and sensitive to changes in sentiment, leaving the industry braced for a catastrophic downturn at the height of the season. Bookings on ferries to the Greek islands have fallen by 60 per cent in the past week, Andreas Andreadis, head of the Association of Hellenic Tourist Enterprises, said. Domestic tourism has been wiped out nearly to zero, Mr Andreadis added, as Greeks cancelled travel plans to stay at home or with relatives.

4th July, 2015

Lovely day that reached 27C/81F but without the humidity of previous days. We had a viewing booked for mid day so we went to the Health Club for an hour’s work. As we drove home, the estate agent phoned to say the clients had not been able to make that time and would like to come at 3.00 pm.. We quickly showered and went out so the viewing could take place. We were going to cook but decided to go to Waitrose and buy cold food for our meal after the viewing. We bought dressed crab, and two types of prawns.

We ate it with green salad which was wonderful with a bottle of ice cold Pinot Grigiot.

21st June, 2015

The longest day of the year – the Summer Solstice. It has been a bright, warm (rather oppressive) day quite typical of summer in Surrey. We both did an hour’s exercise in the gym after reading the Sunday papers.

Pauline slow cooked chicken in lemon, garlic and white wine and served it with roasted, peppers, fennel, asparagus and shallot. We are expecting another viewing tomorrow evening so the house has to be tidied. At 8.00 pm, Sainsburys are delivering ‘for free’ with an additional £8.00 discount all the heavy things we didn’t want to lug ourselves – Packs of sparkling water, giant bottles washing detergent, bleach, etc.. It’s good of them, isn’t it?

As the Greek crisis edges ever nearer to the precipice, The Sunday Times reports:

One of the many bloggers I monitor daily reports:

I hope a decision will be made so people can start thinking about tomorrow. Here on Skopelos I know firsthand that people have cancelled their holiday, others only want to pay for services with a card to keep the cash. People have taken their money out of the banks but there is still money in the atm’s.

And yet, one has the feeling that the Greeks, deus ex machine, will pull it off. Either way, it’s going to be a nightmare for years to come. As we move almost to the anniversary of our selling the house on Sifnos, we cannot stop reflecting on our great good fortune at escaping this sorry place.

22nd June, 2015

It rained over night and there is some light rain lingering this morning. I’m tired because I woke at 4.00 am and it was so light outside, I couldn’t get back to sleep until I put the radio on and the Shipping Forecast did the trick.

We’ve got a fifth viewing of our property this evening and are going out to exercise at mid day. Tomorrow is forecast to be hot and sunny and we are off to the South coast to look at some new properties.

Although the news from the Greek front is rather more optimistic this morning, this is the headline on the front of the Daily Express and the clever cartoon in The Times:

23rd June, 2015

We’ve got another property viewing at mid day so Pauline & I are going to the Health Club and leaving the tour to the Estate Agents. The morning has started mild but overcast. It is forecast to get better as the day and week goes on.

It looks like Europe will do its regular thing of kicking the can down the road in the hope that something will turn up. It will mean years more pain for the Greeks in the form of much bigger tax increases on much lower earnings. I checked prices on a Sifnos hotel this morning – not that I would stay there. It is old and the road noise outside is horrendous but three nights at the start of September are selling at Hotel Kamari on Booking.com for £76.00 including ‘free wi-fi’. In my view, it’s still not worth £25.00 per night but there can’t be much profit for the owners in that! At the same time, the proposed settlement with Europe includes:

VAT on food service up to 23 %

• abolishing the special status granted to Aegean islands (with a 30 % discount on VAT rates).
• an extraordinary levy of 12 % on 2014 business  profits, in two installments, one this year and one in 2016.
• a hike in corporate tax from 26 to 29 %, concerning the nearly 15,000 companies with pre-tax earnings of at least €100,000 per year.
• an increase in the solidarity levy for households earning at least €30,000 per year.
• the luxury tax increases from 10 to 13 % on things like swimming pools and big cars.
• against all hopes, the single property tax (ENFIA) will remain intact, while farmers will see significant tax hikes in their costs.

