Five days ago (Tuesday, March 27th) a young (10-11 months guestimate) male german shepherd walked into our backyard. He was ostensibly dehydrated and undernourished and had trouble walking straight. I had some food that I use to train a neighborhood dog and gave him that in small portions during the day. And water of course. At night we went to bed and left it to the dog to decide whether he wanted to stay or not. Next morning he was still there. I went out and bought some kibbles that I continued feeding him in small portions all during the day of yesterday and today. He’s feeling (and looking) a lot better already. I put some pictures on my Twitter account here.

The dog is totally untrained but young enough to be malleable, friendly and willing to learn, though a bit suspicious. He has a flea collar so he clearly belonged to someone at one point. I can’t tell whether he was lost or abandoned. He allows me to inspect his teeth and claws and put my hand into his feeding tray when eating. For the first 2 days I let him run around the house and into the street, since I cannot close off the backyard. The neighbors didn’t like it one bit. They wanted him off the street no matter how. So now I made some arrangement with a 8 meter rope tied from one pole to another so that he can roam that distance at least. He seems happy with that, doesn’t try to break loose or anything. Unfortunately I cannot keep him. Next Monday or Tuesday the people from the municipal shelter of Iraklio are coming to pick him up.

This dog is tall (70 centimeters at shoulder) already and he is going to look absolutely stunning when he’s fully grown up. He needs an owner with some experience in training/educating dogs and especially he needs a lot of space and exercise. If you want an exceptional dog, this is him. React here in the comments if you want to see him before the dimos takes him away. You won’t regret it. The dog and I will be eternally grateful. Did I mention that he will be gorgeous when he grows up?

In the pictures above, the first one shows how the dog looked like when he arrived, the second one is a couple of hours later after a few decent meals and a good rub. The picture at the top of the article shows how he looks now, after only 5 days of proper feeding and care.

I hope you will like it. Suggestions, comments, praise are looked forward to in the comments.

I’m not a cat, yet I’m in my third (lease on) life now. Two weeks ago, on our second day of a short vacation in Germany I felt dizzy, with some other symptoms that are best described as feeling “queer” or as the Germans say “komisch”. To be safe we went to a close-by regional hospital for a quick check-up. After several very thorough examinations the resident doctor diagnosed that there was probably a serious problem with my coronary arteries. At first I laughed it away, explaining I had had a full examination and stents placed just 15 months ago and that I lived the most healthy life style of any person that I know, but that I would have it checked once I was back in Crete. He was adamant that I should not fly in this condition and had better undergo an angiography as soon as possible. Under some pressure I gave in. They did all they could to put me on an emergency list and one day later it turned out that the 2 x 2 stents that were placed 15 months ago were obstructed for 90%. Had we waited as I had wanted to, I most likely would have had another heart attack with predictable outcome. As it was, I had a smooth initial recovery and we were able to enjoy at least a few days of our planned vacation. Most importantly, we had extensive talks with trained medical staff before and after the procedure, we were explained the options open to us for full recovery and control after the initial intervention.

But I’m still not a cat.

Back in 2002 we shut up our minds and let our hearts speak. We landed in Crete as a result of that. We self-imposed our own austerity measures when we arrived here: my salary took a haircut of 80%, Yvonne’s dived 60%. We believed in a simpler life, one where material possessions were not the goal, but just an instrument, and a delicate one that imposes its own high price on top of it’s purchasing cost. We were happy, those were the best years of our lives, free from concerns like insurances (we had little to insure), taxes (there wasn’t much to tax us on) and spacious living quarters (we lived mostly outside and had few things to shelter from the elements) which needed to be maintained, repaired, cleaned and “stylishly decorated” and other such nonsense that modern day man voluntarily enslaves himself to. We completely banned meat in the first 3 years we lived in Crete and allowed a little bit of chicken or rabbit — once a month maybe — after that. We also tried not to be too religious about it and would merrily pick a few pieces of meat from the mezèdes dishes when we were eating out in company. Life, as we had redefined it, was only bliss, even though most Cretans declared us nuts.

Our lives took a turn on October 18th, 2010, my name day, the evening of which I had a heart attack, followed by a cardiac arrest, that would have ended my life there and then, had it not been for the presence and alertness of Yvonne (the fact that she has been an ICU nurse in a previous life most likely augmented my chances for survival). Since that moment we have been living on edge mostly. Our fear is compounded by the fact that in this part of the world there is no real “medical after-care”, more about that later. The fact that a doctor who is a complete stranger to me can correctly diagnose an imminent health problem and my local regular cardiologist, whom I see once a month, can not, given the same instruments, was the straw that broke the camel’s back for us.

