Going to the Doctor in Paris

is breathtakingly simple. I even managed to find a doctor within staggering distance of my apartment and get an appointment on the day I phoned. Of course, the huge downside for a foreigner is that you pay for the consultation and then have to pay the real price for the drugs prescribed. There is some mechanism for making a refund claim, which I have yet to discover, but note to self: be ill in Blighty where it's free. God bless the NHS. Claire Rayner's dying words are ringing in my ears this week (something like 'Tell David Cameron if he messes with my beloved NHS, I'll come back and haunt him').