24th June, 2015

A lovely summer’s day – warm and sunny. We were out early on our way to St Peter’s Hospital in Woking. Pauline is having a CT scan. As we park and enter the delightfully new hospital corridors we are met by five separate members of staff from desk staff, porters in lifts, orderlies and nurses all who spontaneously welcomed us and offered to take us to our destination. We couldn’t have been better treated if we were in private medicine. Pauline’s appointment was for 9.30 am but she was seen earlier. I stayed in the waiting room with ‘free wi-fi’ reading my paper. There were only two others there. I got talking to an ‘oldish’ lady who seemed to be accompanying her husband who was also having a scan. He struggled to walk to the scanning room. I asked her, rudely, how old she was.

She said, I’m 96. He’s my son. I used to run a café in Kingston until 6 years ago.

She was fantastic for her age. In fact, she was fantastic for my age! She lifted my spirits completely. We have been to too many hospitals and to see too many doctors in the past five years. It’s got to stop. Having said that, I have to go for my INR test tomorrow and to see the ophthalmologist in Ashford Hospital on Friday.

While we were in the Hospital, I received a call on my mobile from the estate agent selling our property. The viewer yesterday expressed a desire to buy our home and wants to bring his wife for a second viewing. This is a positive development and comes just short of the anniversary of selling our Greek home. The auguries are good. They are not good for the Greek people though as Kathimerini reports:

25th June, 2015

A wonderful, wonderful day. Hot and sunny – 25C/77F – with blue skies and white, fleecy clouds. We were up at 6.00 am and outside the Woking-Walk in Medical Centre by an early 6.45 am for an official INR test. That done, we set off for the south coast.

Angmering was our first stop. It took about an hour to get there. The developers’ office had a temporary notice pinned up saying they would not be open until 2.00 pm which was annoying but gave us the chance to visit various amenities we wanted to check out. Angmering Medical Centre with its attached Pharmacy was very reassuring

 

 

 

 

 

 

and then the Virgin Active Health Club at nearby Rustington was very pleasing. Lots of equipment and not too busy. The David Lloyd Health Club on the outskirts of Worthing looks good too.

 

We found the Sainsbury’s Superstore at Rustington, the Waitrose and the Asda stores. We found a handy Dentist surgery. By the time we hjad done all that, it was time to go back to the site office of the house builders. We were back at our home before rush hour traffic.

26th June, 2015

A Landmark day! Hot and humid, our temperature peaked at 28C/82F. We did a shop at Sainsbury’s which totalled £105.00 but cost us nothing again. We had £5.00 cash-back and payed the rest in vouchers. At 1.00 pm, we left for Ashford Hospital for my Diabetic Retinopathy checkup. The Opthalmologist explained that I needed no further checks because my diabetes had been irradicated. He said I could have a yearly check if I wanted it. I booked one for June 2016.

As we drove home, our Estate Agent phone to say he now had two couples who wantrd to buy our property. One couple is desperately trying to raise more money to meet the asking price while the second couple is having a second viewing on Monday. I predict that we will be out of this property by Christmas even if we are not in a new one by then.

27th June, 2015

Hot and humid day – 25C/77F. We are forecast to be in the 30Cs/Upper 80Fs by Tuesday.For the third day running, we have not been to the gym. I will have to do an hour and a half tomorrow. Our meal was griddled Chicken cooked outside and eaten with Greek Salad. It’s ironic really but lovely.

Greece is falling apart! It is not surprising but the Europeans didn’t expect them to be so tough. Whatever happens, Greece will be in decline for many years to come. Stavros & Sarah have gone from dreams of millionaire status to relative poverty in just five years.  Their kids will have to leave Greece if they want a future. The future of all our island friends is far more precarious today than it was in the early years when we first bought land there.

