Listened To

I went to the doctor’s today. I know, shocker right - I actually kept my appointment unlike (so said the accusatory poster inside) the selfish 327 who didn’t causing another 327 to not have appointments at all. Yes, thank you. Guilt ridden we all now feel. Not that I have ever EVER made an appointment and then run away in fear… Ever.)

There was an electronic touch screen check in thing - no more bothering the receptionist’s for us. Oh no! Just two questions male or female, and date of birth. that was all it needed to know what time your appointment was and who it was with. Directions to Area 5 (which used to be called the First Floor) and a smiley face sending you on your way.

Sitting in the waiting room listening to quite loud Chris Evan’s DriveTime on Radio 2 (cheesy happy music for singing along to) with a woman I know from somewhere but can’t quite put my finger on. By the way, why; whenever you go to a doctor’s surgery, or anywhere with a waiting room; do you always see at least one person you know? And why is it never someone you know well enough to discuss why you are there? Anyway…

As I was the last appointment of the day I expected to be rushed in and rushed out, barely listened to and told I was fine with a dismissive flick of the wrist - the kind of thing I have come to expect from doctors over the years. Imagine by surprise when the GP listened intently, wrote down everything I was saying, asked pertinent questions and (amazingly) had read my notes before I stepped inside the surgery!

I was impressed. No, very impressed. Everything seemed to matter to her. The smallest concern I had was paid attention to and a plan was decided to deal with each one in turn. She even prescribed me a course of antibiotics as a first attack on one problem and didn’t rubbish the knowledge I had picked up from Google.

She has in a single blow restored my faith in the NHS. And as Mum gets better and better (she ate half a bowl of soup and a roll today and her sugar levels are starting to normalise) I’m beginning to think that ‘good’ is the standard of the NHS not the incompetent wankerage I had experienced in the past.

On an entirely different subject I have been using Numbers today (the Spreadsheet program in iWork ‘08) and I have to say so far I am very impressed. I like the (can I say this without sounding like a moron?) layout, and the templates are very easy to use as well, although I did end up starting from scratch. After using Excel (which Numbers imported and exported to with ease and flair) all these years with differing levels of success, I honestly thought I would have these difficulties with every program I tried. But, my God, is that another thing Apple does fantastically well? So, I no longer need Office for anything! Hurrah!