Eyeless in Gaza or …

 Ann is now in the firm and warm embrace of plaster covering both right and left wrists and forearms, as she has fractured bones to protect. Very swift and effective consultations and CT scans, and then further consultation with her orthopaedic surgeon - who only asked, as he was plastering the second wrist, whether Ann was a driver. Fortunately she had her personal driver waiting in the car outside.

So, for the next five weeks, she is very much unable to do much. We are a good team and we have managed to work around many of he difficulties she has been undergoing. Showering was fun, and a pair of waterproof arm covers (designed for just this eventuality) proved a godsend. My cooking is passing muster but we were both grateful that our new cleaner started on Thursday and did an excellent job. And, the gardening crew covered themselves in glory by doing another excellent job and returning to construct and paint our new kitchen island.

It is only at times like this that people surprise you. We have had more than a couple of offers to do the shopping for us, and all sorts of people we would not have expected to be sympathetic have proved us wrong. A big thank you to all who have stepped up to offer help. We appreciate it - especially as we do not find it easy to accept offers of help.

Infections continue to rise on a daily basis here, and the animosity being exhibited between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated is being orchestrated in ways which do not strike me as subtle. We are both vaccinated, and hope all we meet will be similarly protected. But … and it is a big but … you cannot insist that people be injected with a revolutionary concoction against their wishes. With the so-called Safepass being insisted upon for entry into many places here, the pressure to be vaccinated is immense.

I, for one, am not happy about this. What next? Yellow stars sewn onto the clothing of the unvaccinated, followed by numbers tattooed onto their skins for identification. World wars were fought for less.

Hard landings …

 We have always said that Cyprus is a tough place to fall over, and Tuesday proved that beyond measure. We were in Paphos for Ann to go to St George’s Hospital, and then planned to go to Paphos Home Market, and then Kolios butchers, before I called in to the Blue Cross Hospital to pick up a repeat prescription.

Of course the best laid plans … and we decided to have a light lunch to fill in the time between hospital appointments. I dropped Ann off near the café we planned to visit and went off to park the car. A couple of minutes later she appeared in the side street I had parked in. She had forgotten her mask. There was a cry, she disappeared and all I saw was a car in the middle of the road with the driver standing beside it. Ann had tripped on a broken paving slab and had taken a very heavy fall. The young man in the car had seen what had happened and had stopped to help.

Ann was on the ground in considerable distress. She had hit her head, and in so doing had lost a tooth. There were abrasions and a nasty wound under the chin (where her “angel wings” had penetrated the skin), and her knees and a toe were looking the worst for wear. A man appeared from a nearby house and a woman from further down the street with kitchen roll and water. They helped patch Ann up and clear some of the blood away. The woman wanted to call for an ambulance but I preferred to take Ann back to Polis (we have both experienced less than tender loving care at Paphos General Hospital in the past).

Polis Medical Centre was open and Ann’s wounds were cleaned and dressed. The nurse, who could not have been more caring and competent, asked us to return in the evening to see the doctors to check all was well. We returned in the evening, X-rays were taken (suspected hairline fracture on left wrist), and that was dressed carefully. A salutary experience which could have been so much worse.

A week later and Ann is looking and feeling much better, although her bruises are interesting. We return to Polis Medical Centre tonight for an orthopaedic surgeon to check her wrists. We hope that the hairline fracture (if it was such a thing) will have healed in the last seven days, and that life can start to return to some sort of “normal”.

COVID infections have gone to record levels here with the government unwilling to take the appropriate steps to reduce them. Whatever happens the tourist season here will be a shadow of its former self and much hardship will result. Between the health of the population and the recovery of the economy is a hard place to be in. As in much of this beautiful land, it is a hard place to fall.