Yesterday I was in the sea cooling down for a total of about 3 hrs. Then I had to go out and it was not pleasant…
However it was fun. I went to see the presentation of a film made on Paros in the 40s, and see photos from before, during and after WWII. It was really interesting. You know I love old stuff!
Today I decided to stay at home as much as I can. I groomed a dog in the morning, and although its shady in my courtyard and there is a wind, it was still so HOT.
I came inside, had a coffee and got online and its already 4pm. I have no idea where the time went. I really need to set myself time limits on how long I am on the computer. Sure, it wasn’t all Facebook… I did a little research on paint pens. I created more ads for my FB Paros Dogs page and scheduled them for publication. (If you haven’t seen or liked it, please check it out, like and follow.)
OOOH. I just remembered… I have a ton of old family photos that I want to post on my FB albums… another reason to stay online!
Being dogless at the moment I’ve been able to do a bit of dog sitting, both in my home and in their own homes. Not that it was an issue with Lainee as she was so easy going and got along with all other dogs… but its so much easier when you don’t need to worry about things like that.
I’ve been a little creative as well, but this heat does my head in. I have to get off my butt and start a couple of new things I have orders for… plus two large canvases I need to finish. I will be sharing soon so stay tuned.
And… I have to update my Junk4Joy FB page – I put some stuff online for sale there and have forgotten to update it…
It never ends… Trying to sell is not an easy job if you want to keep up with all the social media. Especially if it doesn’t come naturally to you.
This is a photo of Lainee taken on a ferry trip we went on together with friends a couple of years ago. Somehow its the right photo for the start of this post, because it makes me think of rainbow bridges and travels to another place.
I lost Lainee about 3 weeks ago now, which is why I haven’t posted in ages. It has been very hard to lose her and the house feels empty and I constantly feel like something is missing.
Lainee had been having issues since about Christmas but the vets couldn’t find anything wrong with her. Still, she would be up and down, having diarhhea one moment, vomitting the next, but tests showed nothing. We were in Athens at the time so I took her to a specialist for an ultrasound and he said she had some sludge in her gall bladder but that shouldn’t be a problem…
On returning to Paros, more tests, the vet said her white blood cell count was very high, and kept getting higher, and thought it was a problem with her liver. So she went on antibiotics and pills for her liver, as well as daily doses of IV fluids for a while but continued to get worse.
I had originally tried a different diet for gastro issues, that helped, but then she lost her appetite. She ate boiled chicken and rice for a while, then stopped eating that. She was eating roast chicken ravenously when we decided to take her to Athens for another specialist ultrasound.
The second ultrasound, only a month after the first, showed her she had a cystocelle gallbladder and it had to be removed asap or she would die. I took her to the animal hospital that evening and they monitored her for 24 hours before surgery. I had googled it and there was a decent chance she would make it… however the first 72 hours were the most dangerous. However, they said that when they opened her up things were way worse than they expected. Her gallbladder was stone hard and stuck to her diaphragm and liver, and there were abnormalities on her spleen so they removed that as well. It was a HUGE operation.
She made it through the surgery and seemed to be recovering. Unfortunately, she went downhill and died 3 days after surgery.
Here are some memories of my baby girl.
