These Greeks are a resilient bunch, they can pull themselves away from the Sirens, overcome the Cyclops and live with modern-day economic collapse.
And run faster, fight stronger and jump higher.
And they can see off COVID-19. With a little help from the Gods on Mount Olympus.
Because they’re getting precious little help from their own politicians – or ours.
A prayer for Greece
Lies, damn lies and statistics
Greece’s COVID-19 levels were low (and still are with 147 new cases and two new deaths).
And yet the UK Government are threatening them with being thrown off the exempt list.
Now every death is a loss but I’ll say this in the hope, and expectation, that it won’t happen to me.
I don’t want people to stop living if I’m either of those casualties.
Because our politicians are blinding us with statistics by frightening us with daily rises and not putting them in context.
The Alpha and the Omega
People come first
In all they have had 7,222 cases, with 3,804 recoveries (a stat which our politicians never tell us) with 230 deaths.
The UK, by comparison have had three deaths overnight and Scotland none for 30 days.
I never went for stats and graphs at school and the only tables I looked at were football league tables.
But politicians love a stat because stats don’t talk back the way people do.
The Greeks will though and I admit that I’d love to see more British people vent their fury and argue the consensus.
Raising the bar on Greece
Like Mykanos bar owner Stavros Grimplas who gave out about the lightning lockdown of bars, cafes, clubs and restaurants.
‘We told them to come to Greece and Greece has shut down,’ Stavros argued.
These lightning lockdowns also risk congestion at airports and ports.
And where you get congestion you get a strain on social distancing which is our safeguard from the virus.
I accept that I have a hippos, or horse, in this race being a Hellenophile (Greek fan).
And having spent many of my happiest times abroad in Greece,
My Greek adventures
In Corfu where we honeymooned and Athens and its Attica island Kythera.
It is time for the people to remember that our politicians are merely the guardians of our house.
And we should be vigilant when New Zealand, the poster people of COVID, hunt at delaying their election by a month.
And Donald Trump stands accused of trying to manipulate the US election rules.
An old relic and the Parthenon
It’s not just Belarus and Eastern Europe where elections are flawed.
It is time for us to take the power back.
I an reminded of a detour on the way to the Parthenon.
And my taxi driver telling me it was because the Athenians were protesting… ‘it’s what we do’.
In the cradle of democracy they will!