Tales from Crete | 39

Then you sit here again - unfortunately not in Crete, where I like to stay, but instead at the keyboard to write another story from the Greek. But what the hell do you have to write about in order for it to be somewhat interesting and at the same time for there to be some renewal and development in my stories, and I'm completely blank. At the same time, of course, I don't want to disappoint the increasing number of readers who come in and read my stories Friday after Friday.

Hmm…. It's not easy now either, when a load of completely fresh fruit from Crete has just arrived, which is ready to be sold from our shop on Saturday where we hold the Greek Fruit Market. The smell of the big delicious and juicy watermelons and other good things tickles my nostrils and makes it almost impossible to do any sensible work in the office. The desk looks like a lie with piles of papers and whatnot, but it's hard to concentrate on anything when that lovely smell of fresh Greek fruit just keeps creeping in even though there several walls and doors out where the goods are.

Well, luckily, the time is getting closer and closer to going on holiday yourself, and then you can, if nothing else, forget the piles of paper for a while. The kind of piles that I have, at least, look like mess and disorder to some people, but sometimes things get cleaned up. There is actually a good Greek method to avoid stress, because it is said that what you don't get to do causes stress, and stress is not exactly something that apparently affects Greeks. No, the Greek method is actually quite good. If you have too many piles lying on the table or in general too much work lying around that has not yet been completed, you can just let it be and stop thinking about it. It's just negative thoughts that lead to stress anyway. The fact is, according to the Greek method, if the work or piles of papers are still there after a year or two, the tasks are either solved by themselves, or they don't need any solution. The fact is that there are so many small tasks in everyday life, both purely work-related and private, that do not need any solution at all, because they are just fleeting interjections that have no further significance. It's a bit like when I was a boy - I was often told that you couldn't just put your schoolwork under your pillow at night so that it was done in the morning. And then, just like today, I thought it should be investigated further, so once in a while the homework book slipped under the pillow when I was sure my parents had gone to bed, and it actually worked very well, because it was anyway rarely was I just asked about something I should have read up on, and then that problem was solved.

Of course, it is not advisable to put all tasks under the pillow or in piles on the table, because they are parked up in one's head, but it is advisable to prioritize one's time and one's tasks in the right order. So now I want to prioritize my time for the next week, when the wife and I take a short trip to London, which is in second place among our favorite travel destinations (guess what is in first place ;-) ). Over there, it may happen that we find our way to one of the 21 Greek restaurants located in the center of London or get greeted by some of the over 300,000 Greeks who have settled in London, who knows. But our little trip to London also means that next week there will be no story from me, because there I will either be in a local English pub with a pint in hand or maybe in a Greek restaurant with a Retsina.

At least one thing is for sure – the piles of papers on the desk will be allowed to lie until I come back, and they will probably manage that just fine.