When I first got her, almost exactly 4 years ago.Lounging on the aqua flokati throw at home.Snuggled up in our bed.Resting at home on a cushion made from one of my old jumpers.Laine always loved cushions and pillows. The more the merrier.What did I say, the more cushions, the better she liked it.On the new fluffy cushions.What? Is it morning already?I just love this silly face!On the couch with my first teddy bear, now her bear.On an armchair with the teddy.Where is Lainee?Trying a new look with close clipped ears.Back to bands!Back to being fluffy again!Sharing the couch with Erik, our kitten.On my lap, where she belonged.At the beach, with the wind in her ears, was one of her favourite places.She loved to run on the sand.She loved to lounge at beach bars.Always the best spot in the house.Lainee was a person. No lying on the floor for her. Chairs or couches were the only way to go.Out and about in the car, always on the way somewhere.Trying the new pompom look.Guess what mom just bought… a flower pot full of blooms!Showing off one of her many winter coats.Queen of all she surveyed.Looking pretty against the poppies.Out at another cafe somewhere, always with me.Lying on my coat when out at a cafe so no one would complain that she was on an armchair.On the ferry to Sifnos.In her small travel bag.Who’s the pretty girl in the mirror?Out in the wind on a winter’s day.Sitting pretty in a friend’s framing shop.Visiting family.Making their couch her own.In Athens, with one of my childhood stuffed toys.Spending time at grandmas house.Keeping an eye on grandma cause she’s always cooking something nice.This is grandma’s chair, but she lets me sit here.In Athens, keeping an eye on things.Visiting my cousin Zefi, who she loved, always wanting to sit next to her.Aunty Zefi doesn’t really mind if I sit on her cushions…Visiting friends – this is where I learned that she loved teddy bears.Winter in Athens… brrr, its cold.Visiting my aunt, who never let dogs on her furniture before.Just the cutest face ever.A happy face!!!!Sleeping at the office while I was at work.Her own comfy spot at the office.Looking over the landscape from a friend’s verandah.Lainee’s first visit to a cafe when I first got her. I think she enjoyed it!From then on, she loved going out for drinks…Or maybe a beer…Or cocktails…She especially liked the cream on top!Out for dinner with her aunty Barbara.Mmmm apple cider is good too.Where is my drink? I ordered ages ago!Hot rakomelo is great on a cold evening.What? You ordered the mojito for me, didn’t you?Thats for me?Well, maybe I can lick the cream off the top?Nah… I don’t think I want the strawberry.Coffee by the sea… what a life!I’ve finished my coffee. Can I get something to eat now?Lainee, after she’d had surgery to remove her mammary glands due to cancer.Yeah, she didn’t like the neck brace option almost as much as she hated the cone of shame.Right before her last surgery.
The above is one of the last photos I took of Lainee, the afternoon I dropped her off for surgery. I was sure I would have her back and that she would live another 2 years or so.
I have had her cremated and she is now close to me, where she always wanted to be. I couldn’t bear to leave her in a grave somewhere far away.
I try to remember the good times as much as I can.
I realise that I haven’t been posting regularly for a long time now. It seems that when I’m ‘up’ I’m creative and fun and have lots to share, but when I’m ‘down’ (or frustrated, or stressed, or life just gets too much for me) I’m quiet and don’t feel like sharing.
I often get critised by non-greeks who move here to live in the beauty of Greece and its islands – the brilliant blue skies, the light, the sea, the culture, the people. These people get annoyed at me for not absolutely loving it here and for complaining, for not appreciating how lucky I am to live ‘in paradise’. In fact, years ago my brother and cousin didn’t want me hanging out with their wives cause my bias against Greece would rub off on them.
Don’t think I just plain hate Greece – I don’t. Greece is part of me. I lived here for years when I was younger, but Greece and I have a love-hate relationship. More hate than love some of the time, but its inside me. I especially love Paros, there are parts of Athens I love and other parts I appreciate. Its just that life here is not easy if you have to work under greek conditions in order to live… for someone who was used to living in a country where most things made sense. Here nothing seems to make sense – and perhaps I’m just too stubborn to accept it and live with it.
I could go into the story of my life and the deep down reasons I’ve disliked (and even resented) Greece since first moving here as a 10 year old many years ago, but its a long story involving a child who felt like she was ripped from a town, a life, and a family she loved, moved to a foreign country far away against her will, where she knew no one and who’s people were cruel to animals. And who sincerely believed she would never again see the people and places she loved.
Right now I’m fighting to keep it together and find a way to be who I am/want to be and live the life I want to live, while living and working in this country.
