Ramblings from Greece

To start with, here is a photo of Sifnos port, while we waited for the ferry. On the evening before our first leg travel day on the Friday,  one of my Sifnos friends drove us all down to our favourite restaurant in Kamares, that is Cameron. After we had settled down, one of the owners came out from the kitchen to say hello and to wish me well. We had a lovely meal, I enjoyed the rice with chicken, nearly ordered correctly in Greek ( having used the Greek word  and instead of with) and then  had an ice cream, I was driven back to the house, where I went to bed. Here is Ronnie doing one of his sideways looks, trying to pretend he is not begging! In the morning, I had a lazy start and  had my breakfast and finished my packing. My friends came and then closed up the house, and we drove to the port, to await the ferry. While we waited, a car came up beside us, with another person with crutches. She had fallen off a motorbike, and broke several toes in her foot. She was ba...

This leg situation is dominating everything and I sort of wish it wasn’t. It is taking up so much energy and effort, but maybe today there is a turning point. To have two more months of the cage isn’t a problem but definitely having a place to stay here is, as nothing is confirmed yet. At least four or more trips to Syros is energy sapping, so last night we decided to see if I can get a fit to fly certificate. We also looked at the business class seats and the ones at the very front of the plane have more legroom and I could sit in row one. I checked and in the next few days there are seats available. But hold your horses, let’s wait until it’s booked and the deal sealed! We have been disappointed before.  After the Medical Centre where it s agreed a fit to fly could be issued, we did some other chores and we had an early lunch, one of my favourite pies over here, the jambontitioptita. If this is all works out, I will be going to the fracture clinic in the Royal Berks Hospital, hop...

It’s not been quite so plain sailing on this trip to Syros. There has been a lot of administrative effort into organising the trip but hopefully next time it will be a bit smoother. In the morning I was woken just before six, so I could get dressed to be taken to the port. The guys on the Artemis welcomed me on board, and I was put in my usual place. We left on time and I found an inner peace on the ferry as it gently chugged along, rolling gently in the slight swell of the sea. Luckily there was no signs of sea sickness ! From the church book, there are two churches of the name Agia Varvara. ( Barbara ). The first is in the Kastro or castle area of Chora. It offers magnificent views of Livadi, Sifnos, and other islands. Because of its height and the granite it sits on, it attracts lightening. Years ago, a churches icon was put in a nearby house, where it was placed in the best room, with a candle lit by it. The second church is in Panagia, it’s very small and in 1960 the earth roof wa...

Before I left for Syros I took a photo of the progress of the jigsaw. The big bird is done, it’s now just the detail around the animals and birds that needs doing. It’s a very nice puzzle. The two churches continues with Agios Vasilios. The first is by the beach Avessalos which can now be reached by a track, which I found was refurbished recently. There is a lot of sage growing nearby which people collect for tea in the winter. The second church unfortunately is in need of repair which is possibly needed because of a bad damp problem in the area. The water that comes from the nearby spring is said to be the best on the island.  The hospital had a couple of other inbound patients so I had to wait until I could be processed and taken to the ward. Before then I was x rayed, so I  the images were reading for the doctors round in the morning. I think I got to the ward about one am. It’s cooler which is good, but there was lots of things going on with the patient next to  me, a...

A friend of one, the Wordle beater, sent me this nice link  about some art on display on Serifos. I can’t get there of course and when I do it will be closed. One thing I am sure about and I have not had to deal with the really hot weather here yet, is I don’t think I will want to be here next July and August. I hope next year, I can try and go to the UK, by then our house might be rented, so I will have to have a plan if I don’t end up with back to back dog sits, like this year was going to be.  This book is not my normal reading material but my friend from Serifos lent it to me and it’s meant to be the best translation ever done. I have read the introduction and will see how I get on. It’s very topical of course! Last night we had a nice home cooked meal, after my friends got the final bit of my trip sorted out.  I have checked in both my outward and return tickets so I am good to go. We had a bit of a late lunch then they took  me to the ferry port. It’s definitel...

  It was a quieter day, luckily with a bit  more of a breeze, I think the wind is going to build up over the  next few days,  hopefully not so strong so the ferries won’t run. The Artemis seems to sail in all weathers, although I did get stuck in Syros for a day as it was so windy. I have a bit of potentially good news. The lady who runs the hotel I am going to next, has one of her in-laws living in a room after the other one died. So next to me is where they lived and she says if it was cleaned up a bit I could rent it, there would be no end date which is fantastic. I was thinking after the cage is removed it might be better to come back here to get myself a bit more accomplished on two feet before I try and go back to the UK. So that’s really good and it would be easy to move into. My Sifnos friends are going to try and have a look before we commit.     We have also been trying to finalise my travel arrangements to Syros. As  I am not a stretcher cas...

I got taken in the new car with my friend from Sifnos. It’s the last time I will see the Junior doctor from Serifos until I go back in the autumn. Everything went fine, we had to wait a little bit as there were a few people ahead of us. There is a school down towards the beach, I can often hear the children singing along to music being played. The road the house is on, it’s very quiet as it’s a dead end, we often see people driving along then realising the road is going nowhere and having to turn around. We had a nice time last night with our friend and her family friend. He is a retired orthopaedic consultant and worked in Athens. He was able to reassure us that everything is working well, and he thought two weeks after the cage comes off, I could start putting a bit of weight on the leg. That’s very good news.  Todays church is another by Panagia, Agia Anastasia. It’s very old but was renovated in 1988. It looks like only a few people attend the Panagyri where pigeons are served....

One of the guys who I know from the Coffee Shop on Serifos had texted me and asked how I was doing. So yesterday morning, I sent him a message back and we had a short conversation. I also had to send a message back to my friend who is coming over Friday. I then had another conversation with a daughter of a friend from Twyford, so I had a busy start to the morning. We had a takeout from the Italian last night, I had a salad, after all those chocolates I wanted something light! Today my two Sifnos friends picked up their new car, which is a very nice blue, like the windows and doors on the island. I will be in it Friday. I looked at the Midsomer murder book, you read the first chapter, then you have choices on how the story proceeds. My first attempt, ended up with me being killed off by a flying Yucca plant. The verdict on my attempt, which you get at the end of the book is I could do better. I will have another go soon with different selections. Today’s church is Agia Anna which is in ...

Tuesday night another Sifnos friend came back on the ferry, and we all convened at the house I am in. I had lots of presents, a fruit cake, chocolates, a book from two friends who live in Twyford, more shorts to replace the ones with the thigh high slit in, once I can wear them, chocolates and more. We had a meal from Cameron, which was superb. The book is a sort of funny book based on the Midsomer Murders TV series.  In the morning, I decided to sample the cake, unfortunately it was so nice, I ate it all in one sitting, one of Sifnos friends loves fruit cakes, so sorry about that!  In the morning we went to the Medical Centre, we were waiting to be seen and then the junior doctor from Serifos who I know  turned up. She is working on Sifnos for a week, and had not heard about my injury. I imagine everyone knows in the Serifos centre now! I had three people working on my leg, my foot is a bit swollen, they said keep the leg elevated. Of course we forgot the bandages we bou...

While having breakfast yesterday the lady who has the plasters on her arms came around. She had a hair dryer in her hands. She asked me how I was, we did manage to converse quite well in Greek. Anyway she has been called in to look at the oven in the house, as we tried to use it to cook baked potatoes and every time we turned it on, it took the power out. On this humid island  ovens can do this if they are used for cooking and maybe the door is closed afterwards and not left open so the moisture from say baked potatoes is not allowed to escape. After a session with the hairdryer all is now well. She also answered a question I had about Greek, because people have been correcting me and I did not understand why. Thelo means I want, you want is thelete. There are other versions, for he/she wants and we want. But there are lots of other words that have a similar ending, if you see what I mean. Anyway I asked the lady armed with the hairdryer about this, and the words I know relating to...

The medical centre, is shown below, on Sifnos which we went to yesterday for a scheduled dressing change. It has a very narrow access road which dropped me off at the front door. I hobbled in. I was immediately seen by two members of staff, I saw one of the ambulance drivers who rescued me, and I think the radiographer.  As there is no room to turn around, my Sifnos friend had to reverse their car down the access narrow road. He did very well. We then drove to Apollonia car park, my friend got out, picked up the remains of my prescriptions, and two chicken pies from the place that myself and Ronnie used a couple of times, and bought that very pie! It does feel like I am on holiday here! We drove back, I went on my bottom to get up the steps to the house, repeating what I did to get down on my outward journey. We had the chicken pies, sharing with Ronnie of course. I then had the rest of the day to myself, we both have had a chat with my other Sifnos friend who flew back to Greece ...

