Greek lavish lifestyles on hold in Athens 'Yes' neighbourhood

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-33430957

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The streets of Kifissia, in northern Athens, are lined with trees and designer shops. Valentino stilettos, diamond rings and yachting equipment beckon. People here have money to spend but they are not spending it at the moment.

Nikki, 34, is sitting with her friend Maria outside the shop where she sells smart children's shoes. She is clutching a telephone and glancing at the front door, but no customers come through it.

"We are waiting to be told what is going to happen with the banks," she says. "We can't do anything."

Cool and chic, Kifissia is one of the wealthier areas of Athens. It is also one of the few in the capital where the majority of people voted 'Yes' in Sunday's referendum.

An overwhelming 61.3% of Greeks voted 'No' to the international bailout offer from Greece's creditors, but in Kifissia people rejected the government's promises to strike a better deal.

Most people here - 63.9% - wanted the country to accept the bailout and undergo any austerity measures that went with it.

"Maybe rich could afford to vote Yes," says another idle shopkeeper, his eyebrows raised.

But now their country's future remains in the hands of the radical-left Syriza government as it holds yet more emergency talks with eurozone finance ministers.

Wads of cash

The fortunes of some also lie with foreign spending power. The owners of a high-end jewellery shop nearby strike gold when a customer buys not one but two sparkling necklaces.

Nicole Kharma, 48, is visiting from Singapore and arrived in Greece prepared, carrying a wad of 50 euro notes. As she counts out her hundreds, jewellery dealer Stavros Metaxas explains: "The foreign customers are very important. The Greeks are waiting to see what happens with the crisis and do not want to spend money."

On top of this, Greeks can only withdraw 50 or 60 euros a day due to capital controls - not true for foreigners. And shops need cash rather than credit cards to pay their suppliers.

"If they do not get their money, the suppliers have starting taking back their stock," says Mr Metaxas.

Ms Kharma has been able to withdraw 500 euros a day using her foreign bank card and spend the money in local businesses. But it is "heartbreaking" to watch what is going on around her, she says.

"Leaving the cash machine with a stack of 50s - for 500 euros - when everybody is queuing and getting only 50 euros, it's very sad."

'Everybody is affected'

For most Greeks here, the one thing the daily ration of bank notes will definitely stretch to is a cup of coffee.

Panagiotis Fotiou, 60, is having an espresso while he summons the energy to join the back of a queue to withdraw today's instalment.

He voted 'Yes' in the referendum because, like many here, he believes the government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras intends to leave the euro behind.

"I believe that the government wants to take Greece out of Europe and soon we will have the drachma again," he says.

"I think they are doing it slowly, without saying anything, because they don't want people to see what they are doing."

Mr Fotiou, who retired as a mechanical engineer one month ago, lived in the UK in the 1980s and moved to Kifissia three years ago.

"This area is one of the richest in Greece so we do not see many shops closed or people begging in the streets," he says.

"But everybody is affected by the crisis in different ways."

The Greeks in Kifissia are waiting. For now, their lives are on hold - their futures in the hands of others.