Day 107...

Whatever plans we had for today went out of the window when the ladder that our neighbour Ollie was stood on slipped and he fell straight down.

Ollie is 68 and so really shouldnt be up a ladder at all but he has been doing up one of the villas on the estate for George (tailor to the stars) who arrives tomorrow with wife Pam.

John came running in to let me know that Ollie had fallen and I pitched up with a tube of savlon and some micro-pore which was about as useful as a chocolate fireguard.  We think that momentarily he might have lost consciousness but we could not be sure so I was detailed off to ring for an ambulance.  Not being too sure on what to do and concerned that Ollie may have a head injury of some sort I rang Alikisti who came racing up and rang for the ambulance directing it to her taverna.  She shot off and her husband Christos pitched up telling us that he would insist that Ollie was transferred to Paphos General Hospital because it is better.

Ollie's face was quite a mess and even with my limited medical knowledge we could see that his left shoulder wasnt looking like it should do.  Alkisti brought the ambulance up to our estate and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum the two paramedics pitched up - they didnt really instill us with much confidence when they tried to fit the neck brace upside down!  Bizarrely some holidaymaking Nicosian Doctor had been to get his paper in the village and had seen the ambulance and followed it up the road and came to see if he could lent a hand - he seemed awfully rough when he was poking and proding Ollie's torso. 

Our neighbours Savvas and Persephone pitched up - Savvas is a doctor at an A&E hospital in Nicosia - they were followed by their children Neofitos and Nefeli.  It was quite a gathering and all the time Ollie was lying on the floor in agony looking like he had gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.

Christos convinced the paramedics to take Ollie to the Paphos hospital rather than Polis and I went off down to Prodromi to find his wife Trish to explain what had happened and to take her to the hospital. 

To cut a very very very long story short we arrived at A&E and were ushered into the X-ray department where they had taken X-rays of Ollie's head, shoulder and internal organs.  They pumped him with some pethidine and tried unsuccessfully to put his shoulder back into place.  After about a two hour wait we were told that he was up on the orthopaedic ward which we managed to find.  He was well out of it and was developing a fantastic shiner.  We were told that he would have an operation later today and then be in tomorrow and possibly Friday.

Satisfied that there was nothing more than we could do we made our way back to Droushia.  Interestingly our neighbour Savvas was entertaining the head registrar of the orthopaedic ward in Paphos this evening and so they said they would get him to check on Ollie before he came up here.  Apparently his shoulder has been put back successfully and all being well he should be allowed home tomorrow.

This has resulted in a fairly boring photoless blog tonight as we were supposed to be entertaining Simon, Lou and the kids on their way to their second villa.  It is a small price to pay knowing that Ollie is ok.  Today has been one of those days when neighbours and villagers have all pulled together - it just confirms all the good things that we like about Cyprus and Droushia in particular.