For reasons best known...

For reasons best known to the Ontario Provincial Government and my previous doctor, I have been assigned to another practice. With two weeks' notice. It seems my previous doctor has either (a) been fired; (b) died; (c) retired; (d) flipped his lid; (e) had enough of me doing all of his diagnoses for him; (f) been discovered to not be a doctor at all but just a random person off the street with a white coat. While Mrs. Ottawacker was transferred to another doctor in the same practice, I was shown the way to the Bank Medical Centre ("Need a Circumcison? No Problem! Come right on in... circumsions and vasectomies are the spécialité de la maison"). Not too sure if the "Ottawa Smiles Dental Clinic" appreciates all the signs.

I wasn't too sure what to think as I entered the hallowed ground. Were circumsions and vasectomies mandatory? And above all, do they check before they enrol you as a patient? If so, who does it? The woman at the desk checking you in? Is this what they mean by "taking your particulars"?

Fortunately, I wasn't about to find out. I was whisked into a back room where I was told my new doctor would join me in due course. I could hardly wait.

It turned out he was a young doctor, efficient and friendly, who seemed to know the difference between my arse and my elbow. This, you will understand, is a significant step up from my previous doctor. Already he has told me he wants a new colonoscopy (a chance to roll out the same photo as the last time, at last), and has sent me for an exhaustive series of blood tests. Given the difficulty of finding a family doctor in Ontario, I am happy to have seemingly fallen on my feet. Again.

And I didn't have to provide evidence, one way or the other.