SIR GUESTLING THORN

Day 179

Word of the day: CONSTULT To act stupidly together (Making a collective act of stupidity a CONSTULTATION)! Recognise the meaning?

Monday and only two days to go before we fly out to Crete, barring anymore unexpected itinerary hick ups! Crete is on the quarantine list for when we return. If that is still the case then so be it! I speak with my good friend Kostas every week and have done all year. The islands cases even at the height of the lockdown were negligible and only ever rose to a few hundred with little in the way of deaths. Almost down to nothing it has only risen slightly due to people visiting the island. Far from us being quarantined coming back they should really ban anyone from going there! The dilemma of course is they rely on tourism for much of the islands prosperity. In Ayios where we stay there are no reported cases of the virus. I can tell you, they are far stricter than the UK when it comes to following the current rules and they do not tolerate those who flout them!

I’m looking forward to leaving this bitter and divisive country to go where family values and neighbourly kindness is far more prevalent. They have their troubles but they help each other if they can. 

Greece has been through economic hell over the last 10 years and through it all they have acted with dignity and fortitude that the British simply could not achieve! They have been left largely on their own to care for the thousands of refugees that flee across the Mediterranean to escape their troubled homelands and in the main have done their best to treat them humanly and kindly. The rest of the EU have turned their collective back on them and given little or no assistance to their fellow member? We have all shared in this terrible pandemic that has torn through the world and have been preoccupied with the consequences, often at the expense of everything else but these issue do not disappear and if anything have got worse! The Greeks for reasons I have never understood are a much maligned people, yes they have made mistakes, yes they have not always managed their economy well, although much of their issues were not of their making. In my experience over many years, a harder working, friendlier people would be hard to find. They have always been kind and helpful and welcomed us into their families. I have made some of the longest lasting and most fulfilling friendships on Crete even if we are only there twice a year. I always come out of Heraklion Airport with the song “Seems like home to me” playing in my head. Wendy and I are probably at our happiest and most relaxed and yes I know we are on vacation and thats how we should be but it is a deeper feeling than just being on holiday!

We were determined to go despite all the obstacles and go we will. I understand this is not some massive undertaking and in the great scheme of things of no consequence but for us it is!

Stay well