Five Little PIGIS - a response to the European economic mire

Life in the Cottonfields, well, in Greece in general, is unsettling right now ….we are going through turbulent times. The media mechanisms are constantly churning out rumours and responses to those rumours. In different ways people are expressing their anxiety and discontent at the situation into which our politicians have led us ……..and we have let them.

It resembles a nasty play within a tragedy – a modern Greek one. We have been lumped into a disparaging taxonomy of PIGS or PIGIS : the economically challenged group consisting of Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain, with Italy sometimes enjoying the doubtful pleasure of being linked in with us. 

The terms did bring to mind for me, however, the nursery rhyme “This Little Piggy’ – a toe-counting stanza. For each ‘piggy’, a toe, starting with the big one, is tweaked lightly until, with the little toe finally, you take the baby’s foot and tickle it. This little poem was first published in 1760 - which means it’s seen a lot of toe-counting and ultimate foot-tickling down the years.  The original goes like this:

This little piggy went to market

This little piggy stayed at home

This little piggy had roast beef

 This little piggy had none

 And this little piggy cried , 'Wee! wee! wee!’

All the way home.

                                                  Here’s my version in response to current climes: 

Five little PIGIS played the market

Five little PIGIS lived on loans

All five economies got beefed up

Ignoring the Day of Reckoning to come

And when it did the PIGIS cried,’Wee! Wee! Wee!’

All the way to the bankers

 Who resolutely refused to lift them from their financial bog

Preferring instead literally to live high …….off the hog!