9th July 2013 — Tales from the Clinic

Tales from the Clinic — 17

I will miss the best frites I’ve had in France. (We had steak and frites for lunch once a week.)

I leave the clinic, but I go back for physiotherapy before leaving Bordeaux to return home.

On my way to the Salle de Kine, I walk past the dining room. Monsieur Capable waves and smiles.

I walk past the salon. Madame Suffisante, Monsieur Plaisant and two others are playing La Belote. I stop to chat for a moment. Monsieur Plaisant says how much he enjoyed playing cards with me when I was an in-patient. They all wish me “bon retour” and “bon récuperation”.

I tell them I will miss our games of La Belote.

I will miss the friends I made in the clinic. I will miss my daily post-lunch coffee with my “voisines” in the room and at the dining table.

I will miss the “Equipe” – the nurses, the care assistants, the physiotherapists, the staff in the dining room – and will remember their patience, their cheerfulness, their good manners.

I will miss the magnificent view of Bordeaux. The wide horizon and the big sky.
When I came to the clinic in February, the oak tree outside my room had bare branches.
When I left, it was in full leaf.