The Times They Are A-Changing …...

I’ve just heard on the news that Sotheby’s is auctioning the handwritten-lyrics of that song written by Bob Dylan back in the 1960’s. Who would have thought it? They expect the selling price to be approx UK500K. Obviously there’s a lot of money floating around somewhere, looking for a home. Speaking of which …

Terry and I have both loved, but been very concerned with our visit to Greece – the antiquities (such as at Delphi and the Acropolis) have been absolutely amazing and it’s been great to see the amount of restoration work that going on at each heritage site.

On the other hand, we were talking with a couple on our bus tour, who were forced to change hotels because there was rioting and shooting down the street from their hotel. The same day we were talking with them, there were national strikes amongst government employees about the level of national debt. There were no buses or trains operating; many of the shops closed in support. People were openly taking drugs on the street. There has been no refuge collection for several weeks due to industrial action.

None of the above enhances the city as a tourist Mecca nor does the excessive tagging.

The following evening outside our hotel – which is in one of the main, up-market squares, we personally witnessed a Communist Political rally involving 1000’s of people singing and protesting. Luckily it dispersed peacefully.

during gathering

 before communist party gathering

 Thinking about it, in NZ we’re relatively lucky in that we have a stable environment. We may not have the ancient history, the monuments or past glories, but then we don’t have the world-wide reporting of riots, and dire economic conditions that are creating the above issues and stresses for the Greek people.

It’s good to be able to appreciate from afar what we do have and while we may moan about it on occasion, at least our national debt is not over 100% of our GDP (Greece is!) They must change and those changes may be incredibly painful – worse than NZ in the 1980’s.

Possibly this reinforces in our own businesses and our own lives that we are creating something that adds to our economy. The past won’t save us - it’s what we do today and tomorrow that’s important. If we can operate in our current, local challenging environment, what’s the possibility for tomorrow?

Talk to you soon …Gaylene