Whats up Doc?

A Flying Visit to Torrevieja A&E

Had a bit of a medical emergency last week this called for a trip to the local Salud in the middle of the night. As if that was not bad enough the Doc there decided I needed to go to hospital, scary at any time let alone when its 4 o’clock in the morning and you are in pain. The ambulance was duly called and I was carted off to Torrivieja with John ambulance chasing in the car.
It was very quiet in the ER, which was a surprise as the last time I was in an A&E recently when i was in the UK, Leicester Royal, in fact the busiest A&E in Europe I am told. That was a nightmare place with armed police, high security presence on the doors and a lot of sick and injured people. Over all those visits were not pleasant experiences. It’s slightly different when you are the person in pain but non the less it was amazing how quiet it was, no sound of rowdy violent drunks or worse, certainly no armed police or security men on view.
So it was straight through to the business side, I saw a doctor within minutes. Now his bedside manner left a little to be desired but you cannot have everything and I had not waited hours to see him.
After assessment I was taken over to the observation ward, a very high-tech place to be sure. What really struck me, as I came too with the help of the pain killers, was the high proportion of non Spanish patients there was being treated. Made me wonder what it will be like in another few years time with an aging immigrant population requiring more and more intervention and care.
Countries like Spain, that attract those wishing to spent there retirement in warmer climates may well need to be funded at a higher level from countries of origin to sustain their National Health Service.

Is it Thursday already?

Seems it is and no posting since saturday last. Its been a busy week. John did a stint on the animal rescue ambulance and boy did he need a shower when he got home. The hugh young dog he took to foster carers had been running loose eating anything she could find poor animal. What heroes the fosters are because this young lady is big now and still growing, lovely nature though as I saw when I meet petra out with her foster mum the next day.
As I say busy week, Bec poor thing has the flu, hopefully on the mend now though. We've had quite a bit of rain , oh yes bring it on. We did manage to get a nice walk through the park in Gaurdamar the other day though. The wild life there seemed to be enjoying the fact that everywhere had had a good wash. One lot of creatures that fascinates us are the terrapins in the parks pools. I recall friends keeping these type of reptiles as pets back in the sixties. There are native species of terrapins here in spain but we will have to get closers to see which these are. They range in size from one that would fit in the palm of your hand to huge things the size of a large dinner plate. The water fowl do not seem to bother them at all. We wonder what they find to eat in the pools, must be some good stuff has the population appears to be increasing

Rescue Me

John did his first "Animal Ambulance" rescue run yesterday. He a got a phone call from K9 collected the ambulance and headed out to Villa Martin. His mission there was to collect 6 very young puppies which then had to be delivered to a saint of a fosterer who has just hand reared one litter and was ready and willing to take on another bunch. What an amazing lady she is. The mission did not end there however next stop was Punta Prima. No dogs this time but a chinchilla would you believe. This exotic creature was found on a traffic island and taken in by another Brit who was holidaying here. After three days of trying to find its owner or a new home she rang K9 for help. The lady was due to go home and needed to know the poor creature would be in good hands. It has been duly delivered to a kind hearted vet who will keep it till it is rehomed.
Chinchillas are crepuscular rodents, slightly larger than ground squirrels, native to the Andes mountains in South America.

New BP garage

The BP garage at the New centro commercial is nearly finished, with a completely different outlay to the original one, incorporated is a "Wild Bean Cafe",Opening date is not yet known. The centro commercial itself is gradually taking shape with the infrastructure in place, on the Rojales side of the roundabout as part of the new complex, a new Police and ambulance station are scheduled to be built.