Quick update
Yesterday: slightly interrupted work morning, down to Yialos to see the accountant (not there), and pick up post (Christmas crackers). Visited Pet Island (our pet shop) to order more cat litter. Michaels didn’t charge for the bag that was torn even though it and its contents were in another bag and very little was missing; said he’d bring it all up at 2pm. Raid the bank, have a beer, see Michaelis passing and ask him to come at five as we were having another beer, walk back up between showers, feed the strays, make some dinner (breakfast actually), do this and spend the evening watching things on the TV.

That’s me sorted, here is yesterday’s weather. (This blog is fast turning into a weather-watch.)

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Turning weather
The weather has turned. Woke to a grey and blustery day today, though the wind is from the south and so it’s not too cold. I just popped out to the shop and felt a few spots of rain, and it’s due to get worse. [Note: remember to close the shutters later.]

It looks like the Saturday trip to Tilos was a great success and much enjoyed. I haven’t heard the score from the football match but I know the junior team won 5:0 in Rhodes (I think it was) the other day. That’s about as far as my football knowledges stretches at the moment.

I am off out later to celebrate Miss DJ’s birthday at Mandeio (happy birthday for yesterday, I’m writing this on Monday), although I think Neil will be staying in as he is the latest victim to fall foul of a nasty tummy bug that’s going around. There were some very unmusical sounds coming from the bathroom this morning. So, that’s the cat been through it and now Neil, I hope it avoids me, someone has to keep dishing out the medicines.

I just had a look through some recent photos that have not yet been posted, so that’s what you have today, and probably tomorrow. I’ve put captions beneath them to explain what they are. Have a good day, I am off to batten down the hatches.

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Back to relative normality
Things are all a little calmer now. The weather has been good, though we’re desperate for rain and so is Rhodes and, I expect, other places. (It’s forecast to be wet and windy for a few days this week though.) I’ve been watching the boats come and go: the Blue Star was late on Friday due to a strike the day before, but she came and went. There was a day trip to Tilos on Saturday, mainly for an inter-island football match, but also for a visit to the neighbours. We were going to go but the expense of last Wednesday put paid to that.

The Irish passport application is filled out and now just needs to be witnessed and the photos signed/stamped and the whole lot of paperwork sent off; we’re aiming for Monday or Tuesday on that one. I’ve started work proper on the new book, which is travel stories, anecdotes and some of them about Symi. I’ve also started on the Christmas collection so as to avoid a big rush, so expect blog posts over the next couple of weeks suggesting all or any of my books and Neil’s calendars as Christmas gift ideas for those you love – or hate, depending on how you see my books. [My Amazon Author page is here. Wink, wink.]

We arrived back on Wednesday night last week and promptly feel into a wedding invitation for next Sunday at Panormitis; that will be lovely, if we can find a way to get there and back. We also fell into the usual routine for our house in the winter: work in the morning, Neil on his college course, me on my book projects, afternoons too, with lots of television watching and reading in the evenings, housework, sweeping the dying vine leaves from the courtyard, feeding the cats – Symi Animal Welfare have delivered us a large bag of biscuits for the strays at the bins – and some light walking. Last Wednesday I met my Fitbit target in Rhodes by eight in the morning, it was positively ecstatic come lunchtime and could hardly contain its jubilation come three in the afternoon when we walked back from the New Town towards the boat. I was surprised that there was no tickertape shower when I walked into the house after several thousand steps beyond my daily target, which I rarely reach, I have to say. I’m not taking it seriously at the moment.

And so all is well, and settled and ticking along towards the busy time of December, and we all know what that means. Hours of searching for ideas for surprise gifts for people. I always have good ideas when I am in a place where I can’t write them down and always say to myself, ‘That’s such a good idea, I will remember that one,’ and then never do. I am looking through my diary for the next two weeks and, apart from the wedding (hopefully) there is nothing in it other than ‘Jack, flea medicine.’ Oh, the things we look forward to here on Symi in the winter.

Actually, there is more going on than that. For example, there was a Christmas craft fair over the weekend at the cultural centre, we have an invite to lunch today (Sunday as I write), we need to see the accountant for the passport form next week, I have a trip to the pharmacy planned by Wednesday and a whole heap of chores to do around the house. Could things be any busier?

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Jack Cat and the visit to Rhodes 2
He gave Jack an antibiotic injection which came with the added bonus of calming him down and making him sleepy for the rest of the trip – mind you, he was pretty laid back already. On top of that, he prescribed three times something for gastro-something for two days, a tablet twice a day for other gastric doo-dahs and a syrup antibiotic three times per day for… everything else. Those last two to run for 10 days.

Now, we’ve all seen the video on how to give a cat a tablet. Hm. The thing is, he can’t eat anything for three hours after the first medicine so the days will have to run like this: 6.30 a.m. syringe medicine one by mouth. Wait one hour with cat demanding food and shouting. 7.30, catch cat and add a quarter of a tablet to it without it spitting it out or taking off your hand. Wait two hours with cat still demanding food and wondering why no-one likes him any longer. 9.30, temp cat to his bowl by saying ‘Mmm, lovely new cat biscuits for you, you’ll like these…’ and then hold him still while using a syringe for another syrup. Then let him get to his food although, by this time, he is up on the roof and refusing to come down. Some kind of rooftop protest at being syringed and tableted, all before breakfast.

And the worst part is that we have to repeat that process three time each day for two days and then the first medicine is done and we’re left with only three time one thing and two times another each day, a total of nine dangerous adventures per day for two days and five for the next eight days after that. The cat is already running away from us and won’t come into the kitchen because we have done the medicine combination once today. But, it must be done and it will be done; as long as he comes down from the roof.

