From villain to hero in a day, myself and my pool at the Greek Hovel as the taxman catches up with me

There is a way that Greeks talk quickly and loudly that makes you feel as if they are shouting at you. They aren’t. Maybe it is just the way the language is put together.  Anyhow poor mad lefty J had a load of this not only from lovely Eleni at the Kourounis taverna but from Eleni’s husband, the sister of the murderer and a couple of other folks the other day. And the target of their ire was me.

Poor J did not deserve this but she has a thick skin and came up to the Greek hovel to relay all. Apparently the town hall has checked my water meter and there was a very high reading. This, Eleni et al put down to the water going in to my pool and with everybody being rationed myself and the pool are demonized.  Being a small village the town hall has not kept my reading quiet and everyone knows.

I think this is a bit unfair as pool or no pool I have had days without any water and some with just a few hours. My pool has been topped up with supplies of water bought in and I have now invested in a new tank so have 3500 litres of storage and have bought in water to fill my new tank and the old one.

But none the less I went to the town hall (staff six for a population of six hundred as you would expect with Greekenomics) and got my answer. Yes, the meter reading is high but the reason is that I appear not to have paid a water taxes since 2013 and nobody has contacted me.

So I paid 1041 Euro, cleared my bill and took the paperwork to show Eleni pointing out that I was a bad man for not paying my bills but had now paid in full and that the metre reading was nothing to do with the pool and I am suffering from the water shortage just like everyone else. That news will spread quickly and I am no longer the villain.

Indeed, one might argue that in being up to date with my water taxes even though I am not getting much water I am a bit of a hero.