MP - OLLO - X!

The weather in Crete has been slightly cooler than usual for August which has made the last week or two wonderful for being out of doors – hot sunshine but a refreshing cool breeze. As we had rambling friends staying in the village, we had two early morning walks down to Skepasti Cove in the hope of a swim. The height of the cliffs and the hidden nature of the sea there means that you can never really know what the prospect for swimming is like until you arrive. The track leads uphill past farms and allotment type gardens which have appeared since the little stream alongside the path seems to have been blocked up to make a largish pond and more back filled growing area. The going is rough and very stony, so good walking shoes are best. At the head of the cliffs there are three hairpin bends in a very steep downhill track bulldozed through huge boulders to the cove where your leg muscles are screaming by the time you make it down to sea level. The waves were very rough and the undertow too strong to make getting out of the waves anything other than an undignified bottom shuffling effort whilst huge breakers crashed over your head. So I sat down on a large boulder and watched the crashing surf for a spell both times, deciding that I would err on the side of caution. We heard that two swimmers were swept out to sea and drowned this week in Rethymnon and we warn everyone of our visitors who enjoy swimming to be cautious.

K recovered from the biopsy well enough to join us for one of the walks but cried off for the second but he looked fine and we hoped that the results of the biopsy would all be a big mistake and someone noting down the figures had put the decimal point in the wrong place. We got a phone call from the Urologist on Thursday asking us to come to his office that evening. We said we couldn't make it until Friday but when we got there, the news wasn't what we hoped and there is prostate cancer to deal with. The Urologist and his English speaking assistant were wonderful and made appointments right away with Rethymnon hospital and a clinic in Heraklion the following week. We met up with Anna for a cafe frappé afterwards and bumped into my Italian friend Gianna from Greek classes in Rethymnon. We all sat under an umbrella and had some icy drinks and Gianna offered to drive us home, which was so nice and completely out of her way. We commiserated over Greek grammar (must get down to lots of homework today) and it swerved our minds off feeling morose for a while. Gianna has a bright yellow car and strode off walking very fast saying that she would meet us under that tree. When a yellow car sped down the hill and round the corner, we tried to open the doors while the alarmed male driver hooted at us. Whoops, wrong car!!! It made us all laugh when I explained to G.

We reserved getting angry, upset, sorry for ourselves until we got home and it seemed to help a lot to say “bollocks” at frequent intervals. 2013 hasn't been a great year. It could be a malapropism when my daughter called it an anus horriblis. She was right on both scores.

Our Cretan neighbours were good. We had decided not to keep it to ourselves but be completely open about the verdict (not sure this is how they would play it) and they all said “It's nothing”, “You'll be OK” and “What do Doctor's know anyway – they know nothing!” etc etc. In one way they are right because nobody has all the answers. Our English friends in the village had previously organised a barbecue which was a great way of not being at home and thinking too much. We admired their new inflatable spa and if we did not already have an inflatable kayak taking up a large part of upstairs, might have been tempted to buy one!

I am ashamed to say that I have a terrible headache this morning – not sure whether it was the chocolate cakes we bought at the confectioners or too much raki but I'm feeling a bit fragile. However, a bacon and egg sandwich and cup of black coffee has put me to rights this morning and we laughed about the Jobs To Do list. When I was at work, I used to use up stocks of scrap paper by cutting sheets of paper – printed on one side and no longer needed – into A5 size and printing them with a grid numbered 1-10 entitled Jobs To Do. Kimon, with tongue in cheek and a bit of dark humour, was mightily tickled by the idea of inventing a “Jobs To Forget About” list – it sounded very Mediterranean – and should perhaps simply say “Manyana” or This Week, Next Week, Sometime, Never to create a new form of prioritising. We had some lovely Emails and Skype calls from close family and friends with photos of littlies and know we have so much to be thankful for.