COUNTING STITCHES

 The countdown to the end of K's hospital treatment is continuing and we are half-way through the daily radiotherapy now. We are in a weekly groove - driving to Heraklion every Monday and returning on Friday to have a quick laundry turnaround, cook a few casseroles and dishes which can be easily digested and microwaved and back on the road come Monday morning with a Check List which has to be gone through each time. So far we have not forgotten the kettle, the power leads, or clean clothes and bedding, but I have a complete muddle head over what we have in the fridge at either end and whether my walking shoes are at home or away. Kimon stumps off to the department on his crutches each day and queues for ages until it is his turn.  He seems to enjoy listening to the conversation in the queue with other patients.  The swimming bag is kept in the boot of the car – just in case we get the opportunity to go and he is feeling well enough to go out. The end is beginning to be in sight.

Last week was a short week. The radiotherapy machine needed to be serviced, so we had a four day break from hospital routine and the bung-you-up diet, which I have now completely rejected and which, unfortunately means that I have to cope with two lots of cooking rather than one. White bread, white pasta, no veg and lots of meat and fish is not any sort of diet that I can live with. K only can for the duration and then we will be back to our sought-after Cretan diet with lots of salads and olive oil and as much wholemeal bread as he wants and much less red meat than we have been recommended by the doctors for the duration.

All our items arrived via Nomad on Tuesday.  Great, we now have TV and it works!

There is a kitchen at the hostel, but the practicalities of cooking nourishing meals on one stove with the six or so other ladies who are taking care of their important others is a bit of a challenge. It is interesting to see what the ladies make of the dietary restrictions and I peek under saucepan lids to see liver cooking in some sort of gravy; masses of potatoes bubbling away, fish soup, and stew. From the oven emerge trays of home made bread, big pork chops and Greek sausages (which are a bit too spicy for me). All in all, it is a bit easier to make some enriched stocks at home and reassemble them later a bit of a distance from the jostling in the kitchen. Greek wives always look disapproving of anything I make, but Kimon seems OK so far and his weight is remaining steady. His blood tests are holding out OK, although we have to look out for white blood cells and platelets to see that they are not getting too low.

On Wednesday evening, a nice Greek lady (with very good English) turned up with a box of art materials and taught people staying in the hostel various handicrafts which included tissue paper flowers, painted stones, and we all had fun daubing and borrowing each others brushes and paints. Another wife of a patient was really taken with the bolero I was knitting for my little grand-daughter, so the next day I went in search of a photocopier to let her have the pattern. Kimon tried to follow me in the hospital admin building lift and it got stuck between floors. In a small enclosed area, he got hotter and hotter. Fortunately his mobile phone worked, so having alerted me, I was able to summon help and he was only incarcerated for half an hour or so until they got the winch working on the first floor. Fortunately he didn't miss his treatment!

The hostel receptionist has asked me to knit a jumper for her newborn grandson. A first size jumper in the time of 15 more treatments … should be possible!

In Skepasti, it is full-on beef tomato and melon season, and next to the French people's house is a field simply full of wonderful ripe tomatoes, most of which have been picked and crated. They brought me two bags of the discarded tomatoes which I am struggling with. I am still deliberating about acquiring a freezer. Fortunately, I had instructions from Valerie in England on how to bottle tomatoes and in the middle of a very hot day and all the laundry turnaround, I was processing large piles of lovely fruit and simmering bottled tomatoes on the stove, muttering ungratefully and somewhat reluctantly because passata, tinned tomatoes and puree are so very inexpensive to buy in the shops. Anyway, we have five jars of pasta sauce which I hope will last for a few weeks yet. I thought that the oversize Ali Baba terracotta pots used for storage in the kitchen would be the best place to put the jars, being reasonably cool and dark inside. We will see whether this works. I will also plead with the French not to bring me any more at the moment. When we are through with all this, it will be easier.

Time to catch up ... at Geronimos in Panormo

The CIC are organising a meal out in Panormo tonight (Sunday) which is nice for us because we cannot get to see our friends easily until radiotherapy is over. So I am casting off for now and will catch up again soon. As news goes, things are a bit uneventful, but so far, so good.

