After a week of facial pain and no improvement, I decided to go and see Dr Lienard here in Pierrefeu.  The dentist had said that he'd thought maybe my sinuses were inflamed so, as you can't get anything over the counter here, I trundled along to the Doc's to wait in line with the halt and the lame.

You don't make appointments in France so it's basically first-come, first served. So I joined a small room-full of folk, all reading three year-old magazines, whispering conversations about last night's torrential rain and greeting each newcomer with a 'Bonjour, madame/monsieur'.  A woman came in with two toddlers and, remarkably, managed to keep them both amused and in line simply by whispering at them.

Soon it was my turn.  Now, I've seen Dr Lienard before when my ears got a bit bunged up after some ill-advised snorkling at St Clair.  I remember her as a lady of a certain age, in a jaunty red suit with a packet of ciggies on her desk but assumed that, with the new laws about smoking in France, this would be a thing of the past.

Nothing of the sort.  I start my tale of woe, desperately trying to remember the french for jaw, x-ray and pain, and the phone rings.  In fact it rings several times. Not only does she take the calls (fair dos - there were probably folk much worse off than me) but during the second one, she reaches for her pack of Lucky Strikes, gets her Bic out and lights up - all one-handed.  Inhaling deeply, she informs Monsieur So-and-So that she'll call him after her consultation.  He carries on talking and she cuts him off, rolling her eyes at me.  I nod sympathetically, leaning back to avoid the cloud of smoke.

Actually, she was very nice. She did far more than the English Doc in London had done - including checking me for spots, oddly - and commenting on the British propensity for sticking cotton buds in their ears.  How we laughed.

Twenty two euros later and I had a lengthy, scrawled prescription and a note to get me a sinus x-ray in Cuers.   (Well, if it keeps raining, what else will I have to do?)

Oh, and a faint whiff of cigarette smoke, clinging to my clothes.

Rainy evening in Pierrefeu
Originally uploaded by Blue Blanket

It's five years this month that we took extended, long service leave and went out to Pierrefeu to paint, build Ikea furniture and get to know the area.  The weather was just getting warmer so the Evil Stove wasn't pressed into service too often.  And, as you can see, much of the Ikea furniture work was done outside.  Actually, that's about all I did. T did most of the hard graft with the Allen key while we both donned overalls and painted the house from top to bottom.

It was a wonderful three or so weeks and it was over that time that the house became a home.  Albeit a long distance one.

The local council have been in my street over the past few weeks.  No more odd bumps, cracks and loose stone work in Rue de la Chapelle.  Oh, no.  Check out the new look.

Of course, I'm already worrying about drainage and moss.  But it does look a lot smarter...