14th June, 2015

Almost mid-June and the morning is warm with light, fine rain. The gardens are desperate for it. Greeks would pay for it – if they had any money! The news from Hellas just gets worse. Adult unemployment is up to 26.6% and youth unemployment has reached 60%. Despite optimistic voices, Kathimerini screams rather tautologically:

Rental rooms’ occupancy rates down up to 50 percent

Hotels like these on Sifnos cannot know if they will be still under the Euro before the end of the season. Can they provide consistent service in a turbulent economy? Why take the risk? Kathimerini’s next headline tells us:

Arrivals by ferry from Italy posted 14 pct drop in Jan-Apr

and we are part of that statistic this year although we have only delayed until the end of August but it is a sign of the times. If you add to that the immigrant problems that are swamping Greek islands, maybe Turkey would be a safer bet.

15th June, 2015

A warm (20C/68F) and rather humid day. Pauline had to go to the local surgery for tests. Her appointment  was at 9.23 am. I love that specificity! We were home by 10.01 am. At 11.30 am we went to do an hour’s workout at the Health Club and, unfortunately, missed a call from our estate agents who wanted to conduct an instant viewing. The will rearrange later in the week. In spite of the fact that I bought enough wine to last me nearly six months when we were in France, I have decided to abstain for at least a couple of months or until we leave for Greece. Our meals will now be accompanied by sparkling water for the next few weeks. The discipline will do me good and save a lot of calories off my daily total. So much of our cooking is al fresco griddling that the cheap, try-out model griddle we first bought is being discarded. We’ve now ordered a commercial quality machine from Lancashire.

It is incredibly cheap at £138.00/€191.00 and, hopefully, will go with us to our new house. In addition, Pauline has found a replacement for the table lamp shade broken recently.

It will only cost Foxtons about £50.00/€70.00. They should be grateful!

16th June, 2015

Warm (22C/70F) but hazy, humid day. Everything we’ve been doing is too exciting to mention – well, we cleaned the patio and watered the newly planted bushes. You see, I knew you wouldn’t be able to contain yourselves. An hour at the Health Club and another half a stone in perspiration has left me light headed in this humidity. Roast cod, roasted fennel and garlic mushrooms for our meal today – with sparkling water! Nice to see Barty Simpson back on line this morning.

17th June, 2015

Muggy morning. Our neighbour, General Vicky is coming round for coffee. She intends to put her property on the market this summer to take advantage of rapidly rising prices and we are having a strategy meeting to co-ordinate our marketing. It is also Prime minister’s Questions in the House so I will have to be at the Health Club earlier in order to watch it while I exercise. The British Government is offering advice to tourists to Greece today. Under a headline of

Treasury Braced for Turmoil as Fears of Greek Exit Soar

the message develops

There are fears that a Greek default could mean restrictions placed on money entering and leaving Greece, having ramifications for the financial services industries and causing problems for British tourists.

British tourists in Greece this summer will initially have to rely on their tour operators. However, the Foreign Office will be in touch with travel agents, providing advice to citizens on what to do about money, and may help if tourists become stranded.

It goes on:

What about civil unrest? There is the possibility that travellers may be held up by strikes or protests. You will not be compensated by an airline for any resulting delays or cancellations because such unrest is considered to be an “extraordinary circumstance” so make sure you take out travel insurance before you leave and ideally as soon as you book. …….

…….the Greek authorities could introduce administrative controls on people’s access to their money. Deposit withdrawal limits could be introduced, along with restrictions on the amount of money that can be transferred outside the country.

It is certainly not a happy place to be. It may seem life as normal on small Greek islands but only if one ignores the bigger picture which will certainly impact on them as the centre breaks down.

18th June, 2015

Warm day – 22C/70F – and just the day to go strawberry picking. We went to a local farm and filled two large punnets in just over 10 mins..

They looked lovley, tasted wonderful and it was only after we got home that we found we could have bought them more cheaply in Asda, They were charging us extra for the experience of picking them for ourselves. Back at home we received a phone call to tell us of two viewings on our property on Saturday. We then got ready for lunch with a group of Pauline’s relatives at the Maybury Inn. The food was lovely. Pauline and I had Calamari starter and Sea Bass fillets for main course. Really enjoyable.