Wages here suck. I’d never be able to get anywhere as an employee. Not on a single wage, even owning my own house. I’d survive, but thats it. No extravagant shopping, no trips, nothing. If I was content to just go to work, walk my dogs (more on that later), cook, eat, catch up with friends now and then, and have no hobbies bigger than fit in my lap, I could be content in my little house in a small life on a beautiful island.
But I have hobbies, interests, passions, and ambitions, that require space. I paint on canvas, rocks and marble, I draw on paper or any other surface I find, I make sculptures, I make art from trash, I groom dogs, I sew, I make jewelery, and baskets, I remake dolls, I want to work with clay, I want to get back to remaking furniture and I miss my power tools. So I’m frustrated because I don’t have the space. Not many people understand that – my house is fine ‘for a single person’.
I am happiest when I’m making things. I am most happy when I’m making stuff I want to make for myself, and then being able to sell them after. But unlike most countries, Greece doesn’t have weekend markets or other avenues for sellers to sell stuff. I miss being able to make stuff and take part in a market now and then!
Working in a job 6 hrs a day 6 days a week (aka a part time job), then grooming as often as I can in the warmer months, fitting in whatever painting I can when I’m not too tired, is not what I dreamed living on a greek island would be like. For one thing I envisioned living here once I’d retired – no need for a job to hem me in – so I could create and do things I enjoyed.
Living the dream means not having to work for under 5 euros an hour in jobs you don’t like.
In Australia I built up a grooming business slowly, making a name for myself by grooming 3 days a week and working part time, till I took the leap to make it my full time job. I could do that cause it was considered a hobby and, since I was paying taxes on my real job, I didn’t have to declare my hobby income. Ditto with anything I sold at the odd market or online.
Here, unless you want to risk a huge fine for earning black money (there is no such thing as hobby income here), you have to register a business, which has monthly costs whether you earn anything or not, not allowing you the luxury of building up a business slowly. For now I have registered a business and, having no space, I go to people’s houses to clip their dogs…Its not ideal. I feel like I’ve taken a big step backwards to how I started years ago. Even then I had the space for a grooming room in my own home… I don’t have the money to jump in and rent a space here, fit it out and tide me over till the business can support me.
So I stress over how to balance the need to earn a living while building up a grooming business without a space to do it in, and still be creative.
Dealing with taxation, government rules and regulations etc is frustrating. Add in dealing with the medical system for mom, and getting just about anything done… everything in Greece is frustrating – as my post about mom’s drama with the ferry showed. UGH.
Can you believe that we have to vaccinate our dogs every single year for rabies? The same vaccinations they give in other countries in Europe last 3 years… but here, its every year. Why?
I mentioned dogs. Plural.
You’d never guess this to be the face of a monster.
I adopted a purebred miniature poodle who’s mother (an 88yr old woman) had a stroke. He is 7 years old, white, his name is Phoebo (my version of his name, cause I laughed when Phoebe on Friends wanted to name one of the triplets after herself). Phoebo is loving and cuddly and cute, he gets along with everyone, people and other animals, then turns into Cujo if you touch him where he doesn’t want to be touched. He’s a disgrace to me as a groomer…
This is how he looked when I got him… goobers the size of walnuts under each eye.
I adopted him cause a biting dog will end up being tossed aside or euthanised. And he bites hard. He means it. I suspect that he’s been beaten for biting and thats just made him worse.
By the time I got him he’d been away from his home for at least a month, living in a boarding kennel where the people in charge were fearful of him. He’d been adopted and returned twice cause he can be quite vicious when he doesn’t want you to do something to him.
Second day I had him I thought I’d clean his eyes with a damp tissue and he attacked me, not just biting the hand which held the tissue like a normal bitey dog, but launching himself at me, biting me in the crook of my elbow.
OUCH.
I was not the one who risked life and limb to trim even this much of him!
