Wednesday’s desk view gave me some clouds to look at, the Blue Star coming in (a little late) and the fishing boats going about their business, as a cold, quiet day settled in over Symi.
That was in mild contrast to Tuesday when we found the harbour warm in the sun and calm with clear skies. There was a round of bank visits to be taken care of, the last of the previous year’s tax payments to make, yippee! No more bills… Oh hang on, the health insurance bill arrived, and then the rent became due, and the phone bill was just paid, and there should be a water bill coming in any day now, possibly an electricity one, and then we have Christmas to think about and… Oh to hell with it, let’s go to Pacho’s and consider a gyros for lunch.
Talking of money, I’m going to share this image with you (below). Some of you may have already seen it doing the rounds on Facebook but for those who don’t use that site, here’s an outline of taxes and things you need to pay if you have a freelance business in Greece. I didn’t put this together so I can’t say if it is accurate or not, and I don’t understand all of it, but it does show you how hard it is to get everything paid before you earn enough to live off. In order to have €700 per month for home life you would have to earn €30,500 – roughly speaking, or if you are in the UK, an income of £21,000 per year would net you £500 per month for rent/mortgage, bills, food etc., a third (roughly) of what you would have if you were living and working in the UK and earning the same amount. (And shopping prices are not any cheaper in Greece than the UK.)
And on that sorry note, I am going to go and hang the washing out, see to His Majesty’s dirt tray (and I mean Jack Cat’s of course), feed the strays, celebrate that the council or someone has finally filled in the death-trap hole outside our gate, remind Neil to water his plants and then go into the other part of the house, try and warm up and read a book. But first, a couple of village winter photos:
