A night out in Hora and Livadi…

Saturday 25th evening - Sunday 26th - Hora  

Before writing the Serifos history lesson, I thought I would give a medical update. In the afternoon I became increasingly worried about the state of things and was referring to the NHS information on sunburn. Really this site is probably the only one you should use and trust. I was worried about the swelling in my legs and the extreme pain I had in my tummy when I got up bended down etc. The problem I had was the medical centre was closed until Monday, but the web site made it clear you should seek an urgent medical response if you had one of the severe symptoms, including the swelling. As some of you might not want to remember, I bared all on that beach and my manhood was also swelling up alarmingly too.

So having took that photo and knowing the emergency number, I rang it and was put through to a doctor. I explained the situation and she asked me if I could get to the centre. I said I could. So I staggered to the centre and I met the doctor whose name I found out later was Merope. She wrote down various details, had a look, blood pressure, heart rate and so on. I apologised a million times for wasting her time, but she said no need to apologise. She had just seen someone else at the centre. She wrote out a new script, which I could get at the pharmacy which she checked, closed at ten in the evening. New cream, anti inflammatory pills, and a few other things. Drink lots of water, fruit and keep out of the sun. 

As a bit of background, Merope is probably a fairly newly qualified doctor from Athens and they all have to do a year in the wild, on an island like Serifos. They will send you off to Athens on a ferry or helicopter in dire emergency situations. It’s very easy to compare the service I got here to the UK but would a very wrong thing to do. So today things are as they were, but hopefully in the day or so things will improve. I have to go and see her tomorrow for a checkup. 

So as it was a while before the bus would come rumbling down the hill, I flagged down a taxi into Livadi. The pharmacist in Livadi remembered me, I had a while to wait before the bus back, so I bought a cold non alcoholic drink and an ice cream. There were loads of people all dressed up to their nines, for a Saturday night out. There were two girls in the bus queue, after they got it on, they suddenly turned around  and got off, it’s cash only and I suspect all their money was on their phones. 

This morning I was expecting to hear a lot more church bells tolling, especially the church very close to me, but it’s been very quiet. I might walk up to Pano Hora and get some lunch, get rid of my rubbish and top up my water supply. If I move here, I need to find out about this don’t drink the tap water thing. Might ask Merope. 

I have come here to try and discover  what it could be like living here, and one thing I am sure that was a question mark on, was medical care. I have no qualms on that front now, but I know a good level of medical insurance is needed for more complicated situations. The other thing, is at some point I hope to have someone I could call to bring in supplies when I am stuck in the house unable to leave it! Hopefully I will be  able to find someone to be prepared to do that  at some point. 






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