EAR PLUGS TIL DAWN

The new Archeological Museum has opened and the displays are stunning

We were thankful to get home to our house, which was cool downstairs at least and reflect on the week in Heraklion while K had his radiotherapy each day. Monday had been nice, though. We drove back to the hospital in time for his treatment at about 3.00 p.m. and were told that there would be a little party with music that evening. We assembled in the large downstairs lounge area where trays of lovely fruit and little pies had been arranged and chairs set out. A talented lady singer/guitar player came and made music which all the people joined in and clapped along with. Most of the songs were well known Greek folk favourites but the singer even played “Let it be” so that I was included. We had an unexpectedly enjoyable time and it did help break the ice amongst all the separate people who are there for one reason or another.

We spent another day last week looking for an alternative beach … or a small village with a friendly cafeneon/taverna to have a coffee or a meal out for a change. Our little spot at Paleocastro seems the best, though for parking and convenience.

K and I were tickled by the top sign which says Idiotiko Parking.  It couldn't be a better description of the mayhem outside the hospital.  People will park ANYWHERE rather than walk for 2 minutes from the Car Park

While K was queueing up for bar codes in the Outpatients in order to get his blood tested, I took the bus into Heraklion to check out the new Archaelogical Museum which opened recently.  The displays are amazing ... Phaestos Disk, King Minos ring in bright shining gold, statuary from the Roman and Hellenic period, stunning ceramics which were beautifully set out.  

We heave a sigh of relief to get home on Fridays and forget each time that July and August constitutes peak summer wedding season and on Saturday nights the village is heaving with strange cars all lost and asking for directions to the Kentron (big event venue) which is built in stone high up on the hills at the edge of the village. As soon as we see all the lights on up there, I look for my earplugs because it is the sign that Greek music will tune and start up at midnight and continue all night until 6.00 a.m. If you were in the mood, the traditional lyra and guitar music are occasionally quite good, but all night and amplified for all the local villages in the area, it is too much to bear. By early morning, it sounds like all the drunken Uncles of the bride have got hold of the microphone and are giving it some welly. On a hot sleepless night, it is just what you don't really appreciate and neither did next door's dog, especially after some happy partygoer decided to do a five gun salute at 3.30 a.m. On nights like these, you just have to give up the idea of sleeping and get up for a cup of tea and prowl around the house, adjusting and readjusting your earplugs and wishing they worked better! The truth is that it is difficult to sleep well wherever you are on hot summer nights and the moon was bright and clear outside for the happy-go-lucky wedding guests – all who seemed in fulsome voice at 5 o’clock and unwilling to give up and go home. Sunday mornings are always very quiet in the village as most people need to catch up on their sleep.

I promised a photo of the “disabled friendly” facilities at the hospital and we thought that this one deserved a prize!  Nobody can deny that a wheelchair ramp has been provided....so that box can be ticked!

The ramp that goes nowhere ...

... here is the door!  

TWO LEFT FEET

Sunday lunchtime at Bali - High Season!

4/36 Treatments and Counting. Friday Night. Back from the hospital after the last radiotherapy session this week. Kimon opted for a late afternoon slot, which works out well for us as we have the whole morning to travel out and about while the hospital car parks are at their most ludicrous and return home after lunch - for a queue in the waiting room, treatment and then a nice afternoon nap. If we feel energetic enough, we can go for a slow walk with crutches in the hospital grounds to our friends at Gregorys Coffee Bar or collapse for the evening.

A heaps better experience than last time around.

This may be important!

First of all, we were amused that patients could only find out what they needed to know from other patients. The two doctors on duty were working completely flat out and did not seem to have people on hand to carry out the admin. After retrieving Kimon's very large hospital file from last summer (which was the biggest and fattest the Doctor had ever seen since K had been in four different departments last year) the Doctor left it on his desk on Tuesday and K reported that it was still on the desk where he left it today. The chances of retrieving it a second time seem a bit slim to me. We were told about a special diet sheet which we asked about several times and ended up looking up things on line. It seems counter-intuitive requiring K to eat white bread, white rice, no vegetables and lots of MEAT and Fish. We heard from another patient that avocado, bananas and peaches are also OK. If Blog-followers have any friends in the know, perhaps they can double check this for us. We think it is to stave off Montezuma's revenge, which for K would be a bit of a disaster.