I had to be at the Doctor’s Surgery by 4.30 pm to talk to him about my fainting/collapsing experiences lately. He told me that it was not only a feature of older age but my blood pressure tablets were no longer appropriate since I have lost so much weight. He removed half of my Doxazosin dosage. I now take very few drugs at all. I will remain on a Statin and Warfarin for life but the others will soon be gone.

19th June, 2015

A warm and muggy day which felt a little sticky and uncomfortable. We received a phone call first thing to say there are two sets of buyers wanting to view our property on Saturday and a South African couple – cash buyers – who want to come on Monday. We went out to Sainsburys to do our weekly shop and then on to the Health Club for an hour and a half’s activity. We finished with a Jacuzzi and a Sauna. A chatty man in the sauna opened a conversation and, when I asked him what he did, he told me he owned Ponte Vecchio a fairly local Italian restaurant in West Byfleet. When I pressed him, he told me he wasn’t Italian himself but Iranian. We came home and ate a lovely, cold meal of Greek salad, crab, prawns and langoustine tails. The front page of The Times today is echoed across all the

British newspapers and tv/radio news

People are being told that travel to Greece carries dangers. Tourists should not rely on credit cards. Credit controls may quickly lead to lack of fuel for transport particularly if they need to get to or leave an island. Kathimerini says:

Athens International Airport is extending an incentive scheme aimed at encouraging airlines to use the country’s main terminal during the winter into the summer, in an effort to achieve sustainable growth.

Christine Lagarde made clear that she saw the Greek Government as made up of juveniles. She said she needed to talk to adults. Having said that, we know that the history of Tsipras is as a negotiator who, in student politics, sought to do deals. Monday is going to be interesting! I certainly wouldn’t be so sanguine if we hadn’t sold last summer.

20th June, 2015

A day of patchy, light rain and cloud. Certainly the lawns could do with some water. As I write at 7.00 pm, the skies have opened and heavy rain is falling. We had to vacate the property for two viewings this morning. I accompanied Pauline to M&S and Tesco for a couple of hours. We didn’t go to the Health Club today and my body said, Thank you. It’s still bruised and aching from my passing out and fall in the car park recently.

All the newspapers carry some form of Greek Travel Alert. The Daily Express is typical.

  7th June, 2015

Sometimes life is really ironic. We are booked to go through the Eurotunnel tomorrow morning. Suddenly, last night Pauline was feeling unwell with post operative pain and discomfort. We were up at 1.00 am, drinking cups of tea and discussing whether to call out a doctor. We chose not to on balance and she is decidedly better this morning but I set off for the Health Club alone while Pauline completed the packing. I did a strong hour’s workout, walked out into the sunshine in the car park and promptly collapsed – falling headlong on to the tarmac. I suspect I was rather dehydrated although it was a bit disconcerting.

If that wasn’t enough, the BBC is reporting:

Two unexploded World War II mines discovered near the port of Calais have led to the cancellation of a number of cross-Channel ferries. The bombs, which are more than 70 years old, are of British origin and were found on the beach near the port. One, thought to be booby-trapped, cannot be moved. The operation to defuse the bombs will be carried out by divers from the French Navy. Roads into Calais have been closed and drivers are being diverted to Dunkirk.

We will see what happens. Maybe Calais won’t exist by the time we get there!

 

However, if all goes ahead, there will be a hiatus in the Blog for a few days.

8th June, 2015

A leisurely start this morning as we set off for Ashford and the Tunnel. It is warm and bright. Our train was delayed by an hour because of an ‘earlier incident’ but we were soon on and off and driving down to our hotel in Cocquelles.

 

We’d booked a suite for the week so that we could drive out to places of interest.

9th June, 2015

Our trip out today is to Lens. It has a thriving open market on a Tuesday. Unfortunately, after an unusually large, buffet breakfast and an hour recovering with out digital newspapers, we didn’t set off for the 60 mile drive until about 10.30 am. We arrived at just after 11.30 am to find the market traders just packing up after a hard morning sitting on stools, drinking strong coffee and smoking Gauloise.

