Tom, something good happened in Aniane just minutes ago. How about swallowing a 300-word slug in the hope that it cures you of your recently contracted attack of Tone Deaf depression?
I suffer from gout! Otherwise the accumulation of uric acid crystals in the big toe main joint. At its worst it feels as if someone's shaping one's bare toe bones with a new sheet of emery paper. Is that sufficiently visual? I'm just getting you in the mood.
For this I take a 100 mg tablet of Allopurinol a day. Orally, which means through the mouth. Which means there's a brief period when my mouth is inhibited from spreading gloom and despondency. Surely that's good news, though there's better to come.
I brought what I thought were sufficient tablets to cover the holiday only to find out I was two short. Allopurinol is, of course, prescription, but you can usually persuade the average British chemist to dispense a couple of tablets ex-prescription in an emergency. But what about the flashing Green Cross brigade? I have a bad record with them (see Unmeltable Ice Maidens).
So I went in and asked. And - lo - they couldn't sell me two tablets.
They could however sell me 28 tablets.
At an unbelievably gentle €1.98 the box
.
Have I made you happier? I do hope so.
I am indeed made much happier, nay overwhelmed with joy. Cartwheels down the street are the order of the day. However, never having had any problems with pharmacies, I cannot say I am overly surprised, except at the price which seems to be ridiculously low. It does give some indication as to how the NHS is ripping off the taxpayer in the UK.
ReplyDeleteWell, I've caught up with the adventures and encounters in Frankreich. How is your little finger today? I'm still a bit concerned about the beer situation over there.
ReplyDeleteThumbs up for la pharmacie.
ReplyDeleteYou were there when I went to one in La Rochelle (I think) to buy clip on sunglasses. I was impressed when they had them in stock and for no extra cost offered to cut them to match the shape of my varifocals while we waited.
Cartwheels down the street are the alignment of the day. Although, not ever having had any difficulties with pharmacies, I cannot state I am overly surprised, except at the cost which appears to be ridiculously low.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Tahitian Noni Juice
All: Our experiences that led us to conclude that a high proportion of pharmaciennes were impeccably if improbably made up, expensively and crystallograohically coiffed, given to silence and the witholding of information, snooty, and living above their intellectual means were based on a series of grands tours (clockwise and anti-clockwise) of l'Hexagone starting in the late eighties, leading to decade when we owned a house in Loire Atlantique and succeeded up to the present day by the rental of a series of villas mainly in the south-west. Plus an overlapping couple of decades involving ski holidays spent in French or French-speaking ski resorts If this is anecdotal evidence then it's anecdotal evidence.
ReplyDeleteTom: Glad you were temporarily delighted, even if the most recent post may have left you off remission. Have you ever considered that the ripping off in British healthcare might have started further up the chain - notably with those oh-so-philanthropic suppliers?
RW (zS): The little finger would make an admirable pendant for a fine gold necklace. As to beer, we drink mainly Leffe which must never be pronounced as if in German. Otherwise you're likely to get coffee.
Sir Hugh: One hirondelle doesn't make an été.
LM: The pharmacienne smiled secretly when I made that very remark.
I think you're right about the pharmaciennes in my formerly native land. They are probably trained, or manufactured like the Stepford wives, to look and act like that.
ReplyDelete