Recently, I made a long overdue visit to where my parents grew up. An island in the north Aegean called Limnos. My village of Plaka has a population of approximately 400 permanent residents. I have strong emotional ties to this island and my village and feel totally at ease whenever I am there. My only rule when I am there is NO TV, NO News, NO Phone and NO Internet.
By the 3rd day in the village, I knew where people where going to, coming from, how many pigs they have, if their tomatoes have ripened yet, etc… you get the drift.
You are forced to relax and switch off. Most of their food is home grown or made, from all the vegetables, fruits of the season, fish, eggs, meat, cheeses, yoghurts and the list goes on.
With all the recent bad news about Greece and its failing economy, I was quite nervous as to what I would find there and how my relatives and friends would be coping.
I have always preferred to get an understanding of how the economy is travelling by speaking to everyday people, no matter where in the world I may be. As a financial planner, economists and fund manager’s reports bombard me on a daily basis, with their graphs, statistics and “what if” scenarios. After a while they do nothing more than numb the mind.
While I was in Limnos, it made think as to how far we have come in just one generation. Although life can feel daunting at times, I feel we have much to be thankful for and we can easily lose sight as to what we have, what we really need and our often superficial wants.
