Yesterday I received a fairly incomprehensible phone call. My fault really that I couldn't fully understand the lady when she was speaking Greek and then even worse when she tried to speak English. It sounded for all the world like she was asking for a black man (no offence to anyone intended by this) eventually after I had tried to understand, John had tried to understand and then handed the phone back to me I gathered that she was asking me to go and give blood at the General Hospital in Paphos. In order to try and make sure I had not misunderstood her I kept asking αίμα? pronounced 'eema' and she kept replying σήμερα pronounced 'seemera' meaning today eventually I think we agreed that I would go today (which was tomorrow, yesterday if you get my drift!!).
Paphos General Hospital is a bit of a mystery to me although somewhat less so having been with Mum the other week so I did at least know that the Blood Bank was in the top building so I got John to drop me off whilst he went in search of a parking space which is not so bad now that there is a huge area at the back of the hospital where you can park although the land is a bit rough it would not be so bad today because it was dry. I entered the building through a fire door so had no It is where I was but this is apparently the second floor (the hospital being built on a slope) and I asked a very nice man in an office where the blood bank was and he gave me directions from lifts (down one floor, turn right and then turn right). John was somewhat luckier as he found someone who kindly walked with him to show him exactly where to go.
It is confusing that the sign seems to point to a door that is locked although you can see a sort of waiting room behind it and then if you walk round the corner you seem to walk into someone's office and then need to walk through to find yourself in said waiting room. I was fortunate enough to bump into the English speaking woman who comes with the blood service to Droushia who directed me to fill in a form and wait.
I was eventually shown into the room where you actually give blood and I can't tell you how delighted the staff were that I had gone because they have a desperately ill patient who is 'O' Negative and who can only receive 'O' Negative and they are desperately desperately short on supplies.
My blood pressure is excellent and my haemoglobin count is excellent and my blood is, according to the girl who took it, very slow to come out but excellent. I took so long John thought they had admitted me. I recognised all the staff because they are the same group who come to Droushia and then I found out that one, Charoulla actually lives in Droushia across by the rocks and when she realised we were neighbours, γείτονες, she engaged me in conversation like I was a long lost friend. I was so glad that I had made the effort and apparently I am ok to give blood every 4 months if necessary and until I am 65.
We had planned to take mum out for tea and stickies this afternoon but she had sort of forgotten and we had sort of forgotten that we were going to have Nicky and Mark staying this weekend so we decided to postpone it for a week. John and I stopped at the little veg shop round the corner from Mum only to bump into Fitos (from Kathikas) who was buying up all the stock for his grill-house. No idea how he knew about the place as they were not apparently related. I nearly had to rugby tackle him off of the last remaining bunch of rocket in order that I had some for supper later!
We had a good afternoon of pickleball although we were only 5 so I couldn't bring into play my new rotation list which will have to wait until next Friday when Liselotte is back.
The weather in Pissouri had been bad this morning so Mark had finished work there early so he and Nicky were going to be with us around 5.00pm so we raced back for a shower and to get the house battened down ready for our evening. I had a carbonara all prepared so only needing heating and Nicky had kindly brought puds. We always have a good weekend with them - they are easy company and so we are more than happy if they want to have a snooze on the sofa or go to bed early or get up early. This time I had put tea/coffee making facilities in their room so they didn't have to worry about disturbing anyone. The weather forecast for tomorrow shows that rain is likely so we have decided to stay in and slob out for the day!
Nicky, Mark and I left John to watch the Mighty Blades - the less said about throwing away a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 the better.
Paphos General Hospital is a bit of a mystery to me although somewhat less so having been with Mum the other week so I did at least know that the Blood Bank was in the top building so I got John to drop me off whilst he went in search of a parking space which is not so bad now that there is a huge area at the back of the hospital where you can park although the land is a bit rough it would not be so bad today because it was dry. I entered the building through a fire door so had no It is where I was but this is apparently the second floor (the hospital being built on a slope) and I asked a very nice man in an office where the blood bank was and he gave me directions from lifts (down one floor, turn right and then turn right). John was somewhat luckier as he found someone who kindly walked with him to show him exactly where to go.
I was eventually shown into the room where you actually give blood and I can't tell you how delighted the staff were that I had gone because they have a desperately ill patient who is 'O' Negative and who can only receive 'O' Negative and they are desperately desperately short on supplies.
My blood pressure is excellent and my haemoglobin count is excellent and my blood is, according to the girl who took it, very slow to come out but excellent. I took so long John thought they had admitted me. I recognised all the staff because they are the same group who come to Droushia and then I found out that one, Charoulla actually lives in Droushia across by the rocks and when she realised we were neighbours, γείτονες, she engaged me in conversation like I was a long lost friend. I was so glad that I had made the effort and apparently I am ok to give blood every 4 months if necessary and until I am 65.
We had planned to take mum out for tea and stickies this afternoon but she had sort of forgotten and we had sort of forgotten that we were going to have Nicky and Mark staying this weekend so we decided to postpone it for a week. John and I stopped at the little veg shop round the corner from Mum only to bump into Fitos (from Kathikas) who was buying up all the stock for his grill-house. No idea how he knew about the place as they were not apparently related. I nearly had to rugby tackle him off of the last remaining bunch of rocket in order that I had some for supper later!
We had a good afternoon of pickleball although we were only 5 so I couldn't bring into play my new rotation list which will have to wait until next Friday when Liselotte is back.
The weather in Pissouri had been bad this morning so Mark had finished work there early so he and Nicky were going to be with us around 5.00pm so we raced back for a shower and to get the house battened down ready for our evening. I had a carbonara all prepared so only needing heating and Nicky had kindly brought puds. We always have a good weekend with them - they are easy company and so we are more than happy if they want to have a snooze on the sofa or go to bed early or get up early. This time I had put tea/coffee making facilities in their room so they didn't have to worry about disturbing anyone. The weather forecast for tomorrow shows that rain is likely so we have decided to stay in and slob out for the day!
Nicky, Mark and I left John to watch the Mighty Blades - the less said about throwing away a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3 the better.
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