It might say, please close the fridge door and return the teaspoons, we are not sure

K was mightily amused by the banter which was going on in the waiting room while all the blokes in the queue were arguing politics vehemently. Meanwhile patients in beds are being wheeled in and out, wheelchairs dance round one another in the narrow corridor and people rush in and out of offices at great speed. In the middle of all this frenetic activity, the argument in the waiting room carried on at full force and one chap was called for his treatment and turned as he went through the door, pointing his finger and saying “Don't go away, I'm coming back to finish my point!”.

We were given prescriptions to take down the road to the Pharmacy and chatted in the busy shop while quite a number of customers came and went. We took out the instructions written in Greek to ask her and I translated the instruction and put it by the side of the Doctors scrawl. All these matters are greatly confused by the fact that Greeks shorthand-write “pm” for morning which to us means “am” - so my annotations confused her completely! It must have caused masses of missed appointments between Greeks and English speakers over the years. The Chemist assuming that we were complete idiots took out a large black marker and wrote a number against each pill and instruction with the matching big black number on each box. Brilliant, but almost as a whisp of an afterthought she added that, of course, number 2 was a suppository. K and I fell about laughing and thanked her for telling us; it was good to know. K joked that it would have been so hard to take with a cup of coffee. I can only conclude that a good number of prescriptions must be dealt with this way in Greece because she could not understand our hilarity. Not a glimmer of amusement did she share while we were clutching each other and falling about after a week of deciphering where we were supposed to be and what we were supposed to be doing without any clear directions at all. Huh, mad English – how childish about dealing with medicines! Anyway, now we know … if the capsule looks extra large, stop and double check the Greek instructions.

Our lovely little beach - space for cars - then ...

Yesterday, we found a brilliant little beach about 12-15 mins drive from the hospital. Not 5 star by tourist standards, but wonderful for us. Accessible by car and easy to park; a nice shady coffee bar; straight out on to a small beach for a decent swim with a shower and changing cabin and then easy to get back to the hospital again. Most beaches leave K standing at the top of hideously uneven steps or track, leaning on his crutches looking down wistfully and thinking, “maybe not” – so this was a God-send. Few places are disabled friendly in Crete from any point of view. We found one ramp at the hospital which leads to a glass wall and the entrance door well

away to one side of it! It went nowhere … we had a giggle but next week I will take a photo.

... right near a shady place to have morning coffee

Sadly, we stopped at Katerina's Ouzerie today for a quick lunch and had been told that Katerina's mother was in the hospital in a coma. We sent our love and best wishes to them. We had just ordered lunch when the phone rang with the message that her mother had just died and we realised that we would have to leave everything we had ordered behind and make a fast exit so that they could make arrangements. We know that the funeral service takes place within 48 hours so poor bereaved families need a standing start, I would think. Katerina had been such a kind friend to us last September, so we wanted to find a way to show our sympathy. We will have to ask the right thing to do as customs vary so radically from the UK to Crete and we would hate to get that wrong too.

MANTINADES

We were glad to get to the end of a very stressful week with two trips to the Hospital in Heraklion to catch up with the Professor who had not been able to keep our appointment due to a family bereavement the week before.

Tuesday's day at the hospital was hard going because K was walking around with crutches which work for most day to day movement, but we had underestimated the distances and wrong directions we were sent on whilst looking for the Radiotherapy Doctor's hidden lair. Having been sent downstairs, then upstairs, then downstairs again along miles of corridors, we eventually found him amongst a long queue of patients and he discussed the start of radio

therapy treatment – seven weeks from 8 July every week day with a light course of chemotherapy as well. All this was completely at odds with what the Professor had told us earlier.

