{"id":2953,"date":"2019-06-08T14:29:20","date_gmt":"2019-06-08T19:29:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/?p=2953"},"modified":"2024-06-17T18:49:38","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T22:49:38","slug":"190608-this-was-not-my-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/190608-this-was-not-my-day\/","title":{"rendered":"190608-This Was Not My Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I woke feeling &#8230; improved. I walked through town. Still OK. Biked 20 km to Naousa (and the associated castle).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20190608_222208540117453.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"rps20190608_222208540117453.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20190608_222208540117453.jpg\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Then the northern tip of the island. Still OK.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20190608_222147-1425748878.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"rps20190608_222147-1425748878.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20190608_222147-1425748878.jpg\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Spend the late morning\/early afternoon at the beach, occasionally swimming in the Aegean Sea.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20190608_222235152167545.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full\" title=\"rps20190608_222235152167545.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/rickpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/rps20190608_222235152167545.jpg\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Biked back. Still OK. After hiding from the heat for a while, wandered the city with the cool evening breeze.<\/p>\n<p>Had a blustery headwind on the way out, and a blustery tailwind on the way back. I&#8217;d stripped down my gear for the day; the lighter bicycle was blown about a bit more than I anticipated. One long climb in the middle of the way out (and back) &#8211; crossing the ridge in the center of the island. A hot ride &#8211; while temps are lovely in the shade, the sun beats down on you with no clouds in the sky.<\/p>\n<p>Apparently not my day to die. It&#8217;s interesting. Factually I know that the Greek health care system is better than the one in the US (at many levels). However, even having experienced that system, it&#8217;s hard to shake the belief that the US system must be better. I mean, more expense equals better, right? Something I didn&#8217;t pay a lot of money for must not be good.<\/p>\n<p>The number one cause for ER admissions in the US is stomach pain. Appendicitis (which I had many of the symptoms for) is the number one reason for admission. 5% of all Americans will have appendicitis in their lifetime, and treatment is routine if performed promptly. If not, recovery can be a long and expensive process. Internet searches say, &#8220;If you have these symptoms, immediately see a doctor&#8221;. Yet it&#8217;s easy to see how one might delay going to the ER for the expense, only to have it blow up on you (literally) and end up with a much more expensive process both to you and society.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s always possible the Greek doctor missed something. Of course, I&#8217;ve had a couple of long runs with medical personnel in the US, seeing more doctors and dentists than I can recollect, where they either misdiagnosed or had no idea what was wrong with me. An error here in Greece still wouldn&#8217;t invalidate that the Greek system is better. It&#8217;s no wonder Americans who have never left their own state can&#8217;t grasp that.<\/p>\n<p>Having already made a hostel reservation in Athens for the two days before my flight, I added one more day to fill in the gap of arriving in Athens the day before my reservations. I don&#8217;t expect most bicycle shops to be open Sunday, but the sooner I complete the quest for the bicycle box, the sooner I can enjoy my remaining time in Athens.<\/p>\n<p>The 40 km today mostly ends my cycling in Greece. I have only a short ride to the ferry in the morning. And the ride from the ferry port into Athens. That&#8217;s a lot more likely to be my day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I woke feeling &#8230; improved. I walked through town. Still OK. Biked 20 km to Naousa (and the associated castle). Then the northern tip of the island. Still OK. Spend the late morning\/early afternoon at the beach, occasionally swimming in the Aegean Sea. Biked back. Still OK. After hiding from the heat for a while, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/190608-this-was-not-my-day\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;190608-This Was Not My Day&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-touring"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2953"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2993,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2953\/revisions\/2993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.irelandbybicycle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}