They take me back to my smoking days in the ’70s & ’80s. It is thirty years since a cigarette touched my lips. I still have the cigarette box which had been my father’s, the cigarettes and the nearly new lighter I had when I finally gave up on November 14th, 1985.

We had intended to go on to the Lens Louvre but a fit of apathy overcame us and we did a ‘drive-by’.

10th June, 2015

Our second buffet breakfast in as many days and we are beginning to regret ordering them. Today we are going to Boulogne. We have been many times before but it is an enjoyable trip out – only 40 mins. from Cocquelles. The weather was hot and humid and rather tiring. We parked on the quay near the Fish Market. It was full of the most wonderful produce. I had my eye on a huge turbot (more accurately, he had his eye on me.) and there were crabs the size of dinner plates, langoustines and lobsters to die for.

The whole thing was very frustrating because we weren’t in a position to buy any because we had nowhere to store it over our stay. We did have a fridge in our suite but not suitable for a lorry load of fresh fish!

We mooched around the open market which is on Wednesday in Boulogne but it looked more a tourist trap than a proper market. Pauline popped in to a few clothes and shoe shops without finding anything she really liked. Ironically, we then went in to Carrefour to buy some food for a snack meal and Pauline found the summer shoes she had liked last year in lots of different colours and bought five pairs.

Last year she bought two pairs for Elerania and sent them to Sifnos because she had admired them.

We went back to the hotel and enjoyed the grounds which were being tidied up by a huge army of gardeners.

It really is an enjoyable and comfortable place to stay. We have been using it for thirty years or so when it was originally a Copthorne Millenium hotel.

11th June, 2015

We got up for breakfast (again!) to the sound of torrential rain. It was very hot and humid. By the time we set off for Le Touquet – Paris Plage, the sun was out and the skies were blue. During the day, the temperature reached a sticky 28C/83F. We walked the sea shore and then the wonderful open market.

I was so moved by the beauty of the sea front that I snatched up my iPad to take a photo. This is it:

Realising that I hadn’t quite caught the core magic of the place, I took a second:

The problem with iPad screens in bright sunlight is that they are useless. By the time I got a grip, Pauline was using her phone:

After a long walk at the sea front, we explored the centuries old market full of enticing goods I’m not allowed to eat:

12th June, 2015

Throughout the week, I had been buying bottles of red Bordeaux to ‘try’ prior to buying ‘in bulk’. A couple of my absolute favourites were bought in Auchan – A St Chinian and a Buzet. You’ll notice that I was pretty Buzet by the time I photographed the second one – so buzet that I forgot the third one which is a Minervois.

Today we went out and bought fifteen cases of the stuff along with a freezer-full of duck, pork, beef steaks, rabbit joints plus olive oil, mustard and fresh fish including cod loins, whole salmon, crab and langoustine. Should keep us going over the weekend!

We drove back to the Tunnel with the car laden down. A lovely journey home apart from the M25 had a 2 mile hold-up because of an accident. After unloading the car, everything had to be put away neatly because estate agents are conducting a viewing of our apartment tomorrow.

13th June, 2015

We had to get back yesterday because Pauline has a hospital appointment with a consultant at Ashford hospital this morning. We had to be there for 10.30 am as we drove through Runneymede where they were gearing up for Magna Carta celebrations for its 800th anniversary. The hospital at Ashford is new, shining and almost fully automated.

You check-in by machine, sit in front of screens which flash up when you are to be seen and where. Only then do you meet a human. In Pauline’s case, she has to have endoscopy which won’t be pleasant but will reassure her ultimately. We hope!

As we drove home, the estate agent called to say the viewer of our property had tried to open the lounge windows and had knocked a table lamp over smashing its shade.