So, we started brooding on a plan, while I was in the care of the Hermeskeil hospital in ice-cold Rhineland-Palatinate. We also investigated the consequences and complications of our plan, Yvonne mostly did as I was confined to the hospital bed. It was daunting at first, but we think we can make it work. I need decent health monitoring in order to survive. I’m obviously not getting it in Greece. We will take up permanent residence in Germany, in the same region where we spent our holidays. It doesn’t make a difference for my small-time investment occupation, I can do that wherever I live. If the urge strikes me and I want to dabble in some software development I can do that as well wherever I want. Yvonne wants to continue the trainings she has started in Crete, we believe we can can do that in a satisfactory way: we are going to commute! Hear me out before you start throwing rotten vegetables at me.

Back in 2002 we chose with our hearts, now we need to allow our minds to have it their way.

Why not back to Belgium, or the Netherlands, where we come from? Why Germany? We absolutely, definitely, unquestionably, patently do NOT want to return to our old way of living. Did I stress that we don’t want to return to our old way of living? Moving back to the countries we originate from would be too much of a daily temptation to be lured back into the old routine, we feel. Moreover, our home countries are too crowded as it is. But we do want a health system that will support me the way we feel comfortable with. It isn’t the cost we are concerned with, it is the quality of the system, more specifically the quality of the “after-care” which is non-existent where we currently live. I suffered from an angina pectoris in 2004, our second year in Crete. I was dismissed from the hospital after 10 days without a single instruction. Not even a report of the angiography they performed on me. Just a list of drugs I had to take “for the rest of my life”, very smugly the ward doctor told me. In 2010 it was more or less the same story after my heart attack, at least on that occasion I got a paper saying I shouldn’t smoke and must walk at least half an hour every day, besides taking the list of drugs “for the rest of my life”. My cardiologist hasn’t taken my blood pressure or my pulse — not once — in the 15 months since I was released from hospital. I basically tried to self-help by digging up as much information as I could on the internet. It’s not good enough any more. I owe it to myself and to my wife to get professional help in a continuous and serious way. No, “fakelaki’s” do not belong in that category.

The funny part is that, before we moved to Crete, we had hardly ever been to Germany. We visited the Rhineland-Palatinate region a few times in the last couple of years only for short pass-through holidays, on our way to our families in Belgium and The Netherlands. We very much enjoyed it there. Last year, after my first heart problem, Yvonne and I had already explored the idea of renting a short-term (vacation) home in the area for July-August, because the heat in Crete was getting a bit too much for me (most of the summer months of 2011 I spent inside the house, sheltering from the sun). After I got dismissed from the hospital last week we spoke to our landlady about renting a house longer term. To our surprise there were plenty of dwellings to pick from in a number of small villages of the Verbandesgemeinde Hermeskeil, which is at the heart of the really beautiful Hunsrück-Hochwald Nature Reserve. It’s a fantastic area, very quiet, with forests and vast meadows laid out on flowing hills separating small villages from each other. It’s effing cold though in winter, I have to admit that. We have a plan for that too.

“You said something about commuting?”

Are we crazy? Yes we are, but “in a good way“, we like to think. If we want to be protected by the healthcare system of a country we need to take permanent residence there. But we don’t need to be there permanently. We still haven’t used the proceeds of the sale of the house we owned in Belgium, so we are going to sink part of it into purchasing a van that we will turn into a camper-cum-transporter. Something like this.

We are nomads, I have said that before somewhere here on this site. We don’t need much comfort (we slept on pebble beaches most every summer weekend in Crete, not even in a tent), we like to travel. We clothe ourselves simple (cheap, some would say), we eat simple. All we need is a clear time schedule with the German health system: when I need to see my doctor, when to subject myself to the close monitoring required tests, when to purchase my medications and how long that ration lasts. We inquired about that, they are very accommodating and reasonable. Once we have cleared that, we are free to travel wherever we want to go. Wherever we want to go is: to Crete (the van will be shorter than 6 meters by the way, guess why?). As often as possible in a year. Except in high summer. But definitely in winter. Maybe we can even become peddlers of Cretan products like olive oil, wild dittany, soap, some wines, I’d like to try my hand at that.

I’m still not a cat though.

