Having spent a day on a deserted Cretan beach overlooking Libya, I returned to Loutro (our haven) to discover messages on my phone suggesting that I chose the worse week to go AWOL: the week when the euro is finally collapsing. Steady on folks! The euro crisis has a long, long way to go. The explosion of the Italian and Spanish spreads is yet another early warning. What we need do is pay no attention to the inanities presenting themselves as ‘solutions’ (e.g. debt swaps or debt buybacks) and to focus on the main game: The reconstitution of the eurozone. It will, I am sure, happen. Since I am in no condition to write sensibly more about this presently (you should see the mindboggling scenery around me!), all I can do is suggest to you the best article on this issue that I stumbled upon after a few minutes of searching: That by George Soros in the FT (click here). Now I must go back into the boat in search of more splendid isolation. Cheers
Here is what I wrote just before boarding the ferry in Pireus:
Crisis, what crisis? As if in a bid to annoy my Northern European friends and readers, tonight we are boarding a ferry to Crete. Final destination a small village, called Loutro, on the Libyan sea, cut off from the rest of Crete due to a quaint lack of roads. Only access by boat. Thus we are towing our ancient inflatable to Sfakia (the only place that no occupier, Ottoman or Nazi, dared occupy; something like the Asterix Gaul village of Goscinny and Uderzo) from where we plan/hope to sail to Loutro. Ten days in utter isolation. Then, upon our return, I fly to Sydney to deliver daughter Xenia to her mum and school routine. Back on 28th July, when I shall resume posting here. With wishes for a blissful summer wherever you happen to be.
