From Greek crisis to British crisis

It is a long, long time since I last posted, and a lot has happened; much of it has made me sad, and I just haven’t had the urge to write at all. In my last post before this hiatus, I noted the “waiting for God” aspect of anticipating the next step in the Greek bailout saga. It seems as if we have, in a way, come full circle – we are now awaiting the deadline of Brexit – another national catastrophe about which we mere mortals can do nothing except live in hope that it won’t be as bad as we fear.

When the Greek people voted in a referendum to leave the Euro, there was outrage when the government ignored the vote, and submitted to the demands of the EU regarding loan repayments. The British government is now doing the same, in a roundabout way, it seems to me.

They say they are respecting the result of the referendum in taking Britain out of the EU. Nothing could be further from the truth, in reality. So many lies were told during the campaign by the leave side, and people voted accordingly. I’m certain that the remain side were not entirely trustworthy either, but their claims seem to have been more exaggeration than downright untruth. Since then, the negotiations have been undertaken in a less than serious fashion, it seems to me. There never was any real intention to make a good deal; too many people stand to make too much money from a hard Brexit, preferably with no deal at all. The EU will, of course, be said to be to blame.

Parliament has now been prorogued leaving no time for those opposed to a no deal to mount a substantial defence. The opposition parties have done sod all to oppose, properly, up to now. The Queen has been dragged into this political mess, and the country is in crisis.

For people like us, living in the EU with no certainty at all over our future, life is bleak indeed. We face the prospect of huge bills for health insurance (if we can get it at all) if no reciprocal deals are struck. In some countries UK citizens have difficulty getting residence permits (though thankfully the Greek government has so far been helpful in this regard). We exercised our rights as EU citizens to come and live in other EU countries, and those rights have been stripped away just so that the Tory party can keep itself intact in the face of far right parties encroaching on their turf.

I feel betrayed and abandoned by my country, and unbelievably angry.

 

How the other half lives

Frankly, I’ve had enough of the world. Wherever I look these days there are people determined to make life difficult for others. If it isn’t the impact that Brexit will have upon people like us (and European immigrants in the UK) it is the petty minded individuals who do what they like and b****r everyone else. At times like this I fall back on my natural feeling that others are not to be trusted; the government (naturally) – all governments, actually, can be relied upon to act in a way which causes citizens despair, and people who were supposed to be friends just act in a totally selfish and self centered manner, abusing carefully built up trust along the way. To hell with the lot of them, say I.

Living here in the middle of our patch of greenery makes me feel that solitude is the only way of life for us, and we are very fortunate to be able to escape from other people. I remember only to well how difficult it could be living cheek by jowl with suburban neighbours with whom we didn’t always see eye to eye and I’m really thankful that we no longer have to do so.

We are now in the season of crossing fingers and hoping. The olive trees have been flowering fairly well, but it has been very hot the last few days, with a strong wind, so all we can do is hope that it hasn’t affected the fruiting. Next week the temperature is due to take a dive and rain is forecast – we will see!

I have plants ready to go into my veg patch, but am holding off if there is rain due, as that will be a better time to plant. We’ve ordered water for the olive trees on Thursday, so that’s when it will probably rain! I intend to buy tomato plants to put in pots for starters, so my seedlings will go in the ground later. The theory is that there will be a succession of fruits, but who knows whether or not it will work. I’ve already been pulling radishes and my cut and come again salad leaves will be ready in a week or so. I guess I need to sew more of those as well. These things have to be in pots, as the soil is so bad here, but it means I can easily cut/pull them as I need them. The potatoes should be ready in a couple of weeks more, hopefully – can’t wait for “proper” salad potatoes!