Iraklion Day 10

27 January 2022  

Just a short blog to let you know how Al is getting on.  Not many pix unless you really want to see more of the cat!  

 

Apologies to those of you who already know some of the story - this is the easiest way for me to let you all know without spending too much of my day in front of the screen.
I can’t believe we have been here for almost 2 working weeks.  I don’t think that the hospital is particularly slow, just thorough.  Of course we don’t know what impact Covid is having on ICU beds and other facilities and staffing.

The weather has been pretty terrible and the Greek Gov shut down non-essential business in Athens, Evia and Crete.  Crete has mainly escaped snowfall, just a lot of rain and probably some damage and flooding in rural areas (most of Crete is rural, the rest coastal).  There was a river flowing outside apartment, and that has gone away now.  

 

Al's story so far: only one artery seriously blocked but it is the LAD - a main highway to the heart, as I understand it.  His carotids are in good condition, so that’s a tremendous relief.  Blood samples taken every day and a drug cocktail just about complete the picture.  He will be in hospital for a few days more for observation and a lung function test.  After this he should get a date for the operation.  
Al’s judgement on the hospital food has revised - he says it is simple and freshly cooked, but not vegetarian.  He is channelling his French side and manages to eat the meat, and probably enjoys it.  I supplement it with extra fruit and veg.  
 

A Trip into 19C France

I am staying at a flat found through AirBnb - it has everything I need and is pretty comfortable.  The living room / kitchen has double doors to a balcony so I get an open view and feel connected to the world.  It is 1st floor - green building with red scooter outside. Evenings get a bit dull. Just started to read AU BONHEUR DES DAMES ‘The Ladies Delight’ BY EMILE ZOLA.  I read most of the popular Zola books decades ago, and was inspired to read this one by a series of radio plays starring Glenda Jackson.

They don’t seem to be available on BBC iPlayer, but here they are on Amazon.
There is some additional material on the BBC site.

I listened to these dramas whilst painting 4 trellises for our Bristol backyard.  It doesn't sound like much, but believe me, it was! 

They were an incredible sound performances, held together by Ms Jackson as matriarch, Dide. Not a dramatisation of the individual books, but a blend of all 20, put together as themes.  It is the story of a family saga - the Rougon Maquart family.  Au Bonheur des Dames is a fictional department store, think AU PRINTEMPS or BON MARCHÉ. It figures quite prominently in one of the episodes - it has closed down, now home to the homeless - and this episode, like the others has a dream-like quality.  If you have ever been in a department store out-of-hours, there’s a weird effect.  All the merchandise that looked so attractive and stimulated so much desire - the must-have feeling; when the store was empty (it was Selfridges, I think) the magic just drained away.  It became meaningless ‘stuff’.  Shopping on the Internet has a different addictive quality: let’s go there another time!  

Anyway, ever since Sally Randle went to Paris last Autumn, I have been fascinated by my memories of it, various trips amalgamated, a bit like the radio series.  So I am stepping into the world of 19C France.  By coincidence, or not, Al is reading a sort of popular social history of the French in mid 20C.  That was the period when his family spent Christmas, Easter and Summer holidays in France, visiting French parents / grandparents in Havre and later Nice, so it’s a take on familiar territory.Now let me leave you with Al this morning.

More soon…..  hopefully, going home.

Comments: It's better if you want to get back to me or to Al, do it directly by any means at your disposal!