The Papageorgiou Hospital and Ancient Egyptian Medicine.

 

 Recently as we clambered up the steps to the state Papageorgiou General Hospital, I was reminded of long-past visits to Dr. Mayer’s surgery in Tarbert – ironically you had to be in reasonable health to negotiate the slope leading to access the required medical assistance!

The hospital is an extensive, modern building, in an area of 150 acres, operating since 1999 and is one of the most technologically advanced medical centres in Northern Greece.

We were directed to the foreboding-sounding Nuclear Medicine Department where Z underwent testing after our medical ‘MOT’ tests indicated some slightly higher-than-normal measures. Our family doc is meticulous and she demanded multiple follow-up tests – just to be on the safe side!

Z found the hospital doctors efficient and polite but thought it must be soul-crushingly tedious for them to repeat the same instructions day in, day out!

I meanwhile explored the large, airy entrance hall which boasted some really interesting murals.

The first one depicted scenes of Egyptian practitioners. We certainly know of their mummification skills from findings excavated from the pyramids but it was really interesting to look at the knowledge and skills of medical practitioners around the Nile area in the times of Ancient Egypt: 3,300 BC- 525 B.C.

They had a surprising knowledge of the anatomy, detailing diseases of the alimentary, respiratory circulatory, muscular and nervous systems, among others.  Surgeons at that time used instruments that can be recognized today as the scalpel, forceps, scissors and splints. They sutured and cauterized wounds, surgically opening septic wounds to drain them.

Herodotus in 450 BC wrote that they had divided the practice among them so there were healers for the eyes, the teeth, what pertains to the belly as well as some of the ‘hidden diseases’. There was a hierarchy within the profession: the ordinary doctor, the overseer of doctors, the chief of doctors, the inspector of doctors. Evidence shows that there were women physicians too. Medical practice was outlined in the Hermetic Book of Thoth, describing strict lines of treatment.  

They used a wide range of plants, animal products and honey for a wide range of treatments. Interestingly there was for them no clear distinction between medicine and magic, considering health and illness being consequent of a person’s relationship with the universe ie people, animals and good or bad spirits. So, the Egyptian pharmacopeia also included magic spells. Much of their knowledge and procedures have been recorded either on hieroglyphic stone or clay carvings and from papyrus scrolls. On these scrolls the language used was mainly Hieratic, which was a handwritten form of hieroglyphs written fluidly, horizontally from right to left.

It was the French scholar, Jean-Francois Champollion who, using the Ancient Greek, Demotic and Egyptian hieroglyph scripts on the Rosetta stone, decoded the hieroglyphs in 1822, thereby giving us access to this vast treasure – insight into the Ancient Egyptian culture and knowledge.

Summer Senses

Summer season when our senses are assaulted to the full in the nicest possible way. Although I don’t miss the work entailed in its upkeep, I do miss the garden in our former home. So now I compensate with potted plants on the terrace.

The other night we had friends for supper there. After preparation and serving up was done, it was a joy to sit and relax, listening to people eating, drinking, laughing, generally enjoying each other’s company, with the glorious scent of jasmine wafting over to the table.

I help maintain the colourful rose bushes on the property – a pleasing and rewarding pastime.

 Here we see the vines bearing copious cones of fruit. We hope for as good a wine as last year’s.

In Z’s veggie patch, the cucumbers grow large and succulent, while the tomatoes start to ripen.

The cherry tomatoes, freshly plucked from the vine, are like a mini-explosion to the taste-buds!

If you look to the right in the picture below, you can see the lime tree in full bloom. In the morning cool it exudes a pungent aroma – attractive to many insects – but lots of leaves and petals drop into the pool, a salve for our heat-parched bodies. The Boss decided it needed some protection and erected this Arab-style canopy which both keeps the water cleaner and protects my sensitive skin from harmful UV rays - all good. It does look like an exotic Bedouin desert encampment!

The oleander is poisonous - sap, leaves, flowers, all highly toxic, containing cardiac glycosides which directly attack the heart. But it is a beautiful tree.

In the evening I often sit at the piano admiring it and enjoying the final chirruping, droning chorus of the cicadas before they end their shift as the summer sun goes down.

Nostalgia

All the coverage of the World Cup Tartan Army has got me nostalgic for the homeland and I began to look out photos of previous adventures there. This one is a favourite family shot celebrating Marina’s 70^th birthday.

We were standing outside our previous home - now The Kilberry Inn- sipping champagne and nibbling canapes to the skirl of live bagpipes as the mist rolled in over Cnoc-an-Ibhair!