Its been two weeks now. I’m in training by a trainer I’d never have been following normally. But then I’ve never had a dog like this before, and I’m a groomer with a rep for handling difficult dogs! The rules are different to anything I’ve ever done before. With this groomer/trainer its ‘no lap. no sharing the bed. make sure he knows you’re the boss. he needs to know you have the power but won’t hit him.’ Perhaps he’s right. My way of loving and gentle ways isn’t working. I thought it was the few times I did something he didn’t like he went bezerk but didn’t bite. Then this morning he bit me again.
Sigh.
I can’t let him win. He’s such a sweet dog. I need to make him a better dog.
I’ve been staying at a friend’s house since yesterday, looking after Indy and Maya.
This is Indy – I’ve looked after him before.
No, its not a perspective thing… Indy has next to no legs. He’s a dachsund. How cute is he all stretched out!
This is Maya – a cat they found as a very sick, tiny kitten, and nursed back to health, who is apparently very scared of strangers.
As you can see, Maya is terrified of me.
So here we are, me, Lainee, Indy and Maya, on top of the world, overlooking miles of sea and Parikia bay, listening to the cicadas and wasps and NO traffic!!!
The photos don’t do it justice. I’ve been sitting out here watching the sunset and reading Where the Crawdads Sing cause watching Netflix just doesn’t seem right somehow. Its more a read and listen to nature sort of place. I may only be here for a week, maybe 10 days, but its lovely. Its what I dreamed of when I dreamed of living on Paros.
We managed to enjoy our first outings post lockdown. I had brunch with Zefi and a friend, took a long walk along the seafront and said hello to friends having drinks at cafes. Not everything is open of course. Still plenty of places closed till later in the season. Some may not open at all, like last year. Who knows. Still, it was lovely to get out and see people sitting and having drinks or food in public.
Of course, there were plenty of idiotic things people do: so many without masks and without any care for social distancing. Its natural I guess. People are frustrated after all this time in lockdown and need to ‘break free’… They might also be feeling like I do: that sooner or later we’ll pay for this with another lockdown so may as well enjoy it while it lasts.
Sure, vaccinations are going ahead, but I’m not sure how effective that will be in containing things short term. All we can do is wait and see.
Meanwhile its been a little cooler while still being pretty hot in the sun so swimming isn’t out of the question. I love the beaches when they’re quiet.
The cats outside are enjoying the warm weather. I brought my table and chairs up from the basement and Bob made herself very comfortable…
Selina, or Smalley as we call her, is much healthier. She will always have issues with her lungs after her chest infection but she’s full of beans these days, though she remains much smaller than a cat her age. She’s still not 100% trusting. Its a good indicator of her health in fact, when she’s not feeling well she will let me pick her up, if she’s feeling well I can’t catch her. I’ve booked her in to be spayed on Friday cause we’ve already got some unneutered strays hanging around her.
Meanwhile NMC (remember Not My Cat who adopted me when I first moved in?) is in my back courtyard recouperating. He was hit by a car a few days before I took Lainee to Syros and my neighbour and I took him to the vet thinking he would be put down. However the vet wanted to give him a chance so he operated on him and held him there and now he’s recouperating here with me.
Ok… I get the whole save a life thing. But NMC is not a pet cat. He’s an older stray who tolerates people cause they feed him. I’ve often been scratched by him for daring to pat him and make friends with him. Caring for him isn’t easy. Plus, after he’s well enough he has to go back out on the road. ie the neighbourhood. Technically I think he belongs to a couple who lives up the hill from here but he’s a stray they feed, not a house cat. He spends most of his time outside our building, no longer on my porch as the female cats chased him off it.
He had broken ribs, a broken jaw, a haematoma on his head and lots of cuts and scratches. He was in pitiful condition. The vet wired his jaw, it came loose and he had to put him under to rewire it again… I did think it would be kinder to put him down rather than let him face life in a compromised condition ‘out there’. But here I am now, caring for an unfriendly cat who can barely eat even when i mush and dilute his food with water. He gave me a good scratch when I removed 3 ticks I found on him (the vet said he’d removed some too but obviously didn’t treat him for them) so today I have to go buy more cat food, kitty litter and some topspot stuff for him.
