Dark days

People seem very interested in Greece right now. It used to be that when you mentioned Greece to someone they immediately thought of holidays, sun and beaches, nowadays people tend to ask more about the economic situation and the prospect of the country being able to recover from the mess it’s in at the moment. Well, I don’t have a crystal ball so I really don’t know how things will unfold for this country but I can’t see things getting any better any time soon.
Sunday marked 4 years’ in Greece for us and I remembered that our main factor in moving over here was for a better quality of life for Junior, for her to have more of a childhood. She does remain blissfully unaware of ‘celebrity culture’ and doesn’t long to be ‘famous’ when she grows up (unless it’s because she’s discovered a new species of animal) but her childhood should also include a decent education. She reads voraciously, is fiercely intelligent and is bored beyond words at school. What does this country hold for her future, for the future of any of the children at her school? Where will the jobs be? Will they have the skills to go abroad and search for work elsewhere?
We must hear every week of people who are leaving the country, who can’t cope anymore and don’t see things improving. We’ve also noticed that the supermarkets we visit aren’t as well stocked as usual, imported goods seem to be fewer on the shelves. Heating oil continues to rise in price and people are choosing instead to fit wood burners. We would if we had any room for one but we’re making do with electric heaters. Fortunately the weather has been warmer the past week or so, especially fortunate since electricity went up by 12.2% on 1st January.
The new property tax didn’t effect us as we rent and the tax is the responsibility of the landlord. What does effect us though is car tax. You pay your tax for the whole year and we’ve always done this at the beginning or middle of January. Sean went to pay the other week only to be told that because he didn’t pay at the end of the December for the following year, the price was now double!! It wasn’t the bloke in the tax office’s fault, he admitted that previously it had been fine to pay during January but because they’re so desperate to raise money wherever they can they’d enacted this little piece of legislation to drag in the euros. It seems to be take, take, take at the moment and no sign of any giving.