Possible closure of Polis Hospital ...

Just a share of what I have posted on Facebook and also on the expat forums I belong to. Please feel free to copy, share or publicise this to anyone who might be interested or affected by this.

STOP PRESS: the minister is now expected to be at Polis Hospital at 08.45 and not 09.00

Polis Hospital 25th July @ 09.00

Well I hope you are all planning to attend this vital meeting/protest. Don't think that it won't matter if you don't turn up because it will. Remind your friends and especially your Cypriot friends. I suspect the more Cypriot protesters who attend, the more the Minister will take notice. After all, they have the vote and we expats don't.

In the four years we have been in Cyprus there have been many decisions overturned because of public opinion, whether unions are involved or not. Whether it is because of a lack of moral fibre on the government's part is debatable. Every single person who attends will add weight to our argument that the hospital is vital to all those of us who live here.

If everybody who is planning to attend can persuade/bully/nag two or three others to come along, then the demonstration will really take off. Of course it's going to be hot on Monday, but it will be a jolly sight hotter driving to Paphos every eight weeks to collect repeat prescriptions. And it will be even hotter if you have to drive like a lunatic to Paphos to attend A & E.

It does not matter, in my opinion, whether the meeting is held in Cypriot Greek or not. There are always people who can explain or translate to those of us who struggle to understand Greek. The Minister is bound to be an educated man, and will undoubtedly be able to speak and understand English. Perhaps someone will even ask him whether he uses public hospitals or private hospitals. I suspect I know the answer as he probably gets private healthcare alongside his substantial remuneration.

I hope to see you all there , with your friends and neighbours, on Monday. You never know, if you are lucky, you might end up in one of my photographs ... your protest immortalised on social media. And don't even think of making the excuse that you are at work. Take an hour off, or face taking the day off to use Paphos Hospital.

Till Monday ...

Polis Hospital and the future ...

A lovely morning at Polis Hospital with about two hundred people gathering to listen to local MPs and mukhtars, and the mayor and deputy mayor of Polis, and the televison and radio cameras and microphones rolling.

So much information and misinformation doing the rounds, with the "doom and gloom" merchants amongst the British expats in the area to the fore, but little factual information apparent.

As far as we could understand, and we had our friend Savvas explaining the arguments as our Greek could not keep up, it is either about money and a lack of doctors or it is a plot by the government to,save money and leave the people of this area dangerously exposed as far as healthcare is concerned.

The lovely Dr Z resigned (giving a week's notice, as required by her contract) and this was the death knell for the two wards at the hospital. It is rumoured that the other doctors are to be transferred to Paphos Hospital (possible), that their salary has been cut by 50% (unlikely in this country dominated by unions), or that it is difficult to attract doctors to this remote area of the island (very possible, as one of the current doctors travels from Limassol). 

The situation is unclear and the Minister of Health is due at 09.00 on Monday 25th July at the hospital to make a statement and answer questions. I would urge all readers of this blog to try and bring another expat and perhaps two Cypriot neighbours next Monday to the hospital. The more Cypriots there (who vote for MPs and Ministers) the better.

I find it difficult to believe that the hospital will be closed, as the area it serves is very large. If it does close, we will survive but we will be inconvenienced. But the elderly Cypriots, whose children have emigrated to work, will be isolated and in a dangerous situation. With the government cancelling IPT, and bailing out the CYTA pension schem to the tune of millions of euros, it is apparent they have their priorities wrong. We shall see what we shall see.

Rumours and unfounded allegations ...

We woke up this morning to find someone asking, via Facebook, for all residents in this area to protest at Polis Hospital on Tuesday morning. Apparently the hospital is to be closed down, or at least the two wards there for patients, and "doctors will be reallocated". There was a similar scare a couple of years ago, which turned out to be a storm in the proverbial teacup. Other contributors then outlined the scenario that we would all have to go down to the "awful" Paphos General and wait for five hours to see a doctor, for repeat prescriptions. That was the green light for the rumour mill to go into overdrive.

I posted, asking what the source of this "information" was, but - to date - no reply to this question was forthcoming. Whether the rumour mill is accelerated in hot weather, where people spend more time indoors or out of the sun, is debatable. But it can be ever so slightly destabilising. Panic sets in and over-reaction is everywhere.

It is a similar story when discussion talks about the UK leaving the EU. Whether you are a glass half-full or a glass half-empty sort of person, the comments that fly around on the Internet are risible and depressing. Nobody knows what the result of the negotiations will be, and until they do, there is no point in worrying. Expats around Europe will no doubt be concerned about their right to live in the country of their choice but they can only wait and see. We are coming to the end of our fourth year here, and the UK will undoubtedly not leave the EU until the end of 2018 at the earliest. If push comes to shove, which I doubt (given the number of Cypriots who live in the UK), then we would apply for Cypriot citizenship. 

The only concern on the horizon would be access to healthcare but I suspect that common sense would enable a reciprocal arrangement would be put in place, much like the one between the UK and Cyprus before Cyprus joined the EU. Other than that the only thing to remember is that it is always approaching six o'clock somewhere in the world, and a cold drink always calms the fevered forehead.

I believe ...