Happy Yule

iPhone 4S prices at Vodafone Greece

All plans include unlimited calls to landlines and Vodafone Greece subscribers, plus unlimited SMS to Vodafone Greece subscribers

The construction and operation of the new airport in Kastelli, Crete, is expected to evolve in a battle of European giants. The process for claiming the project brings together the largest construction companies, airport management companies and funds that invest in infrastructure development on the continent. At least four joint ventures have reportedly shown interest, involving major Western European construction companies, the most powerful domestic Greek groups, companies that manage airports in Europe, and funds that invest in infrastructure.

The French group Vinci has formed a joint venture with Greek Ellaktor and with the company that manages the airport of Nice in France. There is also French Bouygues SA with J&P AVAX, and with the managing company of the airport of Paris, Aeroports de Paris Management. German Hochtief partners with GEK-TERNA and the Copelouzos Group. Finally, there is Dutch Archirodon Group (with Greek roots) together with Austrian Strabag SE and the company that manages the airport of Zurich.

The consortia are likely to involve funds that invest in infrastructure development, and interest in the project is very high despite the financial crisis and the high risk reputation of Greece. Based on the studies conducted, 80% of the proceeds of the new airport will come from abroad, particularly from the major tour operators, as the airport attracts mostly charter flights. Therefore, country risk is drastically reduced. Estimated net profit for the contractor will exceed 3.5%, possibly even 4.5%, despite strong competition for the project, according to inner circles of domestic construction companies.

You might also want to read the earlier article about the planning of the New airport Iraklio Crete in Kastelli Pediados of February 25th, 2009. Yes, that’s 2 years ago.

A Little Christmas Story

When four of Santa’s elves got sick, the trainee elves did not produce toys as fast as the regular ones, and Santa began to feel the Pre-Christmas pressure. Then Mrs. Claus told Santa her Mother was coming to visit, which stressed Santa even more. When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two others had jumped the fence and were out, Heaven knows where. Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the floorboards cracked, the toy bag fell to the ground and all the toys were scattered.

Frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum. When he went to the cupboard, he discovered the elves had drunk all the cider and hidden the liquor. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider jug, and it broke into hundreds of glass pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found the mice had eaten all the straw off the end of the broom.

Just then, the doorbell rang, and an irritated Santa marched to the door, yanked it open, and there stood a little angel with a great big Christmas tree. The angel said very cheerfully, “Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn’t this a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?”

And so began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Not a lot of people know this.

From Wikipedia:

The Winter Solstice occurs exactly when the earth’s axial tilt is farthest away from the sun at its maximum of 23° 26′. Though the Winter Solstice lasts only an instant in time, the term is also colloquially used as Midwinter or contrastingly the first day of winter to refer to the day on which it occurs. More evident to those in high latitudes, this is the shortest day, and longest night, and the sun‘s daily maximum position in the sky is the lowest. The seasonal significance of the Winter Solstice is in the reversal of the gradual lengthening of nights and shortening of days. Depending on the shift of the calendar, the winter solstice occurs around December 21 each year in the Northern Hemisphere, and June 20 in the Southern Hemisphere.

Worldwide, interpretation of the event has varied from culture to culture, but most cultures have held a recognition of rebirth, involving holidays, festivals, gatherings, rituals or other celebrations around that time.

In the Aegean civilizations, the exclusively female midwinter ritual, Lenaea or Lenaia, was the Festival of the Wild Women. In the forest, a man or bull representing the god Dionysus was torn to pieces and eaten by Maenads. Later in the ritual a baby, representing Dionysus reborn, was presented. Lenaion, the first month of the Delian calendar, derived its name from the festival’s name. By classical times, the human sacrifice had been replaced by that of a goat, and the women’s role had changed to that of funeral mourners and observers of the birth. Wine miracles were performed by the priests, in which priests would seal water or juice in a room overnight and the next day they would have turned into wine. The miracle was said to have been performed by Dionysus and the Lenaians. By the 5th century BC the ritual had become a Gamelion festival for theatrical competitions, often held in Athens in the Lenaion theater. The festival influenced the ancient Roman Brumalia. [source: Wikipedia]

Anyway, whatever it is you are celebrating in your part of the world, we wish you a great time. Yvonne and I will do our usual escapist routine, explore the country side, hope to stumble upon a warm hearth fire here and there, find some honest good food and ditto drinks, and generally stay away from any flashing lights and loud commercials for 3-4 days. We plan to return to “civilization” around the 28th.

Enjoy!