Monday, May 28th conversation

Still on Patmos, my girlfriends Jodi, Lynn and I, stopped into an art gallery. The woman who was working there had a lot to say. I am going to do my best to paraphrase her comments.

I am 63 years old and have lived here for 38 years. I was born in Australia and my husband is from Patmos. We love living here very much. The quality of life is still good; however, much has changed since the economic crash. We used to be able to travel back to Australia every year. We had a coffee shop and by the end of the tourist season we made enough money to travel. 

As our economy got worse, our trips lessened to every other year. Now we are lucky to go to Australia once every sixth year. The economic crash affects everyone. I am still happy however. I have my horse, my husband and my painting. This art gallery had many of her paintings. ‘I just can’t stop painting horses!’ 

She made the observation that on this small island of Patmos, families can still have at least some sort of quality. The children can still play in the streets. It is safe here. People still try to take their afternoons off when it is hot. Shops close during the hottest time of day. She thinks that life in large cities such as Athens are more difficult. Those who are lucky to have a job, work long hours and the city is hot. They work so much just to pay the bills. Our taxes go up and up, but our wages truly are half of what they were before the crash. Our fixed costs such as food have, if anything, also gone up.