26/002 Life in Northern Greece – The Environment

No, not the purity of our waterways, seas, forests and mountains, but the prevailing Greek attitude to the world outside the house or flat where the environment begins and ends at the threshold. The home might be spotless, but nobody gives a shit about what lies opposite, around or beneath.

“Midden” is a word I first learnt on arriving in Glasgow. In the old tenement buildings, it was the shed in the rear courtyard where the bins were kept. Since then, I have only read the word in archaeological articles per this definition:

“A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics, and other artifacts and biofacts associated with past human occupation.”

I went down to the basement to retrieve some sound equipment for our trip to Grevena. Now the basement – because it is unseen most of the time – is not plastered, and the floors are rough concrete. It has storage units for each flat. Greeks are hoarders, so the storage units seem to be inadequate to hold the stuff Greeks are unwilling to throw out. What do you do in such cases? Simple! Dump shit under the stairwell. Downstairs there’s a bike, a rusty bird cage, rubble, a box for a 55” TV, and other items. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone has dropped a turd among the rubble. If a virus or bacterium wipes out human civilisation tomorrow, our self-created midden will provide food for thought for future archaeologists.

It seems that our top floor is also a midden. The two permanent occupants have stored their excess in the communal hallway.

25^th March. Today is Greece’s 205^th Independence Day. The weather was beautiful and the tavernas in the Thermaic Gulf were full. One of our friends opined that given the fuel price increases, Thessalonians were avoiding the longer trip to Halkidiki. Towards the end of last week, it felt like Weimer Germany. LPG was €1.24/litre as I was going into town on Thursday. On the return journey – the same day and evening and at the same petrol station – it was €1.29. When I stopped to fuel up for Grevena the following day, it was €1.34. Unleaded 95 is now over €2/litre. I can see it increasing to €3 if this nonsensical Epstein War doesn’t end soon.

Winter is slowly ending. On Saturday I drove to Toroni to check the house. The dehumidifier seems to have done its work as there is no damage due to dampness or humidity inside. The winter, however, has been brutal as far as the roads are concerned. On leaving the house yesterday (Catholic Easter/Greek Palm Sunday), I had to drive on the left for a few metres as there was a huge dip in the road. I thought it was the beginnings of a sinkhole. In our little compound, some of the balconies and verandas are a real mess. The rural road which bypasses Toroni is closed again. This means we can anticipate greater flow through the village and further damage to the road surface.