Eleven Moustachioed Daughters

All this economic turmoil is very worrying, particularly the situation in Greece and the rest of the Mediterranean economies (plus, potentially Ireland and possibly France).

I know a number of people who know about these things^TM and they worry that Greece is headed for a Euro exit that potentially leads to an EU exit, too. If Greece goes, there is little if anything to stop Italy, Spain and Portugal dropping out of the Eurozone shortly thereafter.

I can’t pretend to understand the economic niceties behind it all, but I must admit that curing vast levels of public debt by lending countries even more money, while their associated credit ratings are slashed all seems very suspicious. Without appreciating the maths behind it all, it just feels wrong.

If we add to that the fact that of all the members of the Eurozone, Greece is and always has been one of the most politically unstable, they are no stranger to the military coup –can we say ‘Colonels’ children? I think we can. It does seem rather bleak.

There was an article in yesterday’s Times that stated that in some circles, there had been speculation that while some quite drastic action might be needed within Greece to prevent capital leaving the country (faster than it already is), the Greek military might be deployed along the borders to prevent young Greeks escaping the country – without them, there can be no recovery, but there is no incentive for them to stay.



I fear the Greek military. Not as an international fighting force (though on a one to one basis, I would concede the right of a Greek soldier to order me about. A machine gun is still a machine gun, after all), but on the basis of their ceremonial uniforms. I mean mini skirts, tight leggings and pom poms plus automatic rifles and yet not in a good way. The Greeks have taken the teenage nerd dream and made it a thing to fear: goose stepping moustachioed cheerleaders with automatic rifles.

The horror of it all

It’s going to be horrendous, it really is.

The Olympics.

I have tried twisting my curmudgeonly instincts through a full 180 degrees on this issue, but I have to confess that I have only just managed it partway. Maybe 90 degrees, certainly no more. I have come to accept that there is a reasonable chance, given the skills of TV and radio professionals, that what most spectators will see will be, or at least seem to be a well executed event over three weeks or so, full of glitter and drama for those who care about these things. I may even watch a couple of the less tedious events.

I am looking forward to the Paralympics (we got tickets for those) and seeing the basketball, which is a scary sport when played by blokes in wheelchairs, and whatever the other thing we got tickets for is. I’ve forgotten. These two are interesting as much for the opportunity to see some of the facilities close up as they are for the actual sports, but here again, seeing something live is a far better experience than seeing it on telly, even if it takes the telly for you to understand what’s actually going on unless you are an aficionado.

For all that, it is going to be horrendous; horrendous and disruptive. The Underground was buggered again, this morning and that’s with what, 73 days to go as I type.

For months now, the Olympic organisers have been issuing pleas for people to stagger their commutes during the games, or take holiday, or work from home. Anything but follow the normal routine, because with all the additional bums on train seats, there will be no room for we mere mortals.

The Government has gone along with this, encouraging businesses to be flexible in anyway they can to reduce the strain on the aged infrastructure.

And now, the complaints have started.

Today’s headline in The Times is: Whitehall tells staff: stay home for summer. The story goes on to say that civil servants have been told that they can work from home for seven weeks during the Olympics “provoking incredulity from ministers, MPs and business leaders”.

Well no-one has told me not to come in for seven weeks. I am hoping to work from home for a few days here and there over the three week period of the Olympics, but the assumption is that things will be comparatively quiet during the Paralympics. Just to be clear, I am not a great fan of working from home, generally speaking. I like to have a clear divide between work and home life, but faced with a twice a day trip directly past the Olympic village (actually, through the middle of the bastard thing) I will, as far as possible, work from home. I am hoping that the IT lot here can hook me up so I can access the office servers over my broadband connection. With that comes access to all my files and office email and suddenly the possibility of sitting at my own desk for more than a limited time on a particular, specific and bone-numbingly tedious project become viable.

But all that barely matters, because big business doesn’t like it. They want all the perks the games will bring, including, no doubt, free tickets and champagne hospitality, but they don’t want to offer anything up to the poor saps that actually have to trail through this human river. I have been confidently told to expect my commute time to double for the duration. So that would be six hours a day then, on overcrowded and obsolescent facilities. And once that’s done, we must all work harder for less, just to get the country moving again.

I tell you, had I realised back in 2007-2008 how I was badly undermining the economy and bringing the country close top economic collapse, I should have stopped what I was doing immediately and tried to put it right.

Oh, hang on. That wasn’t me, was it? It wasn’t you, either, I think. Probably it was the chaps enjoying the free hospitality and executive box views of the most sought after events. I doubt even they could manage seven weeks of it. That is a bit too much to ask.