June 2020

Another month has gone by, one in which the Covid-19 pandemic again dominated the news, and most of life itself. It was often hard to find out what else was happening in this troubled world: Brexit hardly rates a mention at present, and climate change seems to have slipped off the global agenda, a worrying trend that one can only hope is very temporary.

While the state of public health and the rate of infection and death in Britain and the USA continue to horrify other nations, Greece continues to do well as it emerges very slowly and cautiously from its lockdown. I am writing on the 30^th of May, and today’s statistics list 2,909 confirmed cases of Covid-19. 1, 374 people have recovered, while 175 people have died over the last two months. It has to be admitted that there may be many other cases as yet unconfirmed, because not as much testing is taking place in comparison with places like Britain and Australia. And the death rate is higher than Australia’s, but one reason for this is that the Greek population, like the Italian one, has a significantly greater proportion of seriously old people than Australia. And both Australia and New Zealand are surely given a degree of protection by geography and isolation.

Restrictions here began to be eased at the beginning of May, but we were still confined to our own localities. Now the whole country has been opened up to domestic travellers, so that ferries are running to the islands again, and bus services to big cities have also resumed. But physical distancing is still the rule, and masks must be worn when travelling on public transport. Although international travel has started again, certain nationalities are prohibited from entering the country for another month: Greece is not accepting flights from Britain, the USA and France, a protective measure that may be eased in July, depending on prevailing circumstances.

Most shops seem to be open, and coffee bars and restaurants are now functioning again, with their tables arranged in outdoor spaces only. But the general population is being very cautious. A friend and I went out to lunch the other day, but we were the only diners in the very attractive beach setting. The cook/owner shrugged her shoulders resignedly, and said flatly that this situation was what she expected, and that it would be the same for a while yet. ‘People are scared.’

People in general have behaved, and are behaving, well. Although there have been a certain number of fines imposed on those found breaking the rules, there has been nothing like the controversy involving Britain’s Dominic Cummings. Even though, as the Prime Minister’s chief adviser, he helped draw up the lockdown rules, he then proceeded to break them by taking a 260-mile trip from his London home. As far as I know he has suffered no penalty apart from the anger of the British public, who are justified in thinking he has been contemptuous of their own efforts and has also shown that there is one rule for the many and quite another for the very limited few.

Which brings me to the topic of my general discontent with male politicians. Most seem to be RWNJs, which I believe stands for Right Wing Nut Jobs, a fairly mild label for some of them. People like Trump and Johnson, to name only two, seem to be encouraging inequality, favouring the rich at the expense of the poor as a regular practice. And the level of incompetence exhibited during the current crisis by those in power in Britain and the USA is truly staggering. In the meantime, the women politicians seem to go from strength to strength. Why can’t we have more people like Angela Merkel and Jacinda Ardern at various helms?

As I write America is burning as a result of the death of yet another African-American in police custody. Protests have become violent in the extreme, and many people are choosing to ignore the curfew imposed in Minneapolis, the city in which the death of George Floyd took place. The USA draws a great deal of criticism because of what appears to be built-in racism. But some critics need to examine their own attitude towards minority groups of colour.  The British mistreatment of the Jamaican Windrush generation, for example, is not at all pretty, while the indigenous peoples of Australia have always suffered greatly. The suffering goes on: think of the number of Aboriginal deaths in custody, and the lack of consequences for them.

It is a sad, exhausted, terrible world, but we must make an effort to accentuate the positive, even if only for the sake of our grandchildren. So it’s good and important to note that nature keeps on doing its own thing, regardless of what humans get up to. May saw the hottest weather on record here, with temperatures of 37 and 38 for four consecutive days, but the gardens that survived are now looking spectacular, with bougainvillea blazing everywhere and roses in full and scented bloom. In Kalamata the jacarandas are now at their best, with purple umbrellas everywhere. They never fail to take me back to Melbourne in December.