Another snakebite …

 Our two rescue cats, Honey and Jaz, were - we were told - sisters. But after eight years it is obvious that Jaz is Honey’s daughter, and that Honey must have been very young when Jaz was born. They have lived with us for over eight years and we wouldn’t be without them. But Jaz has now diced with death three times and it is never easy when a beloved pet is ill.

On Monday morning she came in distress and making an almost continuous mewling sound. She was limping and obviously in pain. The obvious conclusion was that she had encountered a snake (again) and had come off worst. After a struggle we got her into the car carrier and raced off to Yiaanis (our vet in Polis). He came to the same conclusion and two injections later, and a squirt of antibiotics into her mouth, and we proceeded slightly more sedately back home. All she wanted to do was snuggle down and sleep, and so that was what she did. Further antibiotics and an early night followed.

Tuesday morning and she was no longer limping and was quite lively so no need to go back to the vets. We had bought a new cat carrier on Monday afternoon, as the old one was falling to bits.

This followed on from Daisy’s two vet visits (one with a sharp piece of grass up the nose, and then later an ear infection (when I was in hospital). Ann, as always, coped admirably. But, within the space of a few weeks, our beloved girls had cost us more than €400. Of course they are worth every cent, but perhaps they might have a more considerate summer to avoid more damage to our bank account.

Tomorrow I am ordering an integral Bluetooth keyboard for my iPad. We have already rearranged the study, and there is a beautiful Edwardian captain’s chair, a new desktop fan and soon a semi-permanent iPad station for the writing of my magnum opus. All sorts of ideas and plots and characters are swirling around and I am looking forward to my writing. I’ll keep you up to date with the progress, or lack of it. I am told a cold Keo is the perfect antidote to writer’s block.

What a few weeks …

 Well nothing is very dull in Cyprus … or not for very long. As we have been dealing with Ann’s cataract procedure and its aftermath (eye drops, daily, for four weeks), and a very successful procedure it was, my medical problems came to the fore. Numerous visits to the Polis Medical Centre, and consultations with all the doctors there, produced temporary solutions but the problem persisted.

Finally it was decided I would be referred to a gastroenterologist and a colonoscopy  would be required. I wasn’t thrilled by the prospect (any intrusion into my body is not great) but the problem needed to be resolved. A phone call from the medical centre suggested I present myself to Paphos General Hospital Emergency Department. I flatly refused as both Ann and I have had unpleasant and unprofessional treatment there on more than one occasion.

Mary, the magnificent administrator at the medical centre, told me she would ring me back. A couple of hours later it was agreed that I would go to a private hospital (the Blue Cross in Paphos) where I would be admitted so that the outpatient queue to consult a gastroenterologist could be bypassed. I saw the lovely Dr Antony, an internal medicine consultant, and he admitted me. There would be a five-day wait until the colonoscopy but that was a small price to pay. My room had two beds and after a day a pleasant Englishman, Jim, was admitted. Someone to chat to.

On the fifth day I was taken to St George’s - a sister private hospital - by ambulance and the procedure took place. Returning to the Blue Cross, the gastroenterologist bounced into the room to announce they had not found any cancer. Well that was good news. A CT scan of the abdomen followed and was clear as well.

Some new medication to control my diabetes and some other tablets which were a safer alternative to the warfarin I was taking. As Dr Antony told me that too low an INR level and I would have a stroke and too high an INR level and I would have a heart attack. Goodbye warfarin … I’m not missing you.

And then, a couple of weeks after my return home, at about eight o’clock in the evening the gastroenterologist rang Ann and asked that we see him at the hospital at four o’clock the next day. “Not bad news” he stressed. We nervously presented ourselves and he told me that he had found the cause of my original problem (from which I had been suffering for months and months). It was a rare problem and would be resolved by a three-month course of corticosteroids. We flew home and Dr Stelios is now on the Christmas card list, alongside Dr Antony. Two very professional consultants, and some lovely staff, and - thanks to GESY - private hospital standards for pocket money.

Always look on the bright side of life ...

As the Monty Python song has it ... and I have been reviewing my recent blogs and found them quite negative and depressing. So a change of tone is called for.

