This is the third time I've had a cyst removed from my head.

The first time was years ago when I just happened to ask my GP if he knew what they were. He got quite excited and before I knew it he had found a scalpel and was poking and prodding to remove it.

A bit of squeezing and bleeding later he showed me the results of his labours - a sort of white pea.

When more lumps appeared a couple of years after that I asked if he'd like to have another go but he refused and sent me to have it done at the hospital. The practice nurse later told me that he had had a bad experience with someone else when he couldn't stop the bleeding.

So, yesterday it was off to the French dermatologist, who is the person to see for cyst removals.

The worst bit was the local anaesthetic - quite a long drawn out stinging procedure but the effect soon kicked in and he was quick, efficient and quite gentle. (Not at all like the hospital experience when the doctor had pushed and squeezed very hard and left me with a headache.)

The stitching felt as though he was pulling out my hair but, in fact he did a very neat job. He made me stay on the bed for a few minutes and then asked me to sit up, but remain there for a few minutes longer. There was a mirror opposite and I was able to check that he had rearranged my hair so that nothing could be seen.

The bill was 42.69 euros - a rather strange sum - and I'll be interested to find out how much, if any, will be reimboursed as I didn't have a letter from my 'medecin traitant' (GP).

Update on yesterday's computer problems:

The 'expert' spent another couple of hours here this morning and simply couldn't make it work except by chance.It seemed to be OK by midday so she left. Minutes later it went wrong again. Despite claiming that there is a good connection to the wifi, it says Outlook Express is unavailable and it cannot display the webpage on IE because I'm offline. GRRRRR

She is coming to collect it tomorrow. . . . .