A Trip to the Bank

We’ve been waiting for a certain UK High Street Bank to move some of the money from the sale of our house in England to our bank in Greece. The builder here in Greece is also waiting and the workmen seem to be on some other site at the moment.
On Thursday I went to our local branch (well, there’s only two branches to my knowledge on the island). It’s not very big and usually has two clerks and the manager. The bank clerk I saw, who I got to know fairly well when I opened our account last year, pushed a withdrawal slip towards me. I said I needed to know how much was in the account. He put my book through the machine. He said “same, it is the same”. This was five working days since the bank had our request. I thanked him and went back Friday. This time he put my book through the machine and shook his head sadly … “ohi”. I thanked him and left.

On Monday by the time I got to the bank it was 10.45. I went in and was fourth in line. No problem except my friendly bank clerk was the only one on duty. The manager was enjoying himself chatting to a client/friend at his desk.

A man with a limp and a stick came in accompanied by two others plus a couple of children. He greeted the chap in front of me – who promptly let two in front and one behind him. Oh well, I thought, ho hum, this is Greece after all etc etc. A lady of about 65 came in wearing a black skirt and black and white blouse. For a split second she stood behind me, then said loud hellos to the chap in front of me. Next thing, like a conjuring trick, she was beside me, did a sort of soft-shoe shuffle and was in front. How she did it I’ll never know.

So I gritted my teeth, shifted my feet and held up my head. The line had not moved in 20 minutes – well, only backwards as far as I was concerned!

Movement at the door, in comes an old lady dressed in black. Well I’ve read about elderly ladies in black and was prepared. I moved from one foot to another, prepared to stand my ground….. she was beside me – oh no!! saying hello to black-and-white (by now of course) in front… here it comes…… then a lady in pink and blue, of roughly the same age, who had come in at the same time as lady in black spoke to me (silent shriek, oh God I’ll never understand) and asked me a question – which I guessed was whether or not I was in the queue. “Yes” I replied, a little dramatically “for 20 … (pause to try and remember what is Greek for minutes), and she said “lefta;” and I said “yes, lefta” and I am go back and back!” So I’ve still got a lot of Greek to learn. So she explains to the lady in black who replied a trifle dismissively. After that she seemed to stand still but was beside me all the way to the rope that allows only two people to stand one behind the other at the window – so she’d have to fall back. At this point I felt mean and horrible. What on earth did I think I was playing at?

I said in my best Greek, and gesturing “please, you go”. She beamed at me and said “no, no, it is your turn” well, I think that’s what she said… I insisted and she went to the window when the other one left. She lugged out several packets of documents and shoved them at the clerk. It took him some minutes to work his way through them. When she left she thanked me nicely and I in turn said it was nothing, still sticking to my few words of Greek. When I got to the window I looked at the clock – 11.30, it had taken 45 minutes!! Still, it was worth it. The clerk beamed and said “ne!” and pushed the book for me to see that yes, indeed, the money had finally arrived. It is worth mentioning at this point that every transaction here on the island, (I cannot speak for other islands or mainland) is conducted in cash. This could be 10 euro or 50,000 stuffed into a carrier bag, it’s cash.

So I cashed the amount I needed, placed it in my trusty carrier bag and raced it down the hill to the builder/civil engineer handling our house.

The following morning there were five workmen busying themselves on or around the house. Coincidence? I simply don’t know.