He gave us a piece of paper to fix up an appointment with Cardiology for an ECG to make sure K's heart was up to it. So we stumped off in search of Cardiology. The short answer is that we think that Cardiology were on strike, but we only found that out after queuing with a numbered ticket for ages and then reaching the lady at the window and being told that we could not make an appointment today. K was exhausted, so we decamped to the car and came home in a bit of a temper. The next day we were back again for a CT scan, but I was prepared for the long corridors and mileage to be covered by taking the wheelchair. This was fine and dandy until the Doctor led all his patients from the hidden lair to the CT Scanner – setting off at a gallop with a string of patients behind him for all the world like a family of ducks. We rushed to keep up and all was well until he disappeared around a corner and leapt up a flight of stairs with a line of people behind him leaving us and the wheelchair staring in dismay.  Not even the hospital is "disabled friendly" in Greece.  Two kind souls, who knew the ropes showed us how to get to the CT place by finding the lifts to the right floor and accompanying us. I need to remember that the comfort and strength of being in hospital is from the patients and their families rather than the paid staff! Anyway we got there and sat in another queue until the Secretary came back from her lunch and could deal with the form filling in duplicate.

On Thursday, we went to a Cardiologist in Rethymnon to get the ECG done and the good news is that K has the heart of an ox! He seemed quite boosted by the news! By Friday, we were pooped and needed to have a quiet day, but somehow we seemed to have one visitor after another and I set off on my own trying to get a peaceful hair cut, without success, but noticed that a new Spa had opened in Panormo. I booked for a back and shoulder massage, to see if it would help with relaxation and a good sleep. The masseur spoke fantastic English, and on greeting me and shaking hands said that he could see that I had problems with my wrist joints (wow … true, I thought it was arthritis) so he spent an extra while paying attention to my arms and hands and it really helped. I wonder if he would be able to help with K's leg at all?  He has started to get pins and needles and a few shooting pains which may or may not be a good sign.

We spent a lot of Saturday at our friends house in Exantas (on the side of a mountain with marvellous views but a heart-in-the-mouth drive up the track to reach it). England were playing New Zealand in the Rugby Test and the Kiwis won! Our friends were disappointed, but we were philosophical about it. Later in the day, they had a barbecue for loads of people on a staggeringly beautiful mid summer evening, a table laid for 30-40 people, live music with lyra, guitar, wonderful singing and a bit of rock and roll from the Brit contingent who emerged from practising their greek conversation with the local villagers and let their hair down at the end. It was the first time my guitar had emerged from its case for a year or so and it was terribly out of tune, but nice to sing a few songs with other folk. The final task was to get down the mountain again in the dark and along all the back tracks at 1.00 am. This had been our latest night for at least a year and we had really enjoyed it.

LIVING ON A KNIFE EDGE

When we talk to our friends here, one of the things that many ex pat families share is the almost constant sense of anxiety about other family members far away, especially elderly parents. Most of our friends have had to organise flights home for emergencies and in all the contingency plans we made when leaving for foreign climes, it never occurred to us that we would have to deal with emergencies at home and here in Crete at the same time.

Many of our friends here share problems with any property they may still have in the UK; worry if a letting agency is charging a lot for doing very little, damage to their home, a caretaker or tenant who is not covering their expenses, not co-operating or, in our case, refusing to accept the four months notice we gave to terminate the rental agreement in September last year so that we could move home and seek treatment for cancer in the UK.

As we started out, people had told us that the treatment in Crete was very good indeed … and this is true. Certainly the speed and efficiency of the diagnostics were amazingly efficient. All we had to do was to make our way to the correct clinic or laboratory in various parts of Rethymnon and Heraklion, pay our fee and gather the results in one folder to take to a Specialist for further consultation and treatment. All achieved in 20 days.

The hospital situation was a bit different, but we have covered all that ground before and, in spite of my desire to get back to the UK after our many gruelling weeks at the hospital, and seek some English speaking medical and nursing advice, we were stopped in our tracks by not having a home to return to and needing specialist disabled friendly arrangements in place before we threw in the towel and retired “injured” to the UK.

