TOM UTLEY: Pious pep talks, queues to Timbuktu, and being made to feel a nuisance - no wonder men of my age swerve the sclerotic NHS By Tom Utley for the Daily Mail Published: 21:01 EDT, 24 October 2024 | Updated: 21:01 EDT, 24 October 2024 e-mail View comments All week I've been afflicted by a pernicious bug, which our one remaining resident son brought home at the start of half term from the school where he teaches Spanish. I won't describe the symptoms of my condition, because they are far too disgusting. Enough to say that after one near-disastrous venture into town, I'm playing it safe today by writing this from home, within easy dashing distance of the plumbing.
Though our health-fanatic son was over his bout of illness after only a couple of days, I seem at last to have reached the age (I'll be 71 next month) at which these things are much harder to shake off. It could be that my half-century of enthusiastic smoking and drinking may be starting to catch up with me. Indeed, after six days of this misery, I'm beginning to fear that if it drags on for much longer, I'll have to bite the bullet and face the ghastly ordeal of seeking help from the sclerotic NHS (or 'RNHS', as politicians of every hue insist on calling it).
We can all guess what that will mean: endless queues, referrals to join other endless queues, pious pep talks about my bad habits and generally being made to feel like a massive inconvenience, rather than the paying customer every taxpayer is. As for the c.