I feel so sorry for him. He looks awful and seems to be in a lot of pain. I set up the cat carrier under my bench outside, with kitty litter next to it and put out sloppy wet food 3 times a day. He takes so long to lick some up and sleeps in the carrier all day. He’s obviously in pain. Yet I can’t put him down now, after all this, so we persist…
Poor boy.
Anyway, gotta get going. I have cat food and kitty litter to buy!
Yesterday when I put Lainee’s little blue jumper on I realised it had 3 holes in it. I have no idea where they came from but they were definitely there… And getting bigger. So something had to be done about it.
So this afternoon while watching Bold Type on Netflix (light hearted, fun, easy to watch while I work) I began mending with embroidery thread I had on hand. Lucky I had just enough in each colour to create a border around the holes to keep the jumper from totally unravelling.
Oh and for those who noticed, I did create 4 rings when I said there were 3 holes. That’s because I decided to make another hole so I can put Lainee’s harness on underneath the jacket and still clip on her lead through the hole.
Ok, so I’m not the neatest… I see mending by others on Pinterest and drool and want to emulate but mine always ends up looking like it was done by an sightless mole without opposing thumbs.
Still, Lainee isn’t complaining. She’s an easy girl to please.
Poor little darling is in the wars right now. You may remember she has a huge mammary tumour which I wanted removed a while ago but she’s got a heart murmur we’ve been treating meanwhile to make it safer to put her under… Well, she began licking the tumour while I was away in hospital and yesterday she made it bleed. Hence she’s swaddled in bandages and vet wrap around her middle now. I have her booked in for surgery to remove the tumour next Thursday… sigh.
At least she’s been a happy little girl, she loves the wind and goes bezerk when I take her out in it, and she’s playful every morning. So although its bothering her she’s been well in herself. That’s something.
Again on the memories. This time its about how crazy life got on the farm… I do really miss it you know. I dream of my poodles all the time, I miss the smell of the Tasmanian countryside and the sound of our geese and ducks every morning, cuddling standard poodles… having a workshop to make things in.
I mentioned I bought a cabinet. I got it home yesterday and removed the glass on one side as the other was missing. I left the glass in front. I considered sanding it here, outside, but didn’t have the time so I moved it inside. Its light anyway, especially with less glass. Now I have a sore back.
Thats what months of not doing anything does to you.
I’m really getting frustrated on the whole no space to work thing. Every time I see a place which might suit its not for rent. No one has storage spaces here, and if they do they use them themselves. Garages are not common, and given most people don’t have space for sheds on their land and you need a permit to put up any kind of building on a property (the law limits the meterage of ‘building’ any land can have on it) when people do add on to their house its always living space, not workshop/spare space.
I really don’t know what to do. I’ve thought of a container on some land at the ‘family compound’… I’ve thought of asking to build a concrete slab and put up a pergola with a roof – but again… not allowed to put up more structures on the land I could do that on. Temporary things are allowed (with restrictions) like a container or a caravan, but not permanent structures… and a pergola is permanent. Sigh.
Realistically my options seem to be 1. rent a place and pay top $$ for it which I can’t afford. 2. find a place to rent to live in which has the potential space – very hard to find full year rentals here and its very expensive, plus i’m not sure I want to move. I like where I live. 3. find the money to build on our land – lots of money… or 4. give up.
Anyway… back to the memories of how chaotic life can be on a farm… click here to read the story.
There was once a challenge on Facebook to post photos of 10 dogs you’ve loved in your life. Of course I’ve loved more than 10 dogs but not all were mine and a lot I no longer have photos of. I thought I’d share photos of the ones I posted on Facebook.
Its Greek Independence Day, 200 years since they won their freedom from the Turks so it was a quiet day. Unlike previous years when they have parades and celebrations everywhere. Flags still wave from balconies but its all very low key. I spent the afternoon with family and then did a little work on my nude sculptures. Nothing ready to share yet!