Pauline was very upset. She bought this lamp in the early 1970s and had brought it with us to every property we have lived in. It featured in our wedding photo cutting the cake. It is probably worth very little financially but a huge amount emotionally. We are trying to source a replacement for Foxtons to buy for us. I have a feeling that it will be very expensive.

31st May, 2015

Farewell to May, 2015. Tomorrow sees the start of June or as Greeks know it,  Δευτέρα Πεντηκοστής, which will be a national holiday. Let’s hope they have something to celebrate. Maybe the tourist arrival will pick up! I wonder if the Sifnos meeting to coordinate the protest against VAT rises had any effect. Our friends there didn’t seem confident. The Greek Government are constantly telling the world that agreement with their creditors is close, has been reached will be signed tomorrow but it is almost entirely for Greek consumption. It is intended to dampen capital flight from the banks. Senior eurozone officials insist that both sides are still far apart in agreeing on the fundamentals of a cash-for-reform deal and say, The showdown is fast approaching and nothing can be ruled out. Very soon we may see staged capital controls.

Sundays are lovely – fresh coffee, newspapers, an hour at the Health Club and an hour or two of Test Cricket from Yorkshire. Who could ask for more?

1st June, 2015

Flaming June started with flaming rain and it was cool. It’s not a problem. We have a busy week and we are forecast to hit 29C/84F by the weekend. Had to go round to see Phyllis today to sort her email account out. Like us, she has switched away from BT as a broadband provider and is now having to pay £1.60 per month for the privilege of keeping her email address.

We meet the agent selling our apartment on Wednesday and have a lot of homework to do prior to signing the contract. We have to provide Freehold/Leasehold evidence, information about Ground Rent and Service Charge, Boundary maps, square footage and then identity checks for anti-money laundering purposes. This is all for selling not buying. We should be used to it. It is our fifth property sale. It is still demanding and stressful.

2nd June, 2015

Pleasant day but doesn’t really feel like the second day of Summer. Took Pauline for her hospital check-up. She is certainly looking and feeling much better but she is still bruised ten weeks after surgery. Watched a bit of the final day of Test Cricket from a reportedly bitterly cold Leeds. It was never likely to end well and it didn’t. Ironically, it was this day in 1975 that I was watching a cricket match on an old,  black & white television. It was high up in Derbyshire – Buxton – and between Derbyshire and Lancashire. The first two days were extremely warm – almost record highs – but this day forty years ago saw the weather change as blizzards of snow swept across the ground and my old television had a great deal more white than black.

Pauline joined me in an hour’s exercise at the Health Club. We have been considering our shares in Barclays Bank which were once priced up near £8.00/€11.00 in 2007, had fallen to £0.50/€0.67 and are currently at £2.70/€3.70. I can see no mileage in them for a long time to come and have taken the decision to sell them.

3rd June, 2015

Warm and sunny day that reached 21C/69F by afternoon. Because the property is going on the market in the next few days, Pauline stayed at home to make sure that everything was spotless and de-cluttered. I went to the Health Club and did a mega, two hour work out in the gym and the pool. I came home in time for a meeting with the estate agent we have appointed to sell the property. At this meeting, we tied up all the details and signed the contract. Tomorrow is expected to be a lovely, sunny and hot day around here so the estate agency have arranged for professional photographers to photograph the property inside and out, measure up and prepare a floor plan.

Some woodpigeons have taken to roosting on a ledge of our property. They poo in gargantuan proportions and it is disgusting as it builds up. Clapping doesn’t shift them at all and I daren’t throw stones for fear of breaking windows. I know that a daft Sifnian tried a bird scarer to adverse effect. A neighbour suggested a water cannon/gun. I researched it and found one on Amazon.

It arrived this morning. I’ve used it tonight and one blast got rid of the birds. Two hours later, there is still no sign of them. It fires a powerful jet up to 60 ft/20ms. This is Boys Own stuff. I may hunt cats tomorrow!

