Poor me!

No, not a fairy story, though I’m hopeful it will have a happy ending. My regular check up at the GP’s. Though just before I went up there I think I overdid howking out the spiky plant’s roots. OK, I did. I could hardly stand up. Ouch indeed. But make my way there I did.
And I’d never seen this plaque outside the surgery before.
Apparently HCA’s guide in Edinburgh was the great pioneer of anaesthesia, James Young Simpson who had a “country” house nearby.
it seems that one entertainment which was less successful was an after-dinner ether sniffing event held at Simpson’s gaff. Andersen thought that anaesthesia was a boon for operations, but “wasn’t suitable for entertainment as it was not nice to see the ladies - they laughed with open, dead eyes.”
Takes me years back to our after dinner events in Shandon; though that was 100% Malbec.