So here are my dogs in chronological order. Most of the photos are small as I don’t have the bigger versions any more.
Timmy, my first ever poodle. A pet shop toy poodle who turned out to be the best thing ever. He cost mose than I made in a month working in Athens at the time. I had to leave him in Greece with my parents when I moved back to Australia. He’s the reason I have a special place in my heart for white poodles.
Scooter, my first toy poodle in Australia. I had to wait years for him cause I couldn’t have a dog when I was a student and living in shared accommodation. Soon as I signed the dotted line to buy my first house I bought Scooter. He was tiny when I got him and such a big character.
Billybear. Originally I bought Billy to keep Scooter company, they were only 3 months apart in age. At the time I had no plans to show, but joined the poodle club and the rest is history. Billybear was my first show dog, first champion, winning against stiff competition, despite being silver beige (and a frowned upon colour). Billy was my heart dog. Well, my first heart dog. He was always by my side or on my lap.
Pagan, my first standard poodle. She started my love affair with standards. She wasn’t an easy dog but I learned a lot from her. She was my second show dog, second champion. She did me proud in the ring and gave birth to some beautiful puppies.
Montana. Pagan’s daughter from her first litter, my biggest winning dog ever. I had a strange relationship with Montana because despite picking her and loving her from day one, I didn’t begin to bond with her till she was over 1yr old. From then on she was my girl. Montana was special in every way and she had that famous poodle sense of humour.
Crash. I got Crash on loan from a friend to show but he hated the ring. He was the cheekiest most charming little man anywhere but put him in the ring and he froze. At the time I had him Montana was raising her one and only litter and Crash would run in amongst her puppies, under Montana… absolutely confident and fearless. I had to send him back to his breeder however since he wouldn’t show and I already had 2 toys and 2 standards at home.
Bonnard, Pagan’s son from her last (AI) litter. I kept him and showed him till he was 2yrs old but he began to jump high fences and I had a neighbour who loved to shoot things. Bonnard is the sweetest natured big dope of a boy – a real momma’s boy, afraid of the dark… Bonnard now lives in Adelaide with his new family.
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Romeo, my second heart dog. Son of Montana. From day one he was mine. He chose me though I chose him too. He was the only puppy who preferred my company to playing with his siblings. Romeo never showed but he was so much my dog I gave up showing and kept him. Leaving him behind in Australia when I moved to Greece broke my heart. I still picture having him here with me.
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Erik, the shortest love affair I’ve had with a dog. He was given to my by a good friend at 12mths of age and we only had him for 2 weeks before he was bitten by a snake and died. It was a horrible loss. We had fallen in love with him in those 2 weeks and his death left a huge hole in our hearts. He came into our lives and became part of them quickly, making everyone love him.
Lainee, my baby girl, my love. She’s my constant companion on Paros. I got her about 2 years ago at age 10. She is the sweetest, quietest girl you ever met, but she came out of her shell and now plays with me every morning to celebrate a new day. She’s my shadow.
As I said, these were only dogs which were mine, even for a short time, and who impacted my life. I’m not including dogs I’ve loved but who belonged to other people even if they lived with me as well. It would be a LONG list…
Each dog is special and each has a place in my heart and I thank them for being in my life.
Today I made a trip to the Paros Health Centre. I haven’t been able to get in touch with the surgeon in Athens and I was worried cause the area around the tube was red and looked like I might be getting an infection.
While there I spoke with the surgeon on Syros (who answered his phone!) and told him what was going on. I’d been fully prepared for the health centre docs to look me over, give me antibiotics if necessary and plan a trip to Syros to remove the tube.
Well, the docs spoke on the phone and they removed the tube then and there! I was expecting a small tube, I don’t know, a few inches inside… but that sucker just kept coming and coming. Like a mile of tubing inside me. Ugh.
Its amazing. I no longer have a bag attached to my stomach. I feel free.
Of course, I still have a hole in my abdomen but I’m assured that if I cough my guts won’t fall out.
