Category: Humour

Geoff had endured a long morning in the out-patient clinic and a number of patients had become irritated at having to wait beyond the time of their appointments.   Regrettably, this was not an unusual event, indeed it was par for the course when his boss Mr Stephens was in the clinic.   The consultant frequently became so engrossed […]

    Erm… Please pardon me for interrupting….Just thought I’d say “Hello”     See it’s your turn again!  At least they’ll see me at my best today, not wishy-washy like when Dr Dishwasher makes it. HE hasn’t got a clue. I just can’t do my job properly when he’s around;  HE always leaves me weak, unable […]

How well I remember my first sight of Marilyn, wearing her pristine pink overall as she bent over the deep ward kitchen sink; arms and elbows deep in soap suds.  Never was the phrase ‘they have a face as if they are chewing a wasp’ more appropriate; indeed she looked as if she had not only chewed the […]

Within a few days of qualifying as a doctor in the 60s, I found myself working overnight in the Casualty Department of a large city hospital.    These were the days before emergency medicine emerged as a specialty and had permanent medical staff.    The initial management of the most acutely ill patients was initiated by […]

‘Telephone for you, Mr Lambert.’ I groaned; why, oh why, do people have to ring in the middle of my Monday clinic interrupting me when I’m busy with a patient. ‘Is it urgent?’ I ask of the nurse who had brought the message. Apparently it was so I apologised to the ‘dishabille’ patient. The caller […]

Only rarely these days will a young man be sufficiently old fashioned to ask a girl’s father for permission to take her hand in marriage. It is understandable that fathers wish to interrogate those wishing to marry their daughters, not least to make certain they are financially secure. The experience of a father of four […]

Archie was in love and took his beautiful young blond girl friend home to meet his parents. He introduced her to his mother who chatted with her in a decidedly cool and formal manner. After she had left, she took her son on one side. ‘Listen, son,’ she said, ‘please don’t you ever bring a […]

It was Nat’s 16th birthday. He had received presents and good wishes from his parents, told that ‘No he wasn’t going to be allowed to buy a motor bike’ and was receiving advice from his medical father about the dangers of drugs. ‘Listen, Son,’ said his Dad, ‘if you can come to me on your 18th birthday, […]

In modern times it seems to me that when a young man asks a girl for a date, he expects her to be stork-proof and willing to stay for breakfast. But before the pill, free love and flower power, things were very different. Courting was a sedate affair; relationships progressing far more slowly than is […]

A few years ago, I was on the front line in our Accident and Emergency Department when a kid of about 17 attended. He looked anxious but also had a shifty look on his face. He said he had been ‘out on the town’ and might have swallowed some gas. He was cagey about the circumstances but I […]