For an election period, things seem quite quiet. The first round was a disaster for the opposition leader, Alexis Tsipras, the biggest chancer in Greek politics. It’s a terrible situation when you don’t want the government to win and when you want the opposition to lose. No joy at all.
Here in Thessaloniki, Tsipras did particularly badly, being driven into third place in one constituency. I say third, but the margin between 2nd and 3rd was less than 1%.
I despair at the fatuity of politicians. Last year, the Pasok leader stated that his fellow MEP, Eva Kaili, was ‘the Trojan Horse of New Democracy’. Kaili is charged with corruption and, while it is true that Kaili wouldn’t recognise a socialist if Che Guevara popped up inside her knickers, there was nothing to suggest she was in league with New Democracy. Even worse, Yanis Varoufakis, supposedly the most intelligent person on the left, declared that the first round showed the Erdoganisation and Orbanisation of Greece. To compare the PM, Mitsotakis, with Hungary’s Orban was stretching things, but comparing the government here with the electoral dictatorship in Turkey was ridiculous.
The next round is on June 25th. Just over a week to go.
We have had the strangest May and June in Greece. Rain almost daily. This weekend is a washout too. This article describes the downpour in the west of the city and the city centre last night: https://www.thessnews.gr/thessaloniki/sto-eleos-tis-vrochis-i-thessaloniki/
I feel for the restaurant trade whose businesses have suffered since the summer weather has not arrived yet. This is the season where I would normally have a fan or the AC on. I would also be coating myself with Autan (a mosquito repellent), but there has been little cause to use it. Of course, there is talk of climate change, but we had a shit summer about 20 years ago. I don’t buy into the nonsensical end of climate fanaticism, but the appearance of sharks on the Costa Blanca near Alicante and in the Gulf of Corinth is worrying.