With springtime turning into summer recently, all sorts of thoughts cross our minds. Ann’s fabulous endeavours with plants and vegetables and fruit trees brighten our outlook every time we sit by the pool. Apart from the occasional failure (putting twenty seeds into compost and finding one did not germinate), the raised flower beds (thanks to our gardening crew) and the vision that Ann has shown with the placing of the pots which decorate our front garden, our garden is a delight. 

Months and months of sunshine and blue skies lie in front of us, and the swimming pool should be ready from the middle of May. Our renewed interest in cooking has brought much joy. Breakfast is a conveyor belt of new ideas and tastes. And evening meals are varied and experimental and occasionally more spicy, with all sorts of international influences informing our decisions.

The ability to decide exactly what we do, and more importantly when we do it, is one of the great freedoms that retirement brings. Thank goodness that we are retired or else we would never have time to do what we consider important. I am in the planning stages of two books. The first is a guide to retirement in Cyprus for those intending to follow in our footsteps. It will be a warts and all guide, with large extracts from the forum threads I participated in before and after we arrived. There will be extracts from this blog (where relevant) and - I trust - pertinent advice for those who are waiting to dip their toes into the water.

My second book, which may take somewhat longer, is a crime thriller set in the UK. I have long been a fan of this genre and hope to take a fresh look at this popular writing. The ideas have been mulling about in my head for quite a time. 

So, all in all, we should not be downcast. June 4th seems an age away - that is when my second vaccination takes place. I shall be more relaxed after that has happened. 

And so let “Fun in the Sun” proceed apace.

Out of control ...

 As each day passes the number of infections rises in Cyprus, and a drive to Polis this morning was most instructive. Masks, indoors and out, seem to be optional extras - especially amongst the young. At the supermarket the anti-bacterial bottle was empty and, when I pointed it out to a member of staff, they seemed to be somewhat irritated. Social distancing - forget it. Cafés full to bursting (doesn’t anybody work on a Monday), and a general disinterest in trying to combat the spread of the virus.

Is it any wonder that cases are rising exponentially here? The old “Trumpian” excuse is bandied about. People actually use the excuse that the more tests you do, the more infections you find. Of course. Now think back to why people are being tested. It is to find as many people who are infected and then get them to self-isolate, which will stop them infecting others. Hardly rocket science, I don’t think.

We are not sitting back, feeling smug. To read the forums, and some Facebook pages, all retired expat pensioners don’t care about others who have to make a living. In our ninth year living in Cyprus we worry for the people and the future of the economy. 

The British press are wallowing in the reopening of hospitality venues. I was appalled by the behaviour and mob mentality of the “revellers” and “drinkers”, as they are called, towards the police, who were trying to enforce the unenforceable. One poor PC was mocked and ridiculed by the crowd as he tried to break up a trio who were openly disobeying the guidance. Where are the promised extra 20,000 policemen that Boris promised? One lonely policeman ... ignore and ridicule. Thirty big “coppers” another matter altogether. 

I don’t want to promote a police state but the way in which these mobs behave after drinking far too much is beyond the pale. Am I turning into a grumpy old man? I don’t think so. I would just like them to behave as they are expected to. With the mob mentality and widespread stabbings in certain areas, the UK is not a place I would wish to return to.

They walk among us ...

 And so, in the UK and Cyprus, we have the eternal tug of war between public health and the economy. All of it is perfectly understandable but somewhat misguided. As Arthur Stanton Eric "Arte" Johnson said in Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-in, “Verry interesting ... but stupid.”

The whole argument is fallacious and the greed of business (or perhaps the urgent need for survival) in both countries is astonishing. The CEO of EasyJet broadcast that Greece and Cyprus should be on the UK’s “Green List” and this was just a blatant statement of self-interest. WHAT! The rate of infection in Cyprus is rising and rising. Yet, and the influence of the Church must be behind this, there are no changes before the Easter Weekend. Unbelievable ... just wait until the spike of cases within a week of that holiday. By then, the Cypriot government will have an overwhelmed health service, the airports will be open and there will be infected tourists across the island. Lockdown, and the virtual bankruptcy of the state (remember 2013) will follow.

In the UK I read with utter disbelief that the moronic classes are celebrating as if it is VE Day. Down the pub, sink a few pints and a new demand that the clubs and “venues” are reopened for the rave culture, where these semi-human youngsters want to “rave”. In today’s Guardian, there was an article about reopening large venues ... and one young man expressed that “My whole life revolves around drinking, clubbing, taking as many drugs as I can, and sticking my tongue down the throat of anybody within range.”