After the visit to the vet was concluded (printed blood tests, the instruction manual written out, the prescription dealt with and Jack given a proper medical book and a CD of his X-Ray) and the bill settled, the vet then checked a local pharmacy to make sure they had the right things. They did and so he arranged for his father to come and pick us up and drive us back to the Plaza, via the pharmacy. Now I call that a great service. The vet also comes to Symi once per month and is in content with Michaelis at the pet shop, and other animal carers, and so getting hold of Jack’s new food won’t be a problem. Getting the medicine into him will be.

By this time, it was just on midday and, as we had been up since 3.30, we thought a beer would be in order. We had jack in left luggage again where he was sleeping so we stayed at the hotel and shared one of their mammoth pizzas. The afternoon was spent wandering slowly back towards Akandia harbour, taking it in turns to carry the 6.1 kilo cat in his box, via the Symi café at Mandraki where Jack attracted a lot of attention from the local cats who came to have a sniff. The walk around to the harbour wasn’t so bad and it’s much safer now there is a boardwalk to use rather than a narrow road. We stopped at Mouragio while we waited for the boat to come in and then carried Himself towards embarkation.

Passing, as we did so, the vet’s father and mother who had been sent to drop something off to go over to Symi. We had a pleasant exchange of well wishes and thanked them again and then set up shop on the back deck again, one of three, where it was warm enough to travel without my coat on. Luckily, at Symi, Konstantinos and his taxi were free and so we were driven up to Horio where we were able to get Jack home, out of his box and most of his first syringe-stuff down his screech before he could make a fuss about the whole thing. This he did later, with much use of voice, but he is settling down now (Thursday afternoon) and there has been no more sickness, cross fingers.

There, not particularly funny, but I thought you might be interested. If you want the number for this particular vet, drop me a line, we are happy to recommend.

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Jack Cat and the visit to Rhodes 1
Sorry about the no blog yesterday but, after we got back from our adventure in Rhodes we were slightly to the left of done-in. It’s not particularly funny, I’m too knackered for that, but here’s how it went…

After suffering a few days of up-chucking his lunch (but, strangely, not his other meals), we took Jack over to the vet on Rhodes for a look. His third official vet trip in 13.5 years. The boat on a Wednesday is at 5.00 in the morning and there is only one that day so we secured tickets on Tuesday, a Yialos trip that included lunch at Meraklis, as it’s still open, where we sat outside and enjoyed a couple of chops. After an early night, we were awake at 3.30 on Wednesday and, having stuffed the reluctant cat into his box, left for the harbour. The boat came in, in darkness, and there were quite a few locals on it, heading to Rhodes for various things. We sat outside at the back with the cat now grumpy in his box, but enjoying the vibrations. Luckily, he is deaf, so the strange noises don’t distress him.

There were more people than taxis at the other end and, as it was still before sunrise, we decided to walk. We headed to the Plaza Hotel where we knew we could have a breakfast – buffet style €7.00 each including coffee – and where the staff were happy for us to take the Jack-in-a-box with us, later to put him with ‘left luggage’ where he fell asleep. Neil phoned the vet as arranged at just after eight and – and you don’t find this kind of thing very often – he arranged for us to be collected and taken to his surgery at Kremasti, which is towards the airport. His father arrived dead on the appointed time and drove us there. We arrived before the vet and the surgery was still not open but mother-of-the vet was there and offered us coffee at the table and chairs outside. By this time, I had had three caffeinated coffees and was buzzing a little, so declined.

The vet arrived by which time there were two other guys there, one with a puppy and one with another cat in a box. The vet asked them if they would mind us going first as we’d come from Symi and our boat back was at five. (How long was this going to take?) They were fine with that and, poor things, had to wait nearly an hour for us to complete the first part of our/Jack’s session with the cheery, humorous, perfectly English spoken vet. We found out later that neither of the waiting animals was in urgent need, so that was okay.

By this time, Jack was a bit fed up with all the movement but he came out of his box nosing with interest. The vet gave him a full check-up and we talked about his recent symptoms and his ears. The ears, apparently, are not bad enough yet to warrant being taken off, but we will struggle and put cream on them, when he will allow. The stomach thing, which had settled down since Tuesday morning, was a bit of a mystery; possibly a worm that a recent tablet got rid of, maybe a few other things, and so the vet took blood.

Jack was amazingly calm about all this now. He watched with interest as his leg was shaved and a needle inserted (local anaesthetic) and then, while we waited for the results, he wandered about the table and finally took himself back to his box. The vet ran the tests there and then and, while they were doing, gave Jack an X-ray. Somehow Neil ended up being the one to hold him while wearing the special vest, and again he was amazingly quiet and didn’t struggle. This saved us €40.00 as we only had to have one X-ray taken. Back in his box we waited outside and let the other animals be seen to.

A little while later, after some more ‘Coffee?’ ‘No, thank you, honestly’ and a sit outside where it was warm, we took Jack back in to get his results. All clear on all front, internal organs fine apart from his heart which, due to age, now has fluid around it. This was a bit of a worry in that the vet wanted to clean his teeth (the cat’s teeth I mean) but there is a risk to him if he goes under anaesthetic (still talking about the cat), which he would need as the vet wants to keep his fingers. So, best to leave that for the moment, and the ears, and treat him with… And this is where it gets interesting…

But that will have to wait for tomorrow, this (unchecked) post is long enough already. Stay tuned.

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