It’s been a busy couple of days. Monday was extremely rainy – absolutely torrenting down combined with thunder and lightning. We had to go into Kyrenia around lunchtime despite that to visit Kib-tek, the national electricity supplier to sort out our bill payment going forward.
We parked up in the centre and deposited Daisy in The George, the pub at the top of the hill while we ran down through the rain to the electricity office. Our feet were soaked. The water was like a river down the hill. Anyway, got that sorted and we rewarded ourselves with English breakfast in The George. That night was Daisy’s last night of the holiday so it was her choice for dinner and we went to Driftwood. She was lured by the blue cheese fillet steaks which she enjoyed very much last time. I had chicken breast stuffed with cheese and bacon and served in a spinach cream sauce. Bob had scampi. The sea was roaring in below us onto the shore. All the food was superb and they bracketed the entrees with dips and coffee and brandy. It’s very good there. We came back to find an incredible full moon over the mountains and reflected in our pool. If it was the summer, we’d have jumped right in and played catch with it….. but it’s a bit too cold in there for night swimming now.
On Tuesday morning we were up early to take Daisy to Ercan airport for her 950 flight home to London. All went smoothly. The journey took about 6.5 hours with only a short layover in Istanbul. We had a quiet day after she left. She will be much missed by us.
Today it was time for our full medical checkups at the Kyrenia Medical Centre hospital. The weather was back to normal – very hot and sunny.
We had been instructed to fast from dinner last night and to come down having drunk plenty of water so that we would be ready for the body ultrasound. We had to take our “samples” with us. On arrival we met with the English lady who escorts the Brits around so they don’t get lost. She took us first into the lab where our files were set up and our samples from home labelled and then they took bloods from us for the tests. They do absolutely loads including the CA125 which is a cancer early warning test. A doctor then did an ECG to monitor heart activity and that printout was added to the file. From there we were taken downstairs to the radiology department. First we had chest x rays. Then I had a mammogram which was very thorough. I can’t say it’s pleasant…. I declined the cervical smear. Finally we had a full ultrasound of our torsos covering all the body cavities as well as liver, bladder, stomach etc etc. It took about 2 hours from start to finish and cost £133 for the two of us. Mine was a bit more than Bob’s as women have a few more tests than men. The blood tests differ slightly between men and women too e.g. men are tested for prostate cancer.
If there was something found seriously wrong, they would telephone us, otherwise we telephone them in 7 days to make an appointment to come back and sit with the doctor to review each of the results. It may be that further tests are needed in which case they are normally done then and there. They generally make some lifestyle recommendations depending on the results. So… a very good service and well worth the money. We are always so impressed by the level of medical care available here.
We rewarded ourselves for our prodding and poking by lunch at the George and then paid a final visit to kibtek to finalise the electricity account set up.
Tonight we went to The Alternative Quiz at the Olive Press Bowls Club. Firstly, what an amazing place. They have a huge green that can take 6 teams at one time. And a very nice clubhouse too which was where the quiz was. So what was “Alternative”??? Well, it was a superb idea. The quiz master moved from table to table and posed a question to which there could be many answers. For example: name a country beginning and ending with the same letter. If your table gave a correct answer that no other table had given and crucially, was not the answer the quiz master had previously wrritten down as his answer, he passed on. If you gave a wrong answer, an answer another team had given, couldn’t give an answer or gave the answer he’d written down then “it was for charity ” and cost the table 20 tl (£1). At the end the table fines were added up and paid. The 6 tables with the lowest number of fines went into a knock out round and finally the winner was declared. It wasn’t us. Some of the questions involved singing ie “Sing a song with a woman’s name in the title” …. It was a hoot and less intense than a normal quiz. Will definitely go again. Half time we had a plate of food. I had chicken stir fry and Bob had Chicken curry. We drove down with our neighbours Alan and Lesley, to form a team. Our bill for the evening – fines, meals and several rounds of drinks was £20 and a fine night was had. Oh, I should mention the quiz is to support the RBL and tonight we raised £200.