An equine event; Fun at the health centre; Traffic rules; Scotland; & New words

There's a small parque geriatrico just down the hill for me, next to a basketball court. It contains a number of 'machines' (implanted in the ground) which are intended for older folk. The only people I've seen using them are gypsies from the nearby permanent encampment. When we drove into town last night, there was a horse grazing there, a couple of gypsy minders and a police car. When we drove back later, they'd all gone. I'll have to check the local paper tomorrow to see what all this was about. I've never seen a horse - or a police car - there before.

A conversation at the local medical centre, where I took one of my visitors to have her ears de-waxed:-

Hola again. Look, we need another copy of her passport and insurance policy. Do you have them with you?

Yes, but your colleague took a second copy when we made the appointment the other day. Will that not do?

Ah, well - we can't find those so we need to take another. We're anxious to ensure she doesn't have to pay anything. Each visit needs a copy of the forms that we then send off to head office.

So, they might not have been efficient but at least they were very pleasant and, as I've said, as helpful as could be. Actually, the highlight of this visit was a second nurse bursting into the room of the one wielding a huge syringe and accusing her of stealing a patient. We weren't sure whether it was my visitor or not but the officiating nurse took it all very calmly, never dropping her smile. And for the 5th time she told me she didn't speak English but that her daughter spoke German.

Incidentally, when I pointed out to my young visitor that none of the other waiting patients was reading, she commented there were no racks of magazines available. We agreed this was probably because this would be a waste of time. And money.

And another conversation as we walked into town this morning:

Colin, is this really a one-way street?

Yes.

And is it one-way in that direction?

Yes.

So, why are there large arrows pointing in the other direction?

Because they change the direction every year or so. That's why the roundabouts at each end are half-closed at the moment, to stop people going the way they used to go up this street.

And now a non-news item: "Spain would veto Scotland's entry into the EU if the latter voted for independence in an upcoming referendum, an Irish politician and former top EU official said on Sunday." As would France, in all probability.

Finally . . .  Two new English words for me: 1. The muon is an elementary particle similar to the electron, with unitary negative electric charge of −1. 2. M'kay: A nasalised variant of okay. Perhaps made popular by frequent appearance in the cartoon South Park as Mr Mackey's catchphrase.