Monday 17 June 2013

Wasted!

Last night I ended up in Rotherham A&E as my daughter had yet another angioedema attack and being away from home, local doctors were cautious. It made a change from the Royal Free and the seats are more comfortable!
Rotherham A&E was way overloaded and not so much understaffed as short of space. Full of young people with alcohol on their breath and lower limb injuries!
I can't help the feeling that part of the reported NHS A&E difficulty is that in so many ways a culture of celebrity has led to a kind of meaninglessness, where alcohol is overused because there isn't enough to think about or do.
It reminded me  of visiting Crete in 2011.
The road from Heraklion to Agios Nikolaus passes through the ancient coastal town of Malia with extensive preserved remains of a ruined  palace of many years BC where incredible fine gold jewellry was found, which is now in museums in Heraklion. When we went to the palace there was hardly anybody there. When we went to the mountains or towards Agios Nikolaus, driving through Malia in a morning was easy as all the young English, Irish, German & Dutch youngsters were sleeping off their previous nights revelries. Driving back through Malia in an evening was a nightmare of trying to avoid meandering quad bikes or people stepping out into the road, oblivious of road  traffic. Everybody goes to Malia to get wasted!
My daughter rode horseback on the shore, her companion got kicked by a horse and they found themselves in the minor injuries unit in Malia, teeming with teenagers plastered with both alcohol & white bandages - many not even remembering how they came to be there. They started drinking on the flight to Heraklion and never stopped until arriving back at their home airport. They saw nothing of the rest of the beautiful island of Crete or even the most incredible ancient palace a mile away! Wasted! 

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