4th June, 2015

Well, one shot from the water cannon scared off the pigeons immediately. They didn’t return last night and haven’t returned tonight. I think it’s worked although I find it hard to conceive. Very warm night tonight on a day that reached 26C/79F. We sat outside for an hour but the sun was just too intense and too hot.  We were visited by the photographer who did all the work for the sales brochure on the house. Two sales executives arrived to familiarise themselves with the layout prior to conducting house viewings. I went off to do a couple of hours at the Health Club and then returned to take Pauline for a check up at the Surgery. Her recovery from the operation, which was ten weeks ago, has not been as fast as we expected. She still has bruising and residual discomfort and is being referred back for a scan.

The Greek government are toughing it out.

They are, nominally at least, defaulting on their payment to the IMF tomorrow and choosing to roll up all their payments until the end of the month. Even then, they won’t be able to afford repayment without a bailout. There is now a real risk of a ‘run’ on the banks. The concomitant of that will be a shortage of all the basics of life which will make a ‘holiday’ more like a battle.

5th June, 2015

Hot and humid day which reached 26F/79 at mid afternoon. We were having our first meeting with our dentist. It involved an inspection and two x-rays each and cost us £148.00.  No National Health practice availability around here in affluent Surrey. While we were at the dentist, our Estate Agent was conducting the first viewing of our apartment.

The Greeks are taking their task of attracting as many tourists as possible this season really seriously. Here’s a selection of newspaper headlines:

• The Daily Telegraph – Who will put Greece out of its misery? It’s time they left the  euro.

• The Independent – Greece crisis: Alexis Tsipras dismisses ‘irrational’ proposals for country’s debt repayment

• The Times – Tsipras turns to Putin and accuses West of sabotage

• The Express – Now British holiday flights face delays as Greek cash crisis starts to bite

I don’t think this is going to do it.

6th June, 2015

A warm day of sun and cloud which has reached 21C/69F at 10.00 am. We did a quick trip to Tesco, had the car cleaned while we were there and came back to clean the inside, check tyre pressure and oil levels prior to setting off for Europe.

Our Sifnos friends told us last night that the owners of our Greek house had applied in the recent Community meeting for street lighting to be installed near to the house. That’s exactly what we were planning to do this year but, with cash(credit) controls imminent, getting our money out of Greece was by far the best thing to do last year. We will be back soon to see what is going on.

24th May, 2015

Doesn’t time fly when you’re enjoying yourself! The last week of May has arrived. After yesterday, we needed a bit of a rest. Fortunately, May Bank Holiday is the focus for sport, sport, sport. Today, the Premier League has been completed with Hull being relegated. There are so many things from Hull that deserve relegation! Formula 1 Monaco saw Lewis Hamilton cheated out of a victory and, at Lords, the England team fought back to raise a challenge to New Zealand in the first Test match of the Summer. One of us had to do something today and it fell to Pauline to produce a meal of dressed crab, smoked salmonand salad.

Beautiful flavours for a lovely day! 2

5th May, 2015

Bank Holiday Monday. All the workers are still in bed catching up on beauty sleep. It means nothing when you’re retired. Up at 7.00 am as usual.Lovely day again although not too warm – 17C/63F  at 10.00 am and reaching 22C/70F by mid afternoon. We are going to the Health Club for a good workout and then coming home to contact estate agents to arrange valuations over the next few days. Next week, we expect to put the property on the market and then see how things go before we set off for Europe.