So it was a cause for rejoicing a week or two back, our son got back from Crete to find the key to the UK house in a brown envelope at his home address in England. It had taken eight months without income and bearing the costs of two houses, court proceedings and a lot of work done by kindly young people on our behalf in the UK and other family members (who had all sorts of more important things to worry about). We realise that we had travelled too far down the treatment path to stop now, because we hear that UK doctors are reluctant to receive back patients to the UK and often ask them to wait six months before they will consider treating them. It has been a walk along a knife edge for months now dividing pockets of stress into separate compartments and trying to deal with one thing at a time. Since we are nearly at the point of getting radiotherapy for K, we decided to wait until after the next hospital visit here in Crete to see how the land lies. We hope and pray that things go much better for us this time around. Another cause for celebration is that the owners of the Zimmer frame phoned to ask if K still used it. He had actually progressed to crutches a few days before so it was with a certain amount of thanksgiving that we could return it and know that another person would feel as supported as we had.

Meanwhile, Crete is still having odd weather. Rain and cloud in late May and early June is almost unheard of and grey, cloudy skies – full of desert sand to coat every surface of the house and garden – all make for lots of hard work and cleaning. Our terrace is like a sandy beach after the last lot of winds and rain. The car looks as if it has been on African car rally even after a dousing with the pressure hose. I am glad that nobody can see me watching TV in a warm woolly, socks and gloves this evening. We have been so cheered up by seeing videos and photos of the grandchildren far away “down under” and wondering when we will get the chance to catch up with them again.

As K's birthday approached after such a dodgy year, we wanted to celebrate in a way that marked the occasion (SURVIVAL) without wearing the pair of us out completely. Almost by accident, we fell in with the idea of a pancake brunch on Saturday morning to which five of us tucked into freshly made pancakes from friend Ian's first class frying pan, just squeezed orange juice, fresh fruit salad, delectable maple syrup, bacon, sausages, birthday cakes and, having enjoyed all the food and opened goodies, drove down to Panormo to have frappé coffees and milk shakes at our favourite Vinzi's Cafe up on the ramparts. Two more friends turned up after their lunch – so by a chapter of good effort, lots of humour and pure accident, it made a very nice day.

Archive photo of Panormo last year!

We are now resting a bit and girding our loins for the next stage which will mean driving to and from Heraklion each day for radiotherapy treatment for four weeks, if they give the go ahead. This is a round trip of about 40-50 miles around the mountains. We may have ex pat folk around to help us, so we are trying to keep upbeat and hopeful.

We have been so busy, we cannot believe that it is June already (definitely not flaming and somewhat miserable by Cretan standards) but anyway KALOMINA!

LEO'S HOLIDAY

 

It was great that, after the disastrous nature of last year's holiday break, we had a lovely week when son, Leo came to stay. No hospital visits to negotiate this time round! We tried to fit in as many easy trips and visits as we possibly could without tiring out K altogether and we both really enjoyed Leo's company and the odd little jobs he could help us with around the house. We both said after he left that either he had grown, or we had shrunk … sadly, I think it is the latter.

We started many mornings with my Cretan breakfast which comes highly recommended: A small spoon or two of muesli, covered by fruit juice, covered by soft fruits like strawberries and bananas, covered by Greek yoghurt, drizzled with Greek local honey and topped with chopped walnuts. Its a fabulous breakfast and keeps you going well until lunch time! Leo said that he usually made smoothies, but he seemed to enjoy it too.

New use for walking frames!

We had two swims and went fishing over the week on the hotter days in Panormo and Bali.  On Saturday drove to meet Anna at her summer house at Filaki and onto the Avocado Shop at Lappa followed by a great warming meal by the Argyropoli Springs. This shady spot is usually a great place to visit in the heat of the summer and the weather had started off fairly fine, but got really cold up in the mountains and we needed warm jackets and coats that day. We played Scrabble at Camping Elizabeth and found lots of great places for meals out. Leo hopes to bring a few friends with him when he comes to see us next. He seems to have a mad few months ahead of him, so we don't expect to see him here for a while.