Nearby is the beautiful village of Tarbert, Lochfyne where I went to secondary school. A popular tourist spot, it is particularly busy in the summer when the Scottish Series- one of Britain’s largest sailing regattas - takes place, bringing yachters from all around Britain. The area, with its rugged coast line, offers unique challenges, even Corryvrechan, the world’s third largest whirlpool!  

I adore The Kelpies and was delighted to come across this mobile mini-exhibition near the Crinan Canal, the 9-mile long navigable route between the Firth of Clyde and the Inner Hebrides.

I really enjoy exploring my homeland with Z – here we are on a recent trip to Mallaig in the north-west. Another pretty fishing village, but decidedly over-fished by tourism.

Being a linguist, the different local dialects intrigue me – especially their rich lexical variations. Below  are some of my favourite words, found mainly in the west coast and Glasgow area.

Being born in that dear green place, as its name translates, affords me the privilege of calling myself a ‘Weegie’. When I’m there it is important to meet up with family and friends.

I love Glasgow for its soul, its people and its humour. The traffic-cone be-decked Duke of Wellington statue has now become a global tourist attraction!

It’s fitting that my last nostalgic shot is of me admiring the River Clyde backdrop before leaving.

May The Tartan Army continue to bring us joy and make us proud to be Scots.

HASTE ME BACK!

Sea Life, Brighton.

 While in Brighton, we visited its Sea LIfe which claims to be the oldest, continually operating aquarium in the world. Designed by architect Evgenius Birch in 1869, it opened in 1872.

This was my first aquarium visit and, as you enter, the 68 metre vaulted corridor lined with water tanks containing rays, snails, turtles, etc., your attention is certainly held, especially with the constantly changing coloured lighting.

I think my favourite character there was the octopus. They have three hearts and blue blood, thanks to the protein haemoganin cyanin which contains copper. They are camouflage artists, possessing chromatophores which allow them to change colour, and papilli – tiny areas of skin which can expand and contract to change the texture of their appearance. Their 500 million neurons allow each arm to taste, touch and react to the environment independently. They are intelligent beings, able to solve problems such as navigate complex mazes and unscrew jars to access food. They can recognize individuals of other species, even human faces.

 Certainly, this one kept the one eye we could see trained on us, happily performing lazy, elegant arm movements before rising up the tank to retrieve his plaything resting atop a branch–a ball!                                         The octopus apparently has an artistic sense! Collecting their meal debris – the shells of clams and scallops – they adorn the entrance to their home. Cue in The Beatles’ ‘Octopus’s Garden!

As a linguist, I was interested to learn the collective nouns for jellyfish: a bloom, a fluther, a swarm or a smack – the latter being a sharp reminder of being a sting recipient in Greek waters! They are very simple organisms, being 94% water, and have a short life span, ranging from a few hours to several years. They have, however, been around for a long time – 500 million years or so - which means they predate the dinosaurs.

They move by contracting the muscles of their body and the water squeezed out from the cavity of their jelly belly😊 jet propels them in the required direction. I watched in fascination as the fluther – good word, that! – in the tank moved gracefully to and fro. They needed the accompaniment of some dreamy classical music. 

I was really happy to see some sea horses which I find beautiful. Despite their name, Hippocampus or horse animal, they are fish. Without a stomach, they suck food in through their snouts. Monogamous, it is the male who carries the eggs in his pouch, deposited there by the female, until they hatch. They, too, can change colour to avoid predators and, being poor swimmers, they tie their tails to plants as anchors, so as not to be swept away by currents.

 It was amazing to see several fairly large sharks swim overhead in some glass tunnels formations.

And it was fun to go into the little alcove and have the beluga whale holograms appear to rush over to welcome you.

 I was glad I had had that experience but, overall, my overall impression was that the aquarium was like a tired old dame, definitely in need of a revamp. Not like this bright, young dame below!

                                      

 

Non-Standard Grammar ....?

In British International Phonetic Alphabet, this heading reads Brighton Conference.

At the annual IATEFL conference we attended a presentation by John Hird, of Oxford University, entitled Non -Standard Grammar – Or Just Plain Wrong.               

I am continually dismayed by the standard of written English in evidence on Facebook posts and this in an age where spellcheck facilities are readily accessible. As a retired English teacher, I permanently suffer from a red-pen tic where errors simply beg to be corrected! ☹

John defined his term of non-standard grammar by appealing to our great grammar guru, David Crystal, who explains this as grammar features, forms and patterns and usages that are considered traditionally, technically and prescriptively incorrect but are so commonplace that perhaps we should consider them acceptable.

Traditionally the spoken word, being spontaneous and less formal, was the rich source of such forms, but the written mode in the social media is fast catching up!! American usage can frequently affect what is being expressed on a wider geographic scale, through advertising or what is considered ‘hip’. The McDonald’s ‘I’m Lovin’ It’ jingle is a case in point. Grammar books would generally not condone verbs expressing thoughts, opinions or emotions being used in the continuous verb form.