26th May, 2015

A much nicer day than we expected. We cooked outside and sat in the sun to drink a bottle of wine. Three Estate Agencies came to value our property. They were remarkably similar in estimate price which was reassuring and, although we haven’t told them yet, we have easily chosen one to represent us. They all told us that demand for properties is strong but supply of sellers weak. It is a seller’s market which is good. They were all confident of finding a buyer for our property within six weeks but told us that the period after that to ‘completion’ would be 10 – 16 weeks. This will take us to the end of October or beginning of November which is getting to the point where we want to be. We can go abroad without worry. I read lots of Greek island Blogs each day/week (see my side bar menu) and it has been striking that they rarely mention two, major, newsworthy items. I don’t really understand how they can so blatantly ignore the real world although I know from my own experience that island life creates a separate, isolated world somewhat insulated from reality. Islands can become like goldfish bowls where the actors begin to feel they are life’s major players rather than just goldfish. The Greek economy is rarely discussed other than very tangentially. One blog recently dismissed the discussion as so much hot air which would evaporate and life would go on as it always does. I suspect a rude awakening but, maybe, he will be proved right. The other news item that has been noticeably missing from island blogs even on the Dodecanese side is the influx of migrants washing up on Greek shores day after day this Spring. I suspect that both items are not considered conducive to tourism. I believe that the origins of the ‘Greek Disease’ can be found in this myopia. Ignore problems and they will go away. The sun will still shine. While the second proposition is likely to be well founded, the first is quite definitely not.

27th May, 2015

Gorgeous day which reached 22C/70F but felt much hotter in our sheltered ‘garden quad’. Pauline entertained the final two estate agents while I did two hours at the Health Club – an hour in the gym and a second in the pool/steam room/Jacuzzi/sauna. We then sat out with garlic stuffed olives and a glass of wine in the sunshine as we reviewed our valuations.

We have been in this property for four years although we’ve only lived in it for two. All five valuers are remarkably close in their evaluation this time. Quite astonishingly, the property has increased by 65% in that time. It has totally justified our decision to buy and move down here. We firmly expect to sell and move by the end of November.

28th May, 2015

Another lovely day. We did a morning shop at Sainsbury’s. Our bill of £118.00 was paid for by £100.00 of vouchers and £8.00 of bonuses. It cost us precisely nothing. The same will be the case for another five weeks of Sainsbury’s shopping whenever they are over the next two years.

We had intended to go to the gym but were so late back that we had other things to fit in. We have received the paperwork confirming discussions that we’ve had over the past couple of days with estate agents. Although their market valuations are fairly close together, their charges are quite disparate. One charges 0.7% of sale price, four charge 1% and one charges 2.25%. Rather counter-intuitively, we’ve decided to go with the most expensive.

We believe that they can squeeze more out of the market than the others especially with their offices in Central London. Owners who live here tend to walk the 10 minutes to the station and then take the train for 30 mins. to Waterloo. It is ideal for the commuters. We will soon see if our judgement and their confidence is justified.

29th May, 2015

We started off with rain today. Eventually, it became sunny and warm. It rained torrentially at midday but I was undertaking a two hour work out at the Health Club and just came out to find a very clean car in the car park.

The day didn’t start well. Pauline woke me at 5.00 am. She had been woken herself by a rapidly racing pulse. Her heart rate was 188/104 with a pulse rate of 103. For someone who was sleeping, that is rather alarming and, for Pauline, totally out of the normal. At 8.00 am, we phoned our Doctor’s Surgery and got an appointment for 9.30 am. Pauline was given an ECG and had a blood test. The ECG result was fine and the blood result will be next week. We were relieved to find that there was nothing alarming immediately.

The cost of selling a property is huge so it is a decision that must not be rushed. We made a decision yesterday, slept on it and had one or two questions for the agent we had selected. We phoned them and satisfied ourselves that we have made the right decision. We will meet them next week and sign the paperwork before going away.

30th May, 2015

A pleasant day – reasonably sunny although not particularly warm. We decided to give the Health Club a miss today. We did paperwork connected with the sale of the property. I also revelled in being able to watch the Second Test from Leeds and a rather one-sided FA Cup Final in which Arsenal thrashed Villa 4-0.

With news of thousands more migrants being plucked out of the Mediterranean in the past 24 hours, the controversy is having an adverse effect on tourism to Greece where tourists are complaining of streets littered with migrants particularly on Dodecanese islands. Righteous indignation from Greeks at the insensitivity of tourist complaints doesn’t sit too well with those who have saved all year for a couple of weeks of escapism. The Times ran an article today about the Greek islands but focussed on Serifos & Milos. Sifnos was conspicuous by its absence. They’ve obviously met The Poison Dwarf as well.