On Thursday the CIC Archaeology group met at the Folk Museum in Rethymnon to hear a couple of talks. One about a conservancy project on an interesting site at Kommos and the second from our friend Don Evely about Minoan Wall paintings. The illustrations of amazing subjects on plaster walls was fascinating from a design perspective but the mechanics of pigments, lime plaster processing and the difficulties of the artform were resonant with me, because we are wondering how best to deal with the covering of the surface over our old stone walls. All the materials we have tried so far have been shortlived, so it may be that the Minoans could teach us a thing or too about lime plaster instead of modern plastic paints, which simply peel off in a matter of months.

The Kafeneon

The weather has been cloudy and rainy for a couple of days, but it did not spoil our plan to drive into Rethymnon to see Anna before Leo went home. The traditional visit to Ali Kebab was a must and a try out on Anna's new exercise bike. 2 minutes pedalling and I all but fell over as my legs were so wobbly and then quite a long walk to the far end of the Marina Car Park – full to capacity. There were so many tourists in town because the weather was too windy and dark for the beach. Kimon had a nice, quiet time back at home.

Panormo from the headland

Today was a full one before Leo's flight left Heraklion at 10 p.m. He had said that he would like to walk round the headland to the East of the harbour at Panormo and our friends Brod and Carolyn said that they would like to join us for the ramble. So we met up at the kafeneon at 9.30 a.m. for small Greek coffees, all served with large glasses of water and then strode off, leaving K behind for an hour or so while we toiled up the slopes, through the roped off gateway and up around the headland taking backward glances every now and then to admire the view of the village from above. The weather was the best we have had for quite a few days and I started to think about sun burn after we had been steadily climbing for half an hour or so. The walk ends in a bit of a dead end – large rocks, slabs of shiny basalt and flocks of goats playing “King of the Castle” on unlikely outcrops of stone. The air was alive and buzzing with wheeling birds, tiny blue butterflies and masses of insects along the way among the scrubby plants, mallow and gorse. We seemed to have herded all the goats as we walked and they were now all at the far end of the path in very inaccessible places. We hoped the shepherd would be able to find them again. Far below us, the waves crashed round the many rocks and you could see for miles in every direction. Mount Psiloritis had misty clouds caught up in the folds of the peaks. It was a great opportunity to chat and fairly easy walking but we felt well exercised when we collapsed at Vinzi's Cafe on top of the battlements for cool Freddocinos and milk shakes on our return to base camp.

Misty Psiloritis in the Clouds

After a farewell lunch at the Fanari, we got home and had a go at putting up a large sail which had arrived from the UK via Amazon. Two stepladders, 4 large clips, 2 pieces of rope and a lot of huffing and puffing later, it was sort of how we wanted it, but will need some expert fixing. We just hope that the temporary knots will keep it anchored until we can catch a passing expert and get him or her to take a look at it.

We sadly took Leo to the bus stop at 6.00 p.m. to catch the bus to Heraklion and a taxi to the airport. The week had rushed by all too quickly and we hope that it won't be too long before we catch up with him again. The house seems more empty and I am drifting round tidying and putting things away somewhat glumly. However, at least he had a much better break this time around and it was such a joy for us. It was good, too, for Leo to see for himself how K had improved over the past few months.

ELECTIONEERING

Passion Flower - Easter Sunday

  As far as the locals are concerned, there is no sense of irony whatsoever in two of the village men arriving on Saturday with a wheelbarrow full of whitewash and brushes to paint the fronts all the old stone houses and decrepit walls all around the oldest part of the village. K and I looked at one another and realised that election time is near. First of all a weeding and strimming party circled the lanes of the village for a tidy up and then the whitewash! This always seems to happen before the election takes place for the new Mayor and a community wash and brush up is always a good way to gauge community feeling. The paint mix was thin and the coating fairly rudimentary but it is so much more effective and useful than knocking on doors and doling out pamphlets! We notice that the kafeneon of our dear friends Kostas and Angeliki got special treatment with a large white circle painted around the mulberry tree on the roadway outside the kafeneon because that is where their little table and a few chairs live in the hot summer months.