The doctor cleaned it up and put a dressing on it, saying I need to go back every couple of days to have it changed so they can keep an eye on it, that its healing ok, but once they’re satisfied its healing I can change the dressing myself. Sponge baths it is for a while. Small price to pay for that sense of freedom.
Though having a hole in my stomach is rather uncomfortable feeling. I do have some pain, not a lot, more like a stitch in that side when I breathe. Hopefully that will settle in a day or two.
Thats my big news. Enjoy some happy dog cuddle pics. I do love these girls.
I’m home, and I’m not. In fact I’ve been home for over a week now but at this very moment I’m house sitting/dog sitting with a couple of cuties I groom.
This is Lily, a Biewer Yorkshire Terrier who lost her sight when she was a pup and got her first vaccinations. My opinion: never do 4 or 5 in ones!!! She’s the sweetest, cuddly girl.
This is Amy, a Bichon x Poodle and a real character. Would you believe these girls LOVE cabbage? Raw cabbage is their favourite treat!
And this of course is a very furry Lainee enjoying her time dog sitting as well.
I’ve barely done anything creative since I’ve been back on Paros. First it was the need to rest and recouperate from the ordeal. Then it was just lack of motivation brought upon by a pain in my side due to the tube I still have sticking out of my abdomen to collect any bile still leaking from the site.
Thankfully the leak has reduced to only enough to dirty the bag… I change it every 2nd day as per the instructions… I could do it once a day if I wanted, but the guy said once every second was fine and to be honest, its not a pleasant task so I tend to put it off.
I’m trying to get in touch with the doctor in Athens but doctors are notoriously hard to get a hold of. Last week I sent him and email then left a voicemail alerting him to the email. That worked. Hopefully it will work this time too. I basically need to know when I should fly to Athens to get the tube removed. I could go to Syros on the ferry, its closer and cheaper, but either place necessitates at least one night away from home. In Athens I can stay with a cousin, on Syros I’d need a hotel. But if I go to Athens its a better hospital so my first choice is Athens.
Naturally its a public holiday this coming Thursday so flights are expensive and seats are scarce… and this despite ‘strict restrictions’ on travel outside your own council!!!! People are still travelling for a quick holiday!
Oh the idiocy of these restrictions. The greek government has been playing fast and loose with the whole thing. One minute everything is closed, curfews in place etc. Next minute junior schools are open but not universities or high schools. Next some retail is allowed to open with restrictions on customers allowed inside a shop, then a local coffee shop and customers get fined cause 2 people bought coffee and stood outside to drink it. Then they tighten restrictions: you can only shop within 2klms of your house, ie within your council… but Zefi and I flew to Paros and not a single person asked us where we going, why we were travelling and did we have paperwork to show we had an acceptable reason to travel or even if we had a current clear COVID test. We had all the necessary paperwork, but it didn’t matter. hmph. Greece is open for business in May, an early start to tourism we’re told, islanders are being given vaccines as a priority to keep the islands safe, yet there isn’t enough time to vaccinate the residents of the islands, nor the available vaccinations as far as anyone knows, so… again… its all bull—-.
Ridiculous.
So, here I am. Back home, with two trips to Athens (or Syros) in my future to remove the tube then the stent. I want to be creative again but that’s sort of playing on my mind and not allowing me to really get on with it. I’m even finding it hard to blog… but I’m going to make an effort to do post regularly and get back into the rhythm I had before. It gives me a purpose and inspires me to be more creative. I hope it inspires others too.
Meanwhile I’ve started grooming again, slowly, getting others to do the heavy lifting where possible. Learned that the hard way: had to lift a naughty dog back onto the table 3 times the first time I groomed and was sore the next day. Rested a few days and back at it, more carefully now…
I’ve also done what I told myself I must do while in hospital hating Greece and the health system here: I’m sticking to a healthy eating plan, starting meditation and will start yoga soon as I’m able to do that, then also pilates soon as I’m strong enough to start that.
junk4joy 