Chronology
5. South Africa…
During the period December 2015 – January 2016, my music partner was in Cape Town, South Africa.
There he had some exploratory contacts for collaboration with various Hellenic mainly restaurants, which assured him for two and maybe more appearances per week and on a permanent basis…
In addition, he secured written invitations for collaboration from a manager and a well-known festival…
The accommodation was… “secured”, the conditions were very good and the prospects looked excellent…
⇒ I note here that my partner is a very stable person and he rarely takes risks!
The first “cold showers”...
So, October 2016 found me in Cape Town.
On the second day of my stay I heard a discussion that made me very cautious and skeptical about this new perspective…
The confirmation came very soon and specifically after a week…
We were the only musicians of our kind in a beautiful and cosmopolitan city of about 5 million inhabitants, and 250 kilometers away there is a super luxury hotel with the Hellenic name “Mykonos” (in the Langebaan area).
The main restaurant is called “Bouzouki” and we thought it would be a very good prospect of cooperation…
We contacted the responsible manager of the group, who found the idea of cooperation excellent… He urged us to visit him arranging an appointment for Sunday, October 11, 2016 at 10-12 a.m.
We went and… he was nowhere! (he had not even left a message -we just took a “walk” of 500 kilometers)
Since then, we did not see a manager, we did not play in a festival, nor did we have any cooperation with the Hellenic shops and all the efforts for appearances (both in various restaurants, hotels, wine production farms, music scenes) fell on deaf ears. The few musical appearances we made were due to the personal acquaintance with the Hellenic Community of Cape Town and some acquaintances that simply emerged…
These behaviors have become entrenched in South Africa and have –unfortunately, for those who do not know them– entered their DNA.
In the middle of October and November 2016 I did 2 very successful cleansings, as my study on bile fluids had yielded the maximum!
I expelled 4,500 gallstones of various sizes and dimensions up to 2.8 cm!
From then until the first of February 2017 when I was taken to New Somerset Hospital with colic, I could not try to do any other cleansing (due to the living and working conditions I was “called” to deal with)…
At the beginning of January 2017 I decided to travel from Cape Town to Johannesburg (for a week), because I had realized that there were many more business opportunities and indeed, so be it!
My diet was very careful until mid-January 2017 and my only nutritional “misstep” was eating a lot of sushi (it helped a lot my energy because I could exercise –something I hadn’t done for many years).
Then, given the circumstances, I decided to test my endurance and see what condition I am in…
⇒ I should note here that from January 9, 2017 (after my return from Johannesburg) and until February 16, 2017 (when I returned because of a professional collaboration due to the aforementioned trip), I was in a very bad psychological state –and not only that– situation! It was during this time that the idea was “born” and I began to write and methodize the project you are currently browsing.
So, I started eating everything and in irregular hours (e.g. on January 24, 2017 at 5:30 a.m. I ate one Filet–O–Fish and 5 cheeseburgers at McDonald’s).
One of these unscrupulous missteps led me to New Somerset Hospital shortly after midnight on the first of February 2017.
During the previous night (20:40 p.m.) I had 6 cheeseburgers at McDonald’s and a little later, 2 Iced Mocha Krusher coffees at KFC.
The disturbances started shortly after dinner and peaked around 23:00 p.m. The symptoms were known (burning in the center of the chest, discomfort, numbness and severe pain in the back and right back)...
As unbelievable as it may seem, at the Castle hotel (Cape Town) I was in (due to conditions), neither the non-existent reception nor the sleeping “security” (at the “bottom” of the stairs) could tell me where to find a hospital on duty. Luckily I had a motorcycle (“courtesy” of a well-known lady) and went out on the street asking (someone goes to town asking –in this case, to the hospital)…
I arrived at the unacceptable (as an image) emergency of New Somerset at 01:20 a.m.
You saw homeless people pretending to be patients to find a bed to sleep on (there were only four beds) and endless waiting…
But I was lucky! Firstly, because it was a simple colic and in the morning I was better, and secondly and more importantly, because the “black” French-speaking* doctor who examined me as soon as I arrived at the emergency room and explained to him what was happening to me, was knowledgeable!
* I point out French-speaking because he did not come from South Africa so that he has the English mentality and its remnants (due to apartheid). In addition, the truth of the matter turned out later, in the hospitals of Johannesburg!
He immediately dispensed me serum and gave me a painkiller injection (it gave me an alginate impression that he was very distant and cold towards me). He made me sit in a chair, he gave me the serum in the hand and I never saw him again. –
At 04:50 a.m. a “white” apprentice woman doctor came for an “interview”…
I told her everything in detail. She recorded them and in the morning at 06:30 a.m. the morning medical “troupe” (3 doctors and 20 attendees) came in. The “white” chief physician thanked me for the excellent report presented to her (for my case) by the apprentice doctor and told me exactly the following:
“For the first time in my twenty-year career, they present me with such a detailed and complete incident report! Thank you, sir!”
At 07:10 a.m. and without further examination, I was discharged… (?)
Shortly before I left, I asked the secretariat: “What do I have to pay?” And they answered me: “Nothing!”
Before I left, they also prescribed me pills for “recovery” –Depon-type Generics…
In the following days I did not have any inconveniences and on 16-17 February 2017 I traveled (by train) with my partner from Cape Town to Johannesburg, for some appearances that would open another, much bigger chapter, in the “book” South Africa…