Another lovely few days has passed by…. we’ve been catching up on some more jobs.  It thundered and lightninged today and even some rain this afternoon.  The garden looks the fresher for it.  Still very warm though.  We sat outside till after 11pm tonight sleeveless.

Bob got his medical test results back today.  He went through them all with the generalist consultant and pleasingly everything was fine, very good results.  There was a slight suspicion of a lurking UTI and it was recommended he went to see the consultant urologist.  So, he went back this afternoon (yep, you can get a same day specialist appointment here in Cyprus) and the chap went through all the tests with him, gave him a thorough physical and all is well.  Oh…. and the 30 minute private session cost….. £15.  Seriously…. something is terribly, terribly wrong with the NHS.  People in the UK are locked into the view that we have some sort of state of the art medical system that must be protected at all costs and that it is a flagship of envy to other parts of the world.  Let me tell you, in comparison to what is available here in the tiny island of Cyprus, what we have in the UK is positively third world.  I am actually afraid of what would be on offer if I became ill at home: the delays…. the dreadful wards….. the passing of the buck around teams of doctors, no one taking responsibility…. the inconsistent availability of modern medicines due to cost restraints,  the dirtiness…. the scaling off of treatment if you are over 70…..    Most of the problems could be solved by a healthy dose of common sense i.e. don’t have more managers than practitioners; open more medical schools and train more doctors; don’t make all nursing positions require a mandatory college degree (seriously, what total numbskull thought that one up???)…..  OK, rant over…. nuff said…..

Tonight, we picked our dear friends John and Sue Stubbs up in Ercan airport.  They are staying with us for 10 days, always a pleasure.  They’ve been 3 times before I think, and we plan a trip south this time.  Some fun days ahead!