Bye Bonnie!

 

Today we said a very sad goodbye to our much loved Bonnie.

Over the last two or three weeks, she has had a major deterioration in her health. She had another lump – not a particular problem in itself but symptomatic of greater problems to come. A more immediate issue concerned her hind legs which suddenly became unstable. We had been with her to the Vet twice in the last two weeks and he thought that there was a neurological problem which he wanted to control with drugs.

However, we had decided some time ago that when her time came we would like her to go without this stage ie not to suffer at all, whether as a result of stress or pain and not to lose her essential nature as an active bouncy hound and more to the point not to be stuffed full of pills unless there was a cure.

Well, we know there is no cure, so it was a no brainer. The complication is that we are leaving for Scotland at the end of this week. In a perfect world, we would probably have left it a month or two but we could not do that because we have no alternative but to leave on Saturday.

So we talked it over and decided that we would ask the Vet to put her to sleep. I have been through this twice before but it was still a horrible decision to have to make and carrying it out was even worse!

We are of course very upset and we know that anyone who knew our wonderful dog, will be too but in the circumstances, it was the only responsible and caring thing to do. She has had a good life, has been much loved and admired and we wanted her to retain her dignity before she went. I think we did that. She looked so peaceful, which did not help us a lot but we knew she had not suffered.

We can also remember her as she was and not as some poor old thing kept alive on pills.

Our good friends here in Crete, Hans and Hanneke, agreed that we could bury her on their land and they chose a wonderful spot overlooking the beach where we often used to take her. We buried her there this afternoon and later in the year, we will plant a tree on the spot to mark her memory.

She has been my friend and companion for thirteen years and a more faithful, obedient and friendly beast, a man could not wish for. I don’t know how I will cope with her not being around – we grew old together and I would have liked a few more years.

Memories are many but personal, so I’ll just let the pictures tell the story.

Bye Bonnie – you will be sorely missed!

Many thanks to Michalis and his staff at the Vet Clinic in Ierapetra.

John

 

 

 

 

A Cretan Melodrama, fun at the beach and the War of Jenkins’ Ear remembered

A few weeks back there was high drama in the village when it was reported that a 75 year old man had stabbed his 83 year old brother-in-law in one of the kafenions, following an argument over land. Nothing seems to excite Greek men in particular more, than the right to claim ownership to land. Sometimes, the patch is very small indeed – witness the piece below our wall, the saga of which, readers will recall from earlier in the year.

I digress. The argument in question had nothing to do with land close to us (at least as far as we know it didn’t) but serves solely as an illustration as to what can happen here when matters get out of hand. Suffice it to say that one man ended up in jail and the other in hospital!

So where is this dramatic interlude leading, do I hear you ask? Well, we have an English neighbour who is an art historian, somewhat eccentric and prone to melodrama. He has a friend who comes out to stay regularly and who has bought land here with a view to building his own small cottage. It seems clear that, frankly, the friend was defrauded by a local property speculator aided and abetted by an ex-pat builder and developer, who already had ‘form’ over the re-building of our neighbour’s house.

To cut to the chase, it appears that the land was sold through this pair of ‘Del Boys’ by someone who really was only a part-owner (at best) and now that a sibling of same has discovered what has happened, he is somewhat unhappy. Last week, he took matters into his own hands, turned up at our neighbour’s house, assaulted the friend and abused our neighbour to the extent that the neighbour had a diabetic attack.

More drama in Kavousi! We heard all about this the next morning from our somewhat shocked neighbour, by which time, the drama had been decorated by him with a melodramatic top coat.

The perpetrator was of course, a villain and the ‘Del Boys’, devils and we were left to understand that our neighbour and his friend were unwitting and undeserved victims. The emotion was overwrought and the pathos appealing with sensational emphasis on action, violence and thrills. He tells a good tale!

The problem is that we have heard much of it before. And time and time again, I have told him to go and see a lawyer. Now, finally, he has been and she of course also told him to report the matter to the police – something he refused to do earlier – not wanting to cause a ‘feud’!

We are very fond of him despite his foibles. He is an intelligent and interesting man but can be infuriating too! Finally he went to the lawyer following a conversation with his Greek gardener and his surveyor and whilst we are glad that he finally went, the tale is now retold that it was all his idea! Further, the plot moves on to another stage of melodramatic action and in a true ‘good v evil’ development, he is now planning to sue the ‘devils’. The victim bites back! Or will he?

As the reader will no doubt understand, there is a degree of frustration on our part, We are asked to listen but rarely is our advice followed! However, like all good melodramas there is a very funny side to the whole story! Our neighbour has now returned to the UK for a while and so, we are left in peace.

While all this was going on, we have been getting on with our lives here in paradise.

One particular highlight was a visit from the son of our German friends, who rent the ‘other’ house in Ferma and his family. They were staying for two weeks and came to lunch a week or so ago. Last time we saw their son, he was five months old and at the stage when babies don’t do much. A  year on, he is a toddler and a real charmer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a great time on the beach amusing him (or was he amusing us?). I’ll let the photos tell the tale.

 

During the past few weeks, we have of course also been tuned in to the World Cup and in this context, as a result of the Luis Suarez biting incident, I was reminded of the War of Jenkins’ Ear! I don’t think that Jenkins actually had his ear bitten off but Suarez’s previous misdemeanour did involve biting someone’s ear, so there is a link, albeit somewhat tenuous!

Personally, I have been infuriated more by the antics of Arjen Robben than Suarez and it is interesting that Robben, a self-confessed ‘diver’, routinely gets away with his histrionics whilst Suarez gets a fine and a long ban. In my view, they are both cheats and should be treated accordingly.

Despite that, we have enjoyed the World Cup. It has given us an excuse, if one were needed, to go down to the plateia and watch the games on a big TV whilst nursing a beer, chewing on souvlaki and chips and getting to know some new folk. However, Mr Robben and his ilk need to be stopped and more frequent use of a yellow card for diving would be a good start. If only the referees were braver?

Our Greeks lessons came to an end today for the summer break. We have enjoyed them, even though it has been hard work at times.

On the lighter side, as they have been held at Koutsounari which is not far from where we used to live at Ferma, it has given us the opportunity to go to our ‘old’ beach haunts and enjoy the sunny south coast again.

Finally, our first tenant moved into the flat at Kirkcudbright this week and I also heard that someone wants to buy the canal boat! It’s been a good week except for Andy!

‘Bye Skilly! It’s been fun.

John