Notes from a Greek Island

Greece is all over the news these days – drowning in debt, on the verge of collapse, on the brink of total disaster  – and no doubt all that is true. But from where I’m sitting, in the pocket size library on the corner of a busy little square on the island of Leros, it all feels very different.

Yes, there are abandoned houses for sale and empty shopfronts and all the signs of economic crisis but there’s an energy and a vibrance and a resilience about these people that makes me feel that the Greeks will get through this just fine. They have known hard times before.

They are a defiant bunch. There’s a refreshing lawlessness here on the island, which makes it hard to believe that they are part of the EU with all its its laws and regulations. They zip around on scooters without helmets, drive their beaten up old cars without seat belts, park wherever and however they fancy. You can buy fish from a crate on the back of a motorbike, vegetables from the trunk of a car. There’s food for sale in the most surprising of places.

Taxes are about to go up and the islands will lose their special privileges. Life is going to get even more expensive. But this is an island of hardworking farmers and fisherman and is overflowing with wonderful homegrown produce and a love of good food. The news sounds awful but here here on ground zero, the sun shines every day, the sea is cool and crystal clear, there are a lot of warm welcoming smiles – and life feels really good.