One form I rather like is ‘Be like’ as in the example below which has its origins in African American Vernacular English and is used to perform or mimic speech attitudes or behaviours – here the glottal stop which drops the ‘t’ in “British’.

Gretchen McCullock outlines the new language rules in her book entitled, ‘Because Internet’.           I must confess that in messaging, I may use the time-saving, non-ambiguous ‘Later I ‘ll go spa.’

I’ve often heard Gordon Ramsay tell his Masterchef contestants ‘Your 60 minutes starts now’, presumably focusing on the singular time period rather the minutes’ plurality.

John quoted ,’If I didn’t come along, there would be no NATO right now.’  But then no one expects Trump to be a paragon rule-observer, and he disrespectfully rides roughshod over the accepted chronological staging of verb tenses! I guess he could excuse himself and his linguistic knowledge by using the ubiquitous double-negative, ‘I don’t know nothing.’

The next phase of the talk I found fascinating when John had audience members access the mentimeter facility on their devices. He projected deviant language forms on the electric whiteboard and we had to plot them, as seen below, on a cline of least -> most offensive!

The overall ‘winner’ was the least contentious, the use of the adjectival rather than the adverbial form eg, ‘He did fantastic’ – sports-talk making its linguistic contribution.

Examples such as ‘I was sat on my own’ were deemed not too bad since they were ‘excused’ as genuine regional usage!  Verb forms and tenses were expected to be respected - examples as, ’I’ve drank it’ could not be forgiven!

Conditional clauses, especially those expressing the hypothetical, were given short shrift where faulty. Even Elton John’s lyrics from ‘Candle In The Wind’

..’And I would’ve liked to know you …’ would not have passed muster!

I must mention my pet peeves

a)       ‘Could of’ instead of ‘Could’ve’

b)       the use of ’less’ for countable nouns instead of ‘fewer’.

Our speaker admitted to disliking the extraneous ‘of’ in ‘He got off of the bus’ and drew the talk to a close by playing The Rolling Stones’, ‘Hey, you, get off of my cloud ‘!

Spring Is Coming In! 😊

Central Macedonia, recently, was aglow with peach tree blossom – a stunning roadside show! Spring is gradually approaching this year with short, scattered bouts of rain and cooler weather.

And that means nature goes into overdrive and demands hard work to keep things in order. Here we see members of the family, on holiday from Crete, painting the trees with a liquid to protect them from fungus. I imagine that will deter ants and other insects that damage the bark or fruit.

Under the hothouse arches, tomato, cucumber, courgette and pepper plants sit in straight rows. They should see us all through the summer months once they ripen.

The vines have begun to leaf, having been cleaned and sprayed to encourage healthy growth.

Paths and verges look neat after recent mowing and weeding. In our former house, Z had headaches for three days simply at the thought of cutting our grass – a vast expanse that Angeliki called Hyde Park!  It was a two-day task while here within less than two hours, he’s back and smiling because the deed is done! A much preferred option!

 By the house angelica is budding, soon to pervade the area with its intoxicating scent.

The rose bushes are producing coy buds, waiting for more heat before strutting their stuff.                   We greatly look forward to enjoying what these plants have to offer!

  

Unorthodox Easter !

 And so it was Easter! At the spa, one Greek lady remarked it was Catholic Easter. Couldn’t resist asking if we Protestants didn’t get a look-in, to which a friend of hers responded quietly Protestants are heretics. Reminded me of the nun at the nunnery denying us entrance to Heaven! Now I could have informed her that the Eastern Orthodox followers were the first heretics when they broke away from the Catholic Church in 1054. Perhaps she hadn’t heard of the Great Schism?! But when our newscasters claimed it was Jewish Easter (Pesach was celebrated that same week) I realized that the role of an educator has its limits! :0

But to the celebration: wood-fired ovens are heated,

the beastie is hung, and appetites are whetted.

Here the spread included lamb with its rice and liver stuffing, sausage and belly-pork, oven-baked beans, stuffed vine leaves, salads of lettuce, boiled greens, aubergines and a variety of cheeses.

I provided cheesecake and pavlova to finish the meal - and us – off! 😊     

To accommodate family members living in N Europe, that feast was held on the Saturday.

Znme had an invite to ANOTHER on Sunday!! Here we see the potatoes in the oven, lamb atop, and alongside a Thracian haggis-like dish of rice and liver, etc.  Also served: Russian salad, lettuce, and roast chicken. The special request was for me to bring a fruit crumble. Gladly! 😊

Yesterday when I was writing about our experience, I somehow omitted an ‘s’ in error, rendering the word an Eater celebration – think that was correct, after all!