La radiografía.

Although the last time I took Minnie to the vet he said there was nothing he could do, today I took her anyway because the broken leg has swelled alarmingly, she is very unsteady on her feet, and over the last two weeks has had two minor fits. He did a blood test, which showed absolutely nothing wrong, contra to my internet-trawling conclusion of low calcium, and her heart is strong and healthy. In fact she is the perfect picture of a healthy elderly dog, except for the growing tumour which has eaten away most of her tibia. All the other leg bones seem fine, which rules out osteoporosis. Three courses of action: take a biopsy of the tumour to see what it is, which involves a dangerous general anaesthetic; amputate the leg, ditto; or do nothing and monitor her condition, as she doesn't seem to be in pain and is functioning pretty well.
Another happy hour or two was spent at the law court (see extra for stairwell). Last April 11th I reported that my credit card had been cloned and used to the tune of €900 or so, and after some bureaucratic argy-bargy I got the bank to replace the card and refund the money. A report was filed with the fraud officer at the civil guard. Recently I got a succession of increasingly irate phone calls from a clerk at the court, wanting me to do something unintelligible as I don't speak any Catalan. I got my friend Patri to speak to her on my phone, which involved a lengthy diatribe explaining the situation and complaining endlessly about Brits who don't bother learning the language. She must have gone on for 20 minutes without drawing breath. It seems that they have miraculously caught the eight culprits who were involved in card scams including mine, and I´m required to testify in court (in Barcelona) on eight different occasions as they will prosecute each one individually. As I have been reimbursed by the bank I could renounce my right to prosecute and let the bank do that, as they are out of pocket rather than me. Tough decision - not. The signing of the document took 3 minutes, and it transpired the rather fierce woman could speak perfectly good English after all.