Friday, April 25, 2008

Easter is almost upon us

The Silence of the Lambs

The holidays have eventually started for me and I've finished with the last of my lessons. It's Good Friday here in Greece as the Orthodox church's Easter is a little later this year. Half of the country is on the move it seems as the cities empty out and people make their way to the countryside to visit family and friends in the villages and small towns.

However, despite the festive spirit there are lots of complaints about rising food and petrol prices. According to consumer organisations the cost of the traditional Easter meal is going to be 20% higher than last year. though saying that the cost of fresh produce such as tomatoes and other veg has doubled. Rather predictably the government says that prices have only gone up by 6.5 %. I'm not saying that I'm distrustful of their figures but if they came out with an official announcement that grass is green and the sky blue, I'd take a quick look out of the window to check that nothing had changed.

It's getting harder and harder for many people to make ends meet in such a climate as wages have remained static for a long time and the cost of basic goods have outstripped our meagre gains. I'm seriously thinking about quitting the school where I work as the wages have remained so low that there is no way you can survive on them anymore.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i meet many people in my work and those days i understood how bad the things are. people are full of stress and misery about their economical problems, they can't make an easter trip, or go for a drink. they wake up with bills on their mind, it's really depressing. PASOK governments were awful but those 4years with ND to the top, the life is going harder month to month..
*your blog and especially your pics are great, well done!

Anonymous said...

thinking of joining my boyfriend in edessa...advice?
40 year old aries from usa

teacher dude said...

Hi Tessella. I agree with what you say. Al I can see is a lot of people are struggling to survive and some are not making it.

Anon - I'd think twice about moving. Times are tough, especially in the small towns in the north of Greece so unless you've got a job in Edessa lined up I'd stay put. Still, that's just my opinion.