I believe that life is happy and death is sad.I believe my mum was married to my dad.I believe that things that aren't good tend to be bad.I believe...Yes, I believe.I'm prepared to believe that Nixon wasn't a crook.I'm prepared to believe Love Story is a readable book.I believe that "The Dirty Dozen" weren't really dirty.I believe that Lucille Ball is still under 30.I believe Gerald Ford is clever!That Bob Hope will live forever.And that lever [lee-ver] is pronounced leh-ver.And the best film ever made is "Saturday Night Feh-ver!"I am prepared to say Col. Sanders can fry!And that pigs and even DC-10s can fly!I'm prepared to believe that things go better with Coke.And that the Ayatollah tells a darn good knock-knock joke.I believe that some folks can hear what Bugs Bunny is saying.And that Salt Lake City is a real nice place to stay in.I believe that J.R. really loves Sue Ellen!I believe that things sound better when you're yelling!And I believe that the devil is ready to repent!But I can't believe Boris Johnson is in the government!

"May" the force be with you ...

Life becomes more interesting by the day here with the coronation of a new PM, elected without reference to the electorate. One could argue that the last thing the UK needs is a general election but I remember the cries from the Tories when Tony Blair handed on the baton to Gordon Brown, and there was no mandate as he was not chosen by the electorate.

STOP PRESS: the BBC has announced there will be a parliamentary debate on a second referendum on September 5th as a result of the petition signed, allegedly, by four million people. Quo Vadis?

Mike and Wendy have departed after their surprise visit. What a lovely surprise that was but a shock to the system. If any other friends are planning to surprise us, just be aware that we are easily shocked.

Our Cypriot friends are telling us that they are suffering from the heat, but we are surviving with a combination of air conditioning, the pool (especially after the sun has gone down) and cold Keo. Long live the Cyprus dream ... We are loving it.

Flabbergasted ...

I had arranged a Skype call with my best friend, Mike, at 17.00 on Monday afternoon. He sent me an email during the day saying he suspected I would be at a bar at that time, so just to spite him ... Ann and I went down to Santa Barbara for a drink. The plan was to swing the phone round so that he could see the bar and the blue Mediterranean in the background. At the appointed time Skype beeped and we began to chat.

My shot of the Mediterranean was responded to with a shot of blue skies and sunshine, and the announcement that he and Wendy were about 6 km away in Polis for a week's holiday. The absolute swine and worse, when he told me that they had booked their holiday six weeks previously and kept it a secret. Beer and wine flowed when they arrived ... what an absolutely marvellous surprise.

Later this afternoon we are all going ten pin bowling. And if you think I am competitive, then you haven't met Mike. Ultra, ultra competitive and he has always been since I met him twenty-two years ago when he moved into the house next door in Kent. We played cricket together for some years but Mike's competitive edge was dulled at that time (probably because he couldn't bat to save his life), although when he gave me his bat (which was identical to mine) I was able to score freely. That's what talent is all about, I suppose.

Will he be able to bowl this afternoon? Will the light in his eyes have that old gleam? Only time will tell.

No honour among thieves ...

The well-known saying "No honour among thieves" never surprised me one bit. Perhaps, moving forward, one could substitute the word politicians for thieves and be equally correct. And it is not just politicians in Cyprus, or the UK, but around the world. Self-serving and mendacious, I am constantly outraged by the fact that men and women of honour seem to have disappeared from the political scene.

UK politicians are in the news now, because of the pre-BREXIT and post-BREXIT shenanigans, and their EU counterparts are not far behind. The leadership campaigns and manoeverings have just begun, and the knives are being sharpened ... ready to plunge into the back of those they have pledged to support. Michael Gove immediately springs to mind, as do the majority of the parliamentary Labour Party. How many more backstabbings will there be?

The ill-judged referendum will be regretted for years to come, and mainly by our children and their children. Nigel Farage has twisted the knife by his unbelievable comments to the EU parliament and this may have an effect on future negotiations with them. And everywhere one looks there is racial tension and fear, with the flames fanned by the use of social media. I have lost count of the Facebook groups and comments that have sprung up to make the situation far worse, so much so that Ann has asked me not to read them anymore.

I suspect that some almighty fudge will be agreed, probably behind closed doors, which will gain the UK the fabled access to the European market, but this will come at the cost of free movement of people and capital. The economic costs to both Europe and the UK are too enormous to contemplate for there not to be a deal, whilst the political realities dictate that both sides must save face. Never have economics and politics been such important bedfellows. But what is important is the effect this will have on the people. Political commentators tend to focus on the so-called Westminster Village, and its increasingly out-of-touch inhabitants (which, of course, includes all the journalists and commentators), whereas the people are more concerned about what will happen to them and the communities in which they live.

Many people on both sides of the divide are probably regretting their vote, or the fact that they did not vote, or the fact that they did not think about the possible consequences of what they had done. "Too late" is the cry from those who are celebrating (at least for the time being) the result, and they are democratically correct. But the end result is months and years away and I suspect that some deal cobbled together will ameliorate the worst of the possible effects.

The poor old Labour Party may, in the words of Private Fraser from Dad's Army, indeed be doomed. Corbyn will not go, as he has the support of the Labour Party activists in the country (not to mention the union barons), and he has lost the confidence of the vast majority of his MPs. A rerun of the leadership contest will probably lead to the same situation. It must be about this time that the Conservatives are regretting having proposed a fixed-term parliament. Otherwise they would hold a snap General Election, with the probability that they would win a massive majority and UKIP would come second - Labour would disappear off the map for generations. In fact the party that espoused remaining in the EU (but not the Liberal Democrats) would carry the day. And as for Sturgeon, words fail me ...