A bit of Pathos - and other cats (some fat!)

Well, no! Not very!

When we got back in May it took only a matter of hours for Scaredy to find out and come up to tentatively visit. He/she has clearly had at least one other source of sustinence - no weight loss here in six months! - but this black cat has a certain charm, so we shared the balcony and put out odd bits of food. However things have changed! A couple of weeks ago a mother with two kittens arrived, hung around and soon disappeared. Then we were visited by what we think is a kitten from the same litter, but alone, too small to be away from its mother, hungry and wailing. We relented and fed it, knowing that we would soon be away in Matala for almost four days and the Spartan approach would have to be adopted. On our return it was back, so we are now reluctant foster-parents! We are not sure of its gender, and it still wails and does endearing things, so its name shall be Pathos. In Greek style it is not allowed in the apartment, and with upcoming absences it is going to have to fend for itself eventually, but we have given it a fighting chance. Scaredy has taken umbrage and has not been seen for some time. A pregnant thing so ugly only its own mother would love her has been dropping by.

And so what - you ask - of the Fat Cats and the Greek crisis? The effects in the village are not very great. There was a power cut of exactly 40 minutes one evening as scheduled during the electricity workers' strike, and some panic when the air traffic controllers were on strike on transfer day Tuesday last week. There was a window in the middle of the day for charter flights, so disruption to arriving and leaving Brits seems to have been minimal. What can you say? People are angry! We have watched the footage of demonstrations in Athens - modelled on the Arab Spring and Madrid, but with some Greek police heavy-handedness, and there is no easy answer! As foreigners we have a collection of examples of minor fiddles at worker and/or small business level, but this is in the context of major political corruption and self-delusion, not least over the entry into the Euro. Grrrr! There is some frank and rude dual language grafitti on the road to Kandanos, telling the IMF and EU what to do. It is painted on the new walls beside the new road - paid for by the - yes - EU!

.. and the most interesting ideas revolve around "doing a Hungary" - and refusing to play ball whereby assets are globalised and the ordinary Greeks suffer such austerity.

There is a very considered analysis by Robert Peston of the BBC

and also from the BBC's Now Show - our "Joke of the Week"

"Production of tsatsiki and taramasalata is to be regulated to avoid a double dip recession"

Siga, siga!