21st September 21. Two bits of bad news today. The local paper Makedonia says the Health Secretary and his deputy are on their way to Thessaloniki to discuss possible local lockdowns. Now iefimerida – my go-to online newspaper has the panicky headline “The nightmare awakens in Thessaloniki – Red with 449 cases, 544 in Attica.” To put this in perspective, Thessaloniki has roughly one quarter of the population of the Athens area.
This table gives a snapshot of the last seven or eight weeks. The only good news is the drop in the number of people in intensive care, which at one point looked as if it was nudging towards 400. Looks as if Sunday is not a good day to be in the ICU looking at the deaths on 13th and 27th September.
| Date (24 hours leading up to 3pm on) | New Cases | Deaths | Intubated |
| 2 August – 21* | 2,156 | 8 | 188 |
| 27 August – 21 | 3,076 | 22 | 337 |
| 28 August – 21 | 3,064 | 35 | 333 |
| 30 August – 21* | 2,343 | 19 | 338 |
| 05 September 21 | 2,286 | 30 | 381 |
| 13 September 21* | 1608 | 51 | 379 |
| 14 September 21 | 2919 | 31 | 369 |
| 21 September 21 | 3,040 | 42 | 333 |
| 27 September 21* | 2,130 | 47 | 323 |
| 28 September 21 | 2,978 | 22 | 322 |
*Monday numbers are usually lower as fewer people get tested on Sundays.
These Covid figures have put a real dampener on the music. We have an open-air and unplugged gig scheduled for Thursday (23rd). With that in mind we had a very disciplined practice last Saturday. Weather permitting, it will go ahead. That is the good news.
The bad news is that lockdowns might be a possibility, which will be a huge blow to us because the manager/proprietor of Thessaloniki’s only genuine Irish bar has just agreed that we can try to get monthly Irish music sessions off the ground. Of course, while this is bad news for us, it is even worse for the manager as his business and livelihood are under threat. If lockdowns do come into effect, I sincerely hope people will vent their fury on the arseholes who are responsible: the anti-vaxxers. Yes, I know vaccinated people catch Covid, but it is unvaccinated scumbags who give this disease its lifeblood.
Thursday 23rd. The gig went ahead. Conditions were quite difficult. Very basic and rickety seating, quite windy and unseasonably cold. Some of the photos, however, have turned out very well. The audience were lovely, it has to be said.
Finally, returning to the Dubliner Sessions, I have prepared a playlist for the first session should they ever get underway. Admittedly, playlists and sheet music are a big no-no in a session, but this is something new in Greece and it is the only way I think I can get things off the ground. I might be wrong, of course.