Our scruffy decorator!

Meanwhile the swallows are all busy with their young in nests, tucked away under the eaves and in porches of the houses hereabouts. One nest is perched precariously on the junction box of an electricity cable on the house opposite and we spend quite a few moments watching the comings and goings of parent birds as they sit on their eggs and try to keep their strength up by taking off now and then to catch a few flying insects. Then they sit on the electric wires and chatter loudly. Just one bird seems to sound like a whole crowd of them.

Prayer requests in Panormo

Christos Anesti!  Aliethos Anesti!  After having to make do with the Sunday Service on Radio 4 for some time, I actually got to Church Proper last Sunday, the week following Easter. The door of the little church in Panormo usually open and can be visited for quiet time which is nice, but it is not like belonging to a church family. The English Church is about 40 miles away and not easy to find, so it was lovely that a bilingual friend, Martha wanted to visit the church and once she knew where it was, offered to drive a couple of us there. I picked up Ann and parked in the Marina Car Park in Rethymno. Martha met us there and drove to the Apokoronas. It was sunny and cloudy all the way there, thundered and lightening'd throughout the service, and was sunny all the way home in the car. The poor vicar had to shout to make his voice heard above the heavy rain as it beat down on the tented area. I was bemused to see that they were having their APCM after the service and, having given advice to many beleaguered PCC Secretaries in my former life about just such meetings, was very glad to make a rapid exit! If I had stayed, I would have probably have been tempted to interfere. I did take a free copy of the European Anglican though, which made interesting reading.

Easter meal out in the Arcouda Kipo = Bear Garden!

Back home, the terrace looks much better with some new soil and plants in the terracotta pots and a coat of paint on the front walls. The garden chairs have been given a wash down and we wait expectantly for some reliable sunshine, but it is a bit slow in arriving this year. The weather has been undecided for a few weeks now. After the success of the scream (screen) door (see blog for 2012 when we could have started a whole new business), K set about constructing a screen for the window so that we can keep out the insects in the summer but also use the quick release mechanism in case of violent summer storms which mean that the screen frame can be taken down and the windows closed to keep out the rain. All the methods we have tried so far (new each year) have not given us this option, so we are working on a new design for 2014. The shading canopy for the terrace had been soaked and washed after the neglect of last year but still looked terrible, so we need to work on a better scheme for the roof terrace and find a design which stands up to the strong winds and harsh sunlight. As there isn't much at the moment, it is not our first priority.

We had our first supper get-together for a long time on Wednesday and cooked a meal for Liz and her sister, Steph. Liz has come every morning to give K his heparin injection or to teach me how to do it when she is not available. Every morning for 5 months is a real gift of time and commitment and we were indebted to her. K's DVT seems to be better, at least, so that is something to be very grateful for. We await an appointment to see the Neurologist to see whether he is likely to get any improvement in the leg, which is dead from the knee downwards and will see the Professor of Urology at the Hospital next month to discuss radiotherapy. It was with great relief that I boxed up all the disinfectants, disposable gloves, Betadine, wound dressings and first aid stuff that we have been using for the past few months and put them away upstairs for the time being. All the supplies have been fairly costly, plus 75 euros every 20 days for the injections (this is 25% of the real cost) and which all mounts up in financial terms.

Last of the wayside flowers!

There have been various forms of admin to deal with as well. Social Security IKA books needed some sort of adjustment (we take them to the Doctor with us every time and it affects treatment and costs for prescriptions) and went back and forth between us and the office twice, the French Government are still wondering whether I am alive and writing to my father's address in England instead of our address here to find out. We have an issue over the phone bill which will mean a trip to OTE in Rethymnon to sort out and another trip to the Health Centre in Perama to sort out K's next lot of prescriptions. It takes a lot of juggling with diaries and calendars to keep on top of it all.

I still have not had a swim this year and I need the exercise badly, but it won't be long now, we hope.

Kalomina!