Hurrah for tourists. May they come in droves. The Greek government, I believe, would have kept us in lockdown indefinitely were the economy not so dependent on tourism. The number of new Covid cases, deaths and patients in intensive care has not really gone down as much as the authorities would like, but the gates are opening. Today (13th May), I read that Thessaloniki’s waste water has shown an increase of 87% according to whatever measure they use to calculate Covid levels. One thing is clear: the alarming increases of Covid in the effluent of Greece’s main cities has not led to a corresponding increase in human infections. Anyway, today’s figures are 2,167 new cases, 55 deaths and 683 intubated. It is the last figure that concerns the government most. About 10 days ago it nudged above 800 and was putting real stress on the health system. The government is gambling on the success of the vaccination program coupled with the arrival of tourists with Covid passes. As far as my musical coalition of the willing is concerned, we will all have received our second vaccinations by Saturday 15th. All except our whistle player, who works in Bulgaria.
15th May. My second vaccination did not go as smoothly as the first one. When I arrived at the health centre for the first vaccination, the security guard stopped me and asked for ID and then let me wait inside. When I arrived yesterday for my second jab, I had my passport ready but there was nobody at the entrance, so I entered the building. The security guard was quick to spot me and shooed me backwards with “Piso, piso, piso, piso” (Back, back, back, back). When she stopped and I was in the open air, I said, “I did not expect you to speak to me so abruptly”. She was furious with me and started to rattle off the rules that have been in place since the vaccination program began. None of my friends will attest that I am the calmest person on the planet, but I stuck to my guns, saying that I did exactly as I had done on my first visit, and that it wasn’t my fault she was not at the entrance. Matters did not improve. There seemed to be a delay with the supplies, and the nurses chose the worst possible moment to hold a staff meeting. As the delay stretched to around 30 minutes, the renowned Greek lack of patience kicked in as people failed to sit on their arses and maintain social distance. Necks craned to get a glimpse inside the vaccination room to see if anyone, patient or medical staff, was there. Only myself and an extremely obese woman remained in our seats while we waited, she because it would have been too much of an effort for her to stand up, and I because age has bestowed upon me the stoicism I lacked in my younger years. I was called eventually, injected, and left the centre 20 minutes behind schedule.
My musical confederates and I hope to get together sometime later in the month or early June. Then we will find out how effective our Zoom practices have been. They have certainly been enjoyable. No chance of playing for a while as music is still banned in bars. Anyway, one of my mates sent me this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioSXKgsr3fk
Her name is Tara Breen. A real talent as you will read here: https://heartbeatofhome.com/the-show/cast/tara-breen/
Like me, she’s from County Clare and like me, she plays the fiddle. The resemblance, sadly, stops there.