Life is gradually turning into a temporary new normal, everything doesn’t seem to be a struggle anymore and I am just getting on with things. Annoyingly I had typed in this piece of the post in yesterday, I know what I did wrong and I am just going to have to try and remember what was typed there. I have had a few more Wordle seed tips, and it appears one of my Sifnos friends is getting hooked also, the one without the fluffy tail. I am amazed at how quickly the day goes, one minute I am in the shower, next minute I am in bed. To calm the nerves of my carers, I let them know when I am up in the morning and am in bed in the evening, with the promise that I keep my phone in my pocket when I am on the move. I am definitely becoming a bit of a Miss Marple nosy Parker, sitting out on the balcony as I do. Yesterday, the ex landlord of my Sifnos friends was walking back to his house with a hat on. The strong wing blew it off his head and he went back to fetch it. He then met a friend and said...

Todays will be a short post. I had my two Sifnos friends here at the house yesterday and we listened to podcasts and chatted away. We got onto typos and he showed me the so called slide to type system which might help me on mobile devices. It’s easy to use and on the phone, it is better as my fingers are fat and I often make mistakes on things like WhatsApp  where I am not as careful as I am here. There are some visitors coming to see us, today. First a friend from Serifos, who is visiting the island anyway, will pop in for a quick visit, and then a separate group later on. These people are from Sifnos and are bringing dinner I believe. Then on Friday a different friend from Serifos, the Dog Palace owner wants to see me too, maybe after my Syros trip. I also had a chat with my ex work colleague from America, who himself has recently recovered from a much more serious medical emergency. He is back to his fit self now thankfully. It’s always good to hear from him, he often  visi...

When I left in a hurry the other day after the accident, I had put a pair of my shorts to be washed in my friends washing machine. After I got back here and was reunited with my case items, I realised the shorts were missing, but the fact that I had left them in the machine was silently forgotten. But yesterday that fact returned to me. So I mentioned to my friends, could they take a look for them, they were old but very suitable, for the thigh high slit to make them fit over my famous cage. No joy. Then later on, one of them said, I found them, they werewearing them! We are of a very similar build. The person who lives in this place is going to be a bit surprised when they come back in September. It will not  look much different and  we hope to remove all Robbie’s fur that’s rolling around like those weeds in old Western films. But I have had to subtlety move lots of things so I can reach others and so on. Of course small movements of things won’t register when I go, so I mig...

  After I posted yesterdays post, a lady came around. What she was asking was where was person X? Well the first problem was I did not know who person X, was and therefore I could not help her. I did start with saying, that I spoke a small amount of Greek, but this did not stop her, by asking more questions of me. She reappeared later with my washing that I had I put out, all now nicely folded. She then said something to the effect that that washing I had removed, so I could put mine out, was not the lady’s who is letting me use her house while she is away, but hers. I sort of said it was inside, the look of me encouraged her to go in and she found it, after she had gone, one of her smalls was still left behind. I put that in a bag for later on and she came back and she is now reunited with it. Phew! The kind lady I met the other day who fell off a motorbike and now has her arms in plaster to show for this, has lent me my own washing line thing.  Later on my Sifnos friends cam...

 Maybe this daily blog thing might work out, it might have some mileage in it. But please do not see a lack of a post as bad thing! Last night we had a lovely take out from Cameron, and Ronnie joined in. It’s wasn’t long before it was time for my friends to leave me, and for me to go to bed. I did not sleep badly, but I woke in the morning, quite early and my ankle was in pain, a bit stiff. But  I managed to drop off and woke about seven.  I then got up and decided to have a shower. I sat in the shower, bad leg sticking out and covered the shower area  with the curtain as best as I could. I washed my hair first, then my body and then dried myself off. The main thing was to avoid slipping on any water, but there wasn’t much. I had decided to use one of the Tote bags to carry things between the rooms.  It goes over my neck. I think I shall have my Boy Scout  Time and Motion badge at the end of this. The house is good, being on one floor but it’s a long way to...

  I am  not going to post every day, I can’t imagine life inside a micro spiti is going to be that interesting, but one thing you learn very quickly here, is that life can be very unexpected! The last few days at the hospital carried on, more parallels between this hospital visit and the one fifty years ago. I got to know the two patients who sat opposite me quite well, one I hope to keep in touch with. The Greek patient is almost certainly an unruly fellow, and pops out shopping for cigarettes and food when it suits them. Leaning out the windows and smoking as well, one person was caught, you did not need google translate for that conversion. My return trip to Sifnos was sorted, the idea of getting back to the UK was fraught with road blocks of all imaginable sizes, so we gave up. Yesterday my dressing was taken off and the leg cleaned and redressed. I tried not to look at it, but I did see it briefly, it looked like a leg of lamb, all that was missing was the Rosemary and ti...