2623 days ago
Yesterday I revealed a series of 74 "interesting" transactions on the Teathers Financial (TEA) company credit card and some curious payments on the Teathers pre-payment card belonging to Nilesh Jagatia the company's former FD. There is now a very real suspicion that Teather's poor shareholders were paying for Jagatia's domestic shopping at his local Sainsbury's in South Woodford and that he was making withdrawals from the company's account for personal use. I have thus written to the new CEO flip flop Ben Turney who, of course arrived in the coup that saw Jagatia fired. The letter is below.
3220 days ago
As I wander up to the most excellent Anthrapology café one last time for a leave Athens on a boat tonight to continue my odyssey, I stroll past three of four banks and they are open. Well sort of.
Pensioners are allowed in but to withdraw only 100 Euro. You can make a deposit if you wish but no-one is that daft. For those not yet in retirement it is the ATMs again and if anything the queues are longer than they were on Saturday and Sunday.
And why not? At the very worst you take out 60 Euro, stuff it under the mattress and in a few weeks convert it into nice new Drachmas and make a quick turn. At best you avoid losing 60 Euro when the bank goes bust or if the State confiscates your wealth via a bank bail-in. And so the ATM lines grow longer and will stay that way all day until the machines, or Greece, just runs out of cash, whichever is sooner
3221 days ago
And so we are off with the great Greek Referendum and it looks like it will go to the wire. I have been to my local polling station and arriving just as the Church next door finished its service there was a mini surge. But it is not at the schools across Greece where the real lines are forming.
3222 days ago
It is Saturday morning and if anything the ATM queues are longer than they were yesterday. Between the apartment where I am staying and the café where I am writing from there are four ATMs. I reckon that the line outside each is now 25 long as folks look to take another 60 Euro out of their account before it is too late.
Lining up in the Athens heat is not fun so why not make it a family day out?
3223 days ago
Some folk say that it is better to travel than to arrive. I guess they have never travelled on a 5.45 AM Easyjet flight from Gatwick. But my first sight in Greece was a pure delight. I was wandering from the plane into the terminal behind this stunning Greek goddess wearing a light but long skirt. Suddenly a gust of wind caught her skirt blowing it right up above her waist. Little was left to the imagination. Okay that is not true - I imagined away. Sadly I have no photo of this daughter of Athena. But now in the centre of Athens I bring you the first poverty porn.
I am in the business district just behind Syntagma square cadging some office space off a very good friend. This is a rich area. But check out the ATMs. You can withdraw just 60 Euro a day – in theory at least as the cashpoints regularly run out of er…cash. And so religiously, those foolish enough to leave anything in their accounts head to an ATM once a day to take out 60 Euro. So the lines for withdrawals are constant and heavy outside every ATM as you can see below.
