26 June 2018

Never a dull moment

As Sue and I approached Mennetou-sur-Cher late on a Saturday afternoon, June 2, we passed a couple of cars full of young men celebrating some event by leaning out of car windows, shouting and cheering at passersby and passing cars like ours, and generally having a good time. Then as we parked outside the lower gate at Mennetou, two cars of young women passed by. They were behaving exactly the same way. We never found out whether all the noise-making and glee had to do with some sporting event, or maybe having passed some kind of exam at school. Sue took the photo on the right. I just want to make the point that Mennetou is a real, living town, and not some movie set or museum piece. Young people live there, not just wrinklies like us.




There were some cars parked in different spots around the old town, but I don't remember seeing any moving vehicles as we walked along the narrow, curvy streets taking pictures. I don't really know if it's legal to drive into the old town, but CHM reminded me in a comment a couple of days ago that he and I did just that one day a while back. I think going in with your car is not recommended but tolerated. The houses in this picture are located near Mennetou's east gate, La Porte Bonne-Nouvelle.




I just read on this page outlining the history of Mennetou that the first monastery founded at this point along the Cher River, toward the end of the 6th century, was pillaged and plundered by invading Vikings in the 9th and 10th centuries. That was the end of that. It seems like there has never been a dull moment in Mennetou. I think I much prefer young celebrants blowing their car horns and cheering wildly to the prospect of fierce Vikings terrorizing the town.




There's not a lot of commerce — not many shops — in Mennetou, but there are a few. The one here sells gifts and decorative items for your home. Another sells sewing supplies and gives sewing lessons. And then there's that well-known charcuterie that specializes in the chitterling sausages called andouillettes. The bakery in the first photo above is just outside the lower town gate, La Porte d'En-Bas, on the main road that runs along the south side of the old town. There are a couple of cafés down there too.

I like this ghostly white, fairly severe house. I don't know how old it might be, but it looks to be half-timbered.

Update: Yesterday the nurse I had called came to the house to take out the stitches that the dermatologist put in when I had outpatient surgery earlier this month. It was a painless process that took only 15 or 20 minutes. She said the incision has healed nicely and looks very clean and neat. I asked her what I owed her and she said she didn't really know. She took my Carte Vitale, the national health service ID card, with her when she left, saying she'd bring it back later in the day after went back to her office and figured out what the charges to me and to the health service would be. Then she called me on the phone and said my "co-pay" — the un-reimbursed portion of the bill — would be 3.52 euros (about $4 U.S.). The full charge for her visit and care was 8.80 (about $10). That's pretty reasonable, no? She brought my card back and I handed her a check.

7 comments:

  1. Eight euros is what I paid the nurse last year for changing daily the dressing on my leg and I don’t have a carte vitale.

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    1. I didn't have a Carte Vitale for the first three years we lived here. I still found the doctors' fees and prescription medications very reasonably priced.

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  2. Mennetou is a lovely place. Your photos do it justice. I'm glad the stitches are out with such little hassle. Health care in France is remarkable.

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  3. "That's pretty reasonable, no?" It's insanely reasonable! When I go for a physical exam and get a vaccination as part of it, the doctor leaves and calls the nurse in to give me the shot. The charge for that is many many times what you paid for your stitch removal, and includes a separate charge for the vaccine itself plus the nurse administering it. Maybe the needle is thrown in for free.

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    1. As I've probably said before, when we first came to live in Saint-Aignan, we were not covered by the Sécurité Sociale. We paid the full rate for doctor visits and prescription drugs. But even the full cost was about what I paid in co-pays in California. And I had very good private insurance there because the companies I worked for (including Apple) provided it. Fifteen years ago, it cost 20 euros to go see a doctor in France. Now it's 25 euros. What does it cost to see your primary care physician in the U.S.?

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  4. Reasonable? A 3.52 euro copay is unheard of in these parts. Multiply by 10, or 20, lol. Love the moss on the roof tiles in the town. Perhaps the youngsters in the cars were celebrating some world cup victory?

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    1. So 60% of the nurse's fee was covered by the Sécurité Sociale, and my portion was 40%. My coverage is free because I have a small retirement pension from the Sécurité Sociale. As CHM said, he paid the full cost of having a nurse come to his home to change his bandage after he injured himself in an accident, and it cost him 8 euros per visit. That's the beauty of the nationalized healthcare system: it fixes the fees and prescription medicine costs. Doctors can only charge more if they opt out of the system. Most people won't pay more so they stick with care that is controlled and subsidized by the Sécurité Sociale.

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