The Good Samaritan

Yesterday John had to go to Cahors hospital to be checked by the surgeon who did his last hernia operation. When we arrived we realised that everyone had been given an appointment for 10.15am. Seeing that we were going to be waiting ages I decided to go and look for a jumper. However when I reached the shop they had a sale on plus another offer of a further 10% off if you bought three items. I therefore found it necessary to comb the entire store with a fine tooth comb to ensure that I didn't miss anything. Needless to say I bought three items!!

 Of course all this shopping took considerably longer than anticipated so when I returned to the hospital John was waiting in reception and talking to an English gentleman. I assumed he had met this man in the surgeons waiting room. Far from it, he had felt sorry for him and his wife who were wondering aimlessly, obviously floundering in the French bureaucratic system -  without any French. Apparently the couple were on holiday and the wife had had a mini stroke and had been hospitalised for tests. She had been discharged and been sent to reception to pay - a very protracted process.

Meanwhile another English couple came up to reception and they were equally floundering with the language. Ultimately John ended up standing in the middle of the reception desk turning left to right as each couple needed help. Eventually I was enlisted to take care of the holiday makers to try and speed things along as the queue behind grew and grew.

The first couple were extremely grateful. However I had little sympathy for the second people as they grumbled the whole time about the French system when in fact it was their lack of  French which was the problem. It transpired that they had lived here for five years!!