May 2020

May the 1^st is a public holiday in Greece, but we will be forced to regard it as being like any other day. People will be able to decorate their front doors with May Day wreaths, but that is all: the authorities have exhorted us, as they do regularly in these troubled times, to stay at home. On the 4^th a cautious emergence from lockdown will begin, in that we will be able to go out, in a limited fashion, without permits. According to law, Greek citizens are required to carry their ID cards with them at all times, but presumably citizens of other countries will no longer be compelled to carry their passports. Some small businesses will re-open, including hair salons (thank goodness), but masks must be worn in shops and in taxis and on public transport. I’m sure many women will join me in being glad about being able to get a haircut at last: for the first time in about 60 years I am using bobby pins, which now come in rainbow colours! My grandmothers used them regularly, but they were always a sombre dark brown or black.

Emerging from lockdown is a complicated business. On the 28^th of April, PM Mitsotakis addressed the nation on national television. He thanked Greeks for the trust and spirit of co-operation they have shown to date, but warned that we must all continue to be very vigilant. Then followed a whole procession of ministers, who informed the public as to the measures that would be taken: those in charge of health, transport, education and civil protection were some of those that had their say. The telecast went on for more than an hour: I sat there the whole time and dutifully watched it all. It is rather pathetic to admit that my hefty Greek-English dictionary was on my lap throughout. After all these years. My excuse is that phrases such as ‘relaxation of quarantine restrictions’ I have never had occasion to use before.

I went into Kalamata yesterday, for the first time in three weeks. Inexorable nature has performed as usual, so a lot of blossoming and growth had taken place. The bottle brushes are now in full bloom, for example. There were a few people about, but Kalamata was in general a shadow of its former self: no people sitting out in the spring sunshine, restaurants all shut, with chairs and tables either stacked and chained outside or put away. All being well, such places will open again in June, but in outside spaces only. Well, that’s no hardship in Greece’s early summer. I look forward to this development, but wonder if things will ever really be the same again.

I miss my grandchildren. Well, I’m not the only grandparent who feels like this. I’ve not seen my four since January, and it looks as if I won’t be seeing them until June, as at present we are supposed to stay on our home turf, and my descendants are all in Athens, 300km away. A few photos have been sent, and yes, they have grown and changed.

Other parts of the world. What is there to say about Britain and the USA, both performing so poorly in terms of preparedness, testing, and planning? For most of my life I have regarded these countries as being leaders in efficiency and organization. Alas, that regard has gone completely. I’m not too happy about Australia, either. Perhaps that accounts for my feeling quite detribalised during the recent Anzac Day, although I was touched to think of people standing outside their houses at 6 am and lighting candles in remembrance, and I still want to acknowledge the old soldiers’ sacrifice. But the Australian government is so scandal-ridden, and so prepared to play the Trump-style Covid-19 blame game: a Sydney friend tells me that the anti-Chinese feeling now so prevalent is deeply shocking. I have to believe that most Australians do not share it, but am worried about the PM’s call to investigate the Chinese virus outbreak. What good will that do? It will only exacerbate already damaged relations.

And it is now 250 years since Captain Cook made his first voyage along the eastern Australian coast. As people with scant knowledge of science pontificate about things medical, so scientists with little knowledge of history pontificate about people such as Captain Cook. One such has recently compared his voyages with the Covid-19 virus. Invasion, decimation, drastic change in a way of life. This is so inaccurate: if you’re looking for people to blame, turn to the British Government of the 1780s, and to Captain Phillip, who was a man, like Captain Cook, simply doing his job.

Both Cook and Phillip, in their separate ways, were great men. It is quite possible, and should be, to acknowledge their achievements while lamenting the aftermath.