Vet visit

I’m likely to be around for a little while longer.

Dave is improving and the vet seemed content with his progress. Back there next Friday morning. I have more drugs to keep me going for another week and a different syringe so I can measure the dose better. The last time they gave me one big syringe with black felt marks, but that is hardly convenient when you’re administering the dose in a dark storeroom. Now I can measure exactly and just whack it in.

There were two emergencies this morning. Dog in pain with teeth and cat run over by a car, so we were not seen for a while. Dave got more stressed as we waited, so the vet was unable to get a reliable blood pressure reading.

My new phone contract has started and the phone itself will be delivered to Eleanor on Monday. It means I no longer have to pay for each day I use the phone, however, the inclusive minutes are still capped at 120 per day. With the Internet out and calls to Antonis, this has been a heavy week for the phone. Now that is a thing of the past with the new airtime contract which works out as the same price as I was paying for the odd days I was using the phone. Now I can call any phone in the EU whenever I like without additional charge.

As we drove to Chania, a car came up behind flashing its lights and blowing its horn. Antonis pulled over to find it was Kostas, the guy from the kantina near me. He wanted to go to Chania to collect his car, so dumped the car he was driving by the side of the road, and came with us. Kostas runs the kantina on the stony beach at Grammeno. He’s been poorly and had chemotherapy for, I guess, oesophageal or lung cancer. I’ve not seen him much this year as I’ve only been doing a morning walk when the kantina is closed. On the way back we visited Antonis’ cousin in Petrakis’ warehouse in Kountoura where we bought dog food and tinned meat. As well as a rake and a strong magnet from the hardware store for the loo door which constantly opens, usually in the middle of a windy night. A quick trip to Vlisithis supermarket for some bread, then back to the camping.

Ursula reports that the dogs were well behaved and didn’t bark excessively.

Last night a Swiss woman, with her two children, showed up in search of a dog to take home. They were sent by Heike from PAWS in Paleochora. I suggested she might like to come back in daylight to see the dogs but suspect she is looking for a cute little puppy rather than a dog nearly one-year-old. She may yet come but she is spoiled for choice as there are so many up for adoption.

Two Norwegian ladies, possibly ‘sisters’ were at the vet earlier. They had a small stray bitch with them. They help with strays at a shelter. Later, an American woman showed up in a small van, dressed to kill, talking on her iPhone. I overheard her tell the other party that their shelter was overflowing, not to leave the animal and not to throw it over the fence or it would be eaten by the others. Perhaps a slight exaggeration but people here are crazy and do anything.