Views not news

General views from out and about with not much news from me. Sun shining, 11 degrees first thing in the morning, rising to 16 or so later, in the shade that is, and calm weather all round. The boats have been coming and going as usual, and our internet connection is bouncing around between 20 and 45 Mb. We had it upgraded to the fibre thing, and it’s meant to be at 50 Mb, I think, but as we’re still on copper wires from the box by the taverna to the house, we don’t get the full amount. However, compared to previously when our 22 Mb came out at 12, and before that when we had ADSL at 3 Mb (or something), it’s perfect. Seventeen years ago when we moved here, we had to use Yianni-Roloi’s café, dial-up, 56 kbps internet for our emails, and could only use it if/when he had paid his bill. How things have changed. Things except these views by Neil, who, like them, remains unspoiled as the years go past.

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Travel Plans

While the sun shines on Symi and the air temperature warms, we are starting to think about overcoats and thermals because our holiday is drawing ever closer. The travel pack arrived yesterday, a brochure each with itinerary, details, instructions, reminders, luggage labels and even a few postcards. All we need to do is be at Heathrow on a certain day by a certain time, and everything after that is taken care of for us. Of course, with everything else that’s going on in the world, we are watching the news and the weather, neither of which we can do anything about, so we’re concentrating on organising ourselves as if there’s nothing to worry about. If anything happens, we will burn that bridge when we come to it.

(There’s a word for that kind of expression, where you mix up two… whatever they are called, but I can’t remember it. As in, burning bridges and crossing bridges put together in one… Thing.)

Anyway… While the house is a hive of activity which mainly centres on ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’, I’ve not been out and about much for photos, so today’s and probably for the rest of the week, will be a bit random and not up to date, but they will be something. There won’t be a blog after Saturday until the end of March, maybe not even until the start of April. We are leaving on Clean Monday, the start of Lent, so I will miss that, but carnival and ‘Sooty Thursday’ have already happened (last Sunday), and stray sheep and goats are wandering the village, brought down for their final grazing and fattening-up. I’ll leave you with that thought, and turn my attention to passports, money, tickets…

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Here’s a healthy tip

The reason we went over to Rhodes last week was to get our annual health checks done. This is a basic check-up we do every year as a preventative thing, and before signing up with AXA health insurance, we used to do it on our own, though not as regularly or successfully. One of the great things about living in Greece is that there are many highly qualified specialist and private doctors running private practices, but also working for the state, I guess. If you feel you want to see a cardiologist or whoever, you can usually make an appointment for the same or next day; at least, soon after and with no need to be referred and wait months as you do in some countries. Obviously, you pay (and the state system is free for those with national health insurance etc.), but prices only tend to be around €50.00 for a consultation.

Our annual trip is now part of my health insurance scheme, and it’s all done in one place, Euromedica. This is the privet hospital on Rhodes and is now under new management. I know it was February, but it was quiet, and we didn’t have to wait long in any of the three departments we visited. While I was waiting, though, I was visited by Yiannis, the new Communications Manager for the hospital. He introduced himself, told me his job and was generally chatting to patients to hear their experiences of the place. Like most of the Euromedica staff, he spoke fluent English and was very affable. We were warmly greeted by the receptionist and doctors who know our insurance agent well (our ‘best mother’, according to the staff), and she came with us to see to the paperwork, and so another headache dispensed with.

You can find out about AXA and other health insurance companies online. When I first investigated, I looked to see which ones worked with Euromedica, as it’s our nearest private hospital and followed the trail from their website. Your policy and acceptance will depend on age and state of health, plus other factors, so it’s no use me telling you what I pay as it will be different for each, but I would advise, the earlier you can take a policy, the better. I was 51 when I started, and the amount I pay is equivalent to the amount of IKA that was paid per month when I was working. Obviously, I don’t get pension and other benefits from that as you might with IKA, but I do get worldwide health insurance, and, I must say, a brilliant service. After the end of this year, Brits in Greece will either have to have IKA (or similar state scheme if you are working or already registered here and retired) or private health insurance, so now might be a good time to start looking.

