On a lighter note
After yesterday’s not so positive frustrations you will be pleased, and no doubt relived, to hear that the internet has been fine so far today (Wednesday). It’s like that around here, off and on, and that’s one of the main frustrations; not knowing what you are dealing with.
Living on a Greek island, there are always going to be frustrations but the fun and light side of life usually outweighs them. You have to put a brave face on things and a happy one too. I remember, years ago, going to get my residency permit organised at the police station. That took a bit of doing I can tell you. It’s not so much the fact that there were not that many police on the island at the time, or the fact that the ‘cast’ change every now and then so you don’t always get to be known and recognised (thus having to answer the same questions and prove the same things each time you visit), it was more to do with the fact that everyone there seemed surprised that I wanted to register. You don’t need to, I do, ask the council, they say to come to you, well go and ask them again, they say the same thing, then get them to do you a form saying you are able to register, why? I have a passport, yes, but it will give us time to investigate what we need to do, okay, thanks for doing that, now come back in two days when the right person is here, hi, I came two days ago… Who are you and what do you want? I want to register, well go and see the council, we’ve done all that, oh, well try this form then (produces ancient piece of Gestetner, hand-rolled, copy paper smelling of flu jabs and irons it out, squints at it and passes it over), okay, done that now what? Come back in two days. Hi, I’m back. Who are you? And so on, until, finally, after six weeks, the papers were stamped and a card issued. Take it to the council; Hi Town Hall, here’s my card… It’s the wrong colour… Ad infinitum. But you keep smiling.
Of course, Greece is known for the mystery of its bureaucracy which has been the subject of many a tale and article, investigation and archaeological dig and, even with the new streamlining of the system (i.e. sacking lots of people), it’s still not much better. Mind you, the doctor and medical set up is now computerised so you don’t need a book, with photos, stamped by various doctors on a different island and produced each visit with new stickers in it from the insurance office (or maybe you do, who knows?); you just need your AMKA number and there you are; your records should be on the system. Mind you, around here it works better than in larger towns in that the doctor usually knows who you are and recognises you. And being a friend of his/hers on Facebook helps a lot.
So, no struggling with bureaucracy today, only in that I had to look up how to spell the word. It’s one of those that gives me instance word-blindness, like about 70% of other words in the English language. Instead, we’re battling with a cold wind, coming from the north-east judging by the movement of the waves on the sea. And that’s going to be fun as, after posting this and getting ready, I have to head down to Yialos to go to the bank and get the rent money out. I went yesterday but the machine was temporarily out of service; there were clunking sounds from off stage and some shouted words of advice which I translated as either someone filling it or robbing it. Either way, I went away empty handed, so, I’ll head off into the cold wind and clear skies now and see if I hit the jackpot this time.
