Somewhat surreal.

I had to pay a visit to the doctor this week - nothing important just my regular bi-annual visit. Our doctor is very young and I suspect had not long been with the practice when we registered with him. The practice is in the small town of Grenade-sur-l'Adour (http://www.tourismegrenadois.com/Grenade.htm) about 12 kms from here. For the first couple of years he moved from consulting room to consulting room but now he has finally got his own consulting room and waiting room which are quite separate from the others with an entrance at the rear of the building. The approach to his surgery is via a narrow little alley, the impasse des Ramparts, which is lined on both sides by very old houses. Next to his surgery is the 14th century church (or the rear which is certainly showing it's age!)
One goes from this rather beautiful little alley into what can only be described as a very modern, aseptic waiting room which has been cleaned to within an inch of it's life! There are no magazines, when I inquired as to why he told me that they harbour bacteria - I didn't like to ask him if the rather elderly magazines in the other waiting room had been disinfected! Sitting there this week reading my book, I can't wait anywhere without some reading material, I listened first of all to the church bells tolling the hour and then became aware of the sound of the radio playing in the background. The music I heard was Leonard Cohen singing Hallelujah! Such a contrast between ancient and modern.