A LATERAL THOUGHT

By Alex Thain
Contact the author by e-mail at info@ardlarich.co.uk

“Do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric”

--Bertrand Russell

It was an ordinary day in an ordinary surgery in the North of Scotland and the day held the promise of eccentricity. The main protagonist, we'll call him Terry, was one of those intelligent characters with a long pseudo-psychiatric history peppered with sixties drug use. Terry loved reading despite his lack of formal education and regularly asked permission to “borrow” a National Geographic magazine to finish reading the articles, in stark contrast to most of us who simply marvel at the photography. Terry had some unusual and lateral ideas about “life, the universe and everything” and could debate cogently to emphasise his point. In different circumstances, Terry would be the sort of character to create the Guinness adverts or produce avant garde art. In reality, Terry tended to promote Guinness marketing via the device of consumption rather than promotion.

However Terry had saved his best for this day.

His current predicament began with a Hollywood style header down stairs whilst under the influence, injuring his right shoulder. To “help” the doc who was, as always running late, Terry thought it might be a good idea to strip off first so that he was ready to be examined when called. If this weren't enough, he proceeded to “entertain” the (mercifully sparse) waiting room by sliding the medial portion of his compound clavicular fracture out and in through his skin wound, a bit like a meercat on watch.

Whether or not this activity was designed to force a queue jump, it certainly had the desired effect as I metaphorically frogmarched a semi naked patient to the relative safety of my room. Terry couldn't really see why people had been upset and was really rather put out that his genuine efforts were not appreciated. After much mayhem, he eventually saw our orthopaedic colleagues and, in a remarkable tribute to their skill and Mother Nature's resilience, Terry now has a functioning shoulder with a minimal scar.

On reflection, I'm always a little unsettled by eccentricity and struggle between the areas of boundary setting and judgement. When does normal cross into eccentric and the eccentric drift into psychopathology? Perhaps we're all aware of our own wee eccentricities...

Other hoolet online articles by Alex Thain can be found at:
hoolet edition 50 - A Fairy Tale
hoolet edition 49 - A Tale of Two Addicts
hoolet edition 48 - The Supporter
hoolet edition 47 - Cannon Fodder
hoolet edition 46 - The Commercial Imperative Alternative
hoolet edition 46 - The Commercial Imperative Assassin
hoolet edition 45 - A Lateral Thought
hoolet edition 44 - The Watching
hoolet edition 43 - The Child Within
hoolet edition 42 - If Kipling were a GP
hoolet edition 42 - Of Directors, Philosophers and Poets
hoolet edition 40- Of Knees and Knickers
hoolet edition 39- Neighbour meets Norton
hoolet edition 38- Embarrassment
hoolet edition 37- From the Book of Negotiators
hoolet edition 36 - Practice Visit By WH Audit
hoolet edition 35 - The Bells, The Bells. . . .
hoolet edition 34 - Talking Urine
hoolet edition 33 - Reflections on Reggie Perrin
hoolet edition 32 - Myth 1 Logic 1
hoolet edition 31 - Poems
hoolet edition 30 - One Size Fits All
hoolet edition 29 - Downwardly Mobile
hoolet edition 28 - From the mouths of babes
hoolet edition 27 - On Losing Their Child

hoolet is the magazine of RCGP Scotland. It is supported intellectually, financially and emotionally by RCGP Scotland.

This issue maintained by Robert Hallam.