Quaking Grass

This is Briza, or Quaking Grass, so called because 'the seeds and flower-heads shake on their stalks in the slightest breeze'. I thought pretty much anything does that but perhaps our breezes are not 'slight'. I like the play on words with 'Briza'. We used to call it armadillo grass before we knew better.

We took the dog to the vet again today, he has a chronic ear infection which is responding well to treatment. This is a blessing because the poor animal was looking suicidal three weeks ago. He has been 'treated' by 3 or 4 different 'vets' in the past but the island now boasts a properly qualified one who knows his stuff and prescribes treatment that actually works – hurrah! The alternative might have been to surgically remove the whole ear – nasty!

We have paid for the tests and the treatments but not for the time that the vet spends examining the dog and today we asked why this was the case. It is because the infection is chronic and it would not be ethical to charge for repeat consultations. This is how it is in Greece. If a person needs to see a medical consultant in public service they pay a nominal fee of 5€, so I am used to getting in the queue for the cashier on the day of my appointment. But the first time I had an appointment with an oncologist the cashier asked why that appointment had been made for me. I explained that I had been treated for cancer and she told me that in that case there was no charge. I was baffled at the time – why would anyone have an oncology appointment without a cancer diagnosis?

The long and short of it is that in Greece we do not punish the sick.

We wanted to stop and talk politics with the vet but the dog wanted to leave. Maybe next week we will have another opportunity. We briefly agreed that Greece is being used by others as an experiment.