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Follow that cab

As you may have read, we went over to Rhodes on Friday to get our annual health checks done. We now do this under a private insurance scheme with AXA (and more about that later in the week) where previously, we used to do it on our own. Blood tests, chest x-ray and cardiogram, and for Neil, another test which you have to have done every five years if you work with food and drink. The day starts with the boat across to Rhodes, and the Friday boat is always popular. That’s mainly because the timing is better as it leaves at 8.20 in the morning rather than 5.05 – or similar times. Knowing that the boat would be busy and thus possibly a crush for taxis at the other end, I booked a taxi via Rodos Taxi online a few days before we were due to go. The boat was slightly late coming in, and where our arrival time was meant to be 9.20, we didn’t dock until around 9.45…

We were heading to Euromedica to meet our insurance agent, get our tests done and then have the rest of the day free, and we poured from the boat among the crowd of day visitors from Symi, Tilos and other islands, the soldiers heading home or to other islands (the ferry goes on to Kastalorizo), the lorries and cars, and looked for anyone holding a card or iPad with our name on it. I wasn’t sure what the taxi courtesy waiting time was, but by the time we had looked around, and the crowd and other taxis had started to thin out, we still hadn’t found him/her. Assuming we had missed it because we were late, and being in a rush, we hailed another cab, and as we set off, I emailed the taxi firm to tell them, just in case our driver was still hanging around and waiting. I didn’t mind paying again, I could sort that out later, but I didn’t want the poor chap/chapess waiting there all morning in vain. Just after leaving the harbour entrance, my phone rang…

It was our driver asking if we had taken another taxi, and I said yes because we thought we’d missed him as we were late. He apologised, saying he was stuck behind a bus and couldn’t get to us, but assumed we were the people in taxi number 41. He also said he was following us, and could we stop? I handed my phone to our driver, they had a conversation, and our taxi pulled over. The original one dew up behind and the two drivers had a quick chat before our original driver again apologised for missing us and paid the new driver the money we had paid the company when pre-booking. That done, we set off to Euromedica in the non-booked cab, and all was well. I emailed the company directly to let them know and thanked them for the service. I mean, chasing another cab to pay another driver, so we didn’t lose our money was going the extra mile (literally) for one’s customers, and I thought it was rather decent of them.

I mention that as I’ve used https://www.rodos-taxi.com/ before and will use them again and if you’re travelling at busy times, or have a quick connection to make between boat and airport, then you might find that link useful. Btw; the return journey cost the same as the outward one, but you do pay a couple of Euros extra for booking online in advance, as you would if you rang a cab from a hotel.

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Sun, Tests and Trousers

Just to show you that February is not all about wind and rain, here are some photos from Yialos on Monday (I think it was). It’s cold again this morning, but not unbearable and certainly not wet as it was the other afternoon when we had rain dumped on us out of the blue (or grey) without warning.

Just a reminder that there won’t be a blog tomorrow and maybe not on Saturday either as we are off to Rhodes on Friday. This is for our annual health checks, something we have been doing for about the last ten years. We used to do this independently, but in recent years we have taken an insurance policy with AXA (around €200 a year) which includes having annual blood tests, heart check-up and chest X-rays at Euromedica, the private hospital on Rhodes. Also included are some nice extras such as emergency cover if you have an accident and need A&E, and the company is flexible, so if you need something doing and you’re not sure if you’re covered, you simply phone up and find out, and if they can, they will wangle it in; as it were. They also offer a discount because we have our house contents insured with them.

All we have to do tomorrow is get to Rhodes and then to Euromedica, and I have pre-ordered a taxi from Akandia port as Friday is a very popular day for boat travel to Rhodes, and then, at the hospital, meet our insurance agent who deals with the paperwork for us. Usually, the three lots of tests and things take less than an hour, and we take a taxi back to Rhodes Town to do the other things that need doing, i.e. shopping and lunch. Shopping tomorrow must include a new pair of trousers as I turned up my one and only pair yesterday, cutting the first leg successfully to length, and then measuring the to-be length of the second against the off-cut only later realising I’d not turned down the second one and had cut it to the exact length leaving no room for a turnup, which made me feel like a turnip. As usual, when doing this, I wished I had longer legs so I could buy trousers that don’t require turning up, but I think I have only found three pairs of perfect-fit in my life. Maybe I should just work on my sewing skills.

So, I may put up some photos on Saturday, or I may not, but, just in case, happy weekend to you all.

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