As the podcast proclaims, “They walk among us.”

Our main concern is to ensure that we are protected from this virus. Ann has had both vaccinations whilst I wait until early June for my second vaccination. People we know, who are far more vulnerable than us, are legitimately concerned by the behaviour of so many people (both Cypriot and expat) who do not seem to care about people who may die from the virus.

With that, I close this entry to my blog ...

Gentleman’s Relish (Patum Peperium)

 Last Christmas, when we were discussing breakfast, the original suggestion was to have creamy scrambled eggs with anchovies. We love anchovies and the combination was very much to our taste. And then, from the darkest recesses of my memory, I remembered scrambled eggs on toast and the toast was “buttered” (but not with butter) with Gentleman’s Relish. The idea took hold and we searched for it in shops and online.

I posted on Facebook and the ever helpful Catherine Unsworth of https://www.spiceandeasycyprus.com/ came to the rescue. She offered to make a batch and let me be her tester. And so, like a drug deal in a multi-storey car park, we met and the brown paper bag was handed over. I have promised to do a review on this blog (and also on Facebook) with my findings. As I write this, my mouth is salivating.

This is one of the things you find in Cyprus. People, both expats and Cypriots, can overwhelm you with their kindness. In 2013, on Christmas Eve, our car returned home making strange noises and emitting steam. Not being a mechanic I suspected low oil, and rang around people I knew to see if they had any oil. One recently arrived Briton drove around all the petrol stations in Polis to try and source some, with no luck. A Cypriot friend of ours told me not to worry and he would sort things out. Amazingly he arrived on Christmas Day morning, with a mechanic.

They sorted out a temporary repair, decided the car was fit to drive for a few days until garages opened again. I asked Odysseas how much I owed him? He looked offended and would not accept a penny. A couple of days later he arrived in a car, and we took both vehicles to a garage so our car could be repaired. Amazingly generous.

Life in Cyprus can be very, very good.

Elephants ... can’t you see them?

 I have been astonished (not really) by the lack of foresight and forethought exhibited by politicians - and their advisers - in recent times. It almost feels as if they are clueless and, as Boris Johnson is often accused of doing, they do what the last “expert” they speak to tells them. Enormous publicity is given to the vaccine rollout - and the statistics of the dead, dying, infected and the like - but that’s where the elephant is.

The first elephant moment is the much-heralded immunity to coronavirus. The definition of the word is

: the quality or state of being immune especially : a condition of being able to resist a particular disease especially through preventing development of a pathogenic microorganism or by counteracting the effects of its products ...

The man on top of the Clapham omnibus, according to much of the popular press, believes that when he is vaccinated he cannot catch the virus. He also believes that he cannot infect other people, and that he cannot fall ill with the virus. All the preceding beliefs are, of course, not true. 

And so, what is the end result? The youngsters completely ignore the restrictions imposed on them by the government (see photographs of the Easter weekend in many of the newspapers), and everyone is agitating for the country to get back to normal. Vaccine passports are mooted by the government, and the idea rapidly recedes when a backbench resistance is apparent in the Tory party, and the mixed messages continue apace.

There is an understandable desire for people to take holidays in the sun. Cyprus, Greece and other desirable locations announce they are open for business and are bending over backwards to attract British tourists who are believed to want to unleash a torrent of money. The UK government, on the other hand, is unlikely to allow holidays to countries where the number of infections are rising (as they are here) and where vaccinations are proceeding slowly. Whether this is due to the EU’s inefficiency or not is debatable?

Ann has had both her vaccinations, for which we are grateful, and I have had my first but have to wait until June for the second one (a delay prescribed by AstraZeneca). In the following weeks we shall be benefiting from some “immunity” and we are told that if we are infected by the virus, we are less likely to be seriously ill. Open Cyprus to tourists, and that seems the inevitable path being pursued by the government here (under enormous pressure from the hospitality industry), with elections just round the corner, and by Autumn we shall be back into lockdown.

I had a conference with the elephant and he believed that the damage to the economy was a price worth paying. But, of course, he is eternally employed - sitting in on government briefings and laughing his head off. 

And so the cry goes up,

που είναι ο ελέφαντας τώρα