LIVING
OCTOBER
2008
GREEK FREEDOM
During a recent trip to London,
I was late (as usual) for an appointment with a friend.
As the train heading to
Victoria pulled into Sutton station, I hurriedly stepped up into
the carriage, silently competing with my fellow travelers for a
prime seat when to my horror, my sandal slipped off and fell
beneath the train.
I disembarked, patiently
waited for the train to leave and peeped over the platform to
locate my sandal. It was lying quite close to the steep platform
wall but quite far from the rail; too steep to stoop and
retrieve it but not too steep for retrieval with a tool, such as
an umbrella or one of those litter – pickers.
I picked my away across the
platform, taking care to avoid old chewing gum and freshly
expectorated sputum and approached a man who was wearing a
fluorescent jacket. I asked him if he worked for the station. He
admitted that he was indeed an employee but could not help me to
retrieve my sandal because it was against health and safety
rules.
I asked if I could borrow his
litter –picker so that I could retrieve it myself. He refused to
let me borrow it as it was against health and safety to lend
litter-pickers. I explained that I live much of the time in
Greece, where if I dropped my sandal under a train, I would
immediately have it returned to me.
He reminded me that I wasn’t
in Greece and pointed me in the direction of a woman wearing an
orange fluorescent jacket who was currently in charge of the
platform. She initially didn’t want to hear about my problem as
she was busy with several others but I explained that my problem
was particularly creative.
She couldn’t help me either as
it was against health and safety rules but she did call the
health and safety representative who was due to arrive in 10
minutes.
I threatened to lie down at
the edge of the platform and lean down to get it myself but she
insisted that I was being filmed and I could be arrested for
breach of health and safety rules!
Eventually, the health and
safety officer arrived, all puffed up with self-importance. He
explained he would have to switch off all the signals and close
down the southern network for 5 minutes. …So if you were in
London’s southern suburbs late one morning in August and the
train service was delayed because of ‘an object on the line’, I
am sorry.
The process of adaptation to
Greek life is entering my psyche unconsciously, via osmosis.
This was apparent to me when I was in London.
The situation regarding my
sandal both amused and infuriated me. I felt indignant about not
having autonomy over my own problem solutions and felt a strong
longing to be back in Greece.
Meanwhile, back here in
Greece, I am sorry to admit that I have become very adept at
egoistic, illegal parking and I love the feeling of getting away
with it.
A couple of years ago, one of
my friends actually decided to fill in the holes in her road
with cement so that her son could play on his skate-board.
Nobody from the council came round pleading breech of health and
safety and now the road is in better condition, plus the
children can play more safely.
The plot of land next to my
house is privately owned by Athenians. During the summer, the
grass grew excessively high and became home to rats and snakes.
One of my neighbors took it on himself to borrow a friend’s
donkey to deal with the problem in an organic way.
Now the field is bald and we
have a wonderful donkey braying; our own zoological alarm-clock.
The landowners aren’t
complaining, perhaps they don’t even know, but if they were to,
I think they’d thank our neighbor for his bright idea. We didn’t
have to ask for planning permission or any form of permission
because on the whole, in Greece, if you want to do something ,you
simply do it.
So if you are fed-up with your
national civil service and bored of being nannied, come to
Greece and experience a true, unhinged but deliciously risky
life style!
Alison Lorentzos
copyright 2008
