All we had to go on was the scrappy piece of paper we had been given by the doctor on our last visit to the hospital.

He had written the address and time - 9.30, but not the name of the doctor.

Since Bear still refuses to go in Jay's car we booked a taxi - the new oneman business, recently started up in the village. The driver was playing with a SatNav.

"Is that a Christmas present?" I asked him.

"No, I don't know where to find rue Kennedy." he replied.

Fortunately I was able to explain where it was, as the computer generated voice was rather irritating and I could see Bear bristling.

The driver was quite impressed that I knew and I was rather surprised he didn't. After all, he lives in Charleville!

Anyway, he dropped us off with fifteen minutes to spare and we went inside.

'If you have an appointment go straight into the waiting room. If not see the receptionist.' said the sign.

As there were some doctors on the ground floor and others upstairs we had to go and ask which one we were to see.

Just our luck; he was upstairs.

He called us into his consulting room and started asking questions. It was a bit odd to start with. He was addressing Bear but I was answering. I think he found it quite amusing.

Anyway, he did an ECG and various other tests and decided that everything was fine. But, he did casually mention that if Bear had any severe chest pains I was to phone 15 (emergency doctor) immediately; if it was just a case of an occasional bout of discomfort we were to go back and see him. I don't think Bear understood this so I didn't worry him with a translation. After all, he'd just been given a clean bill of health heartwise, hadn't he? At the end of the consultation I handed over the Carte Vitale and fished out the chequebook.

"Tout est reglé"  (It's all paid) said the doctor. It's funny how sometimes you have to pay upfront and wait a few days for it to be paid back in to your account and then, at other times it goes straight through like this.

We emerged into the grey, rainy day just after ten and made for La Fontaine for a coffee. It's ages since we've been there and we were greeted with kisses and New Year wishes. Bear had hoped to stay in town for lunch but by 11 o'clock he had had enough and I rang for the taxi to take us home.

Needless to say, Bear has hardly moved from his armchair since.