I caught a film on TV last night, on a channel called OPEN, a new kid on the block, and quite professional in comparison with other channels. Watching a film, however, is a nightmare. There are so many adverts that a 90-minute film can take over 2 hours. One particularly nasty trick, used by all the channels, is to slip in a 10-minute advertising slot when the film has only five minutes left. Normally, I wouldn’t dream of watching a film on TV here, but this one was worth watching. I might be mocked for saying a John Travolta film had a film noir feel to it, but I think Domestic Disturbance fits the bill. According to Wiki, it was a critical and commercial failure. Another Travolta bomb was Lonely Hearts, which I also enjoyed!
I’m slowly becoming more mobile since my knee replacement. Walking around the neighbourhood I espied workers repairing a bus shelter. I couldn’t help but wonder if Greece was catching up with the UK or if the UK was “catching down on” Greece. Road surfaces have never been good here, but a couple of weeks ago a UK government minister lost a wheel on her car after it was swallowed up by a pothole. I mention that because I have a feeling that Greece is – despite its many problems – on the up, whereas the UK seems to be in inexorable decline.
Perhaps I could have done a close-up of the bus shelter, but I liked the trees.
Before I left the house, my physiotherapist called round to make arrangements for future sessions at his φυσικοθεραπευτήριο. Previously he made home visits, but my surgeon has written a prescription for additional supervised sessions involving machines. During the Easter break I hired a CPM (Continuous Passive Motion) machine for 10 days. It was very helpful. My model wasn’t as fluffy as this one, nor did I have any supervision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c64R7o03KYU
A significant breakthrough occurred last week. For over three years I have been climbing stairs by putting my good leg on the step and then bringing the bad one up to join it, Going down meant leading with the bad leg. On Wednesday I managed to climb the stairs normally. Going down was less successful to begin with, but now I can do it with just a little discomfort. I mention this because I heard a new (for me, at any rate) expression on the radio yesterday: healthy life expectancy. AI tells me:
“Healthy life expectancy (HLE) is the average number of years a person can expect to live in “full health” — free from significant disability, illness, or activity limitations. It differs from total life expectancy by focusing on the quality of life rather than just the duration, indicating how long an individual can live without chronic health issues or severe impairment.”
I had never thought about it too deeply before, but the statistics are quite frightening. While life expectancy is roughly 80 years old in both Greece and the UK, HLE is around 63 in Greece and under 61 in the UK for both sexes. Surely “60 is the new 40” hasn’t turned out to be bullshit. Imagine living for 15 to 20 years with crap health. There are areas in the UK where HLE is 51 – thirty years before death and 15 years before the state pension. I know I won’t live forever, but I want to stay out of God’s waiting room for as long as possible.
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