{"id":1190,"date":"2022-05-10T15:54:54","date_gmt":"2022-05-10T15:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1190"},"modified":"2022-05-10T15:54:58","modified_gmt":"2022-05-10T15:54:58","slug":"your-friendly-neighbourhood-gp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/your-friendly-neighbourhood-gp\/1190\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Friendly Neighbourhood GP"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mavis Potter reclined in her seat, her body visibly deflating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018That\u2019s such a relief, Dr Parker. I was certain it was a brain tumour. Thank you for seeing me out of hours again. You really are a hero.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Just doing my job. The migraine should subside soon, and the tablets will help. In future, remember that stress can be a trigger – that includes googling symptoms.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Dr Paul Parker\u2019s smile reached the corners of his eyes, kindness radiating out of him. Mavis basked in it for a moment. A visit to the GP was as good as a holiday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            She floated out of the surgery. \u2018Thank you, Dr!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

            With a groan, Paul rose to his feet, stiff with arthritis. As he fumbled for his keys, the phone rang. His wife\u2019s name, Rita, flashed up. His stomach lurched in anticipation. He knew the drill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Where are you, Paul?\u2019 she would say, her voice an octave too high. \u2018Dinner\u2019s almost ready. Honestly, at seventy-four, you\u2019ve earned your retirement.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            He ignored the phone and shuffled to his car, delaying the inevitable conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Sure enough, at home he was greeted by the aroma of dinner cooking and Rita\u2019s well-rehearsed lecture, which she delivered without looking up from her chores, except to plant a plum-coloured kiss on his cheek. Their son and his family, regular Friday night visitors, buzzed around them. The clatter and clamour made Paul\u2019s head hurt and he collapsed into his chair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018What are you up to, boys?\u2019 he sighed, grasping for any distraction. His two pre-teen grandsons barely looked up from their laptop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Rita handed Paul a glass of wine and he sipped distractedly, the nasal voice resonating from the computer grating on his nerves. He stood and walked around the table to see the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            \u2018Who\u2019s that?\u2019 He took a large swig of wine and swallowed hard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A YouTuber,\u2019 they chimed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018What sort of example does a YouTuber set for young people? How to be famous without any skills? In my day, we had comics, not computers. Super-heroes to aspire to, who saved lives. Kids these days have no ambition.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Chill out, Grandad!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Exactly,\u2019 said Rita as she breezed past. \u2018You do need to chill out.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul slammed down his drink and stomped, much more slowly than he would have liked, upstairs to retrieve his beloved comics. He\u2019d teach those youngsters about real heroes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The comic was yellowed and tattered, yet the images on the cover still made Paul\u2019s heart rate accelerate. But when he opened it, he gasped. Spiderman was swinging in a spider-web hammock, hands resting behind his head. Venom lay on a sofa, watching Netflix. Instead of \u2018Zap,\u2019 the caption said, \u2018Nap.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Who knew?\u2019 said his Grandson. \u2018Even super-heroes hang up their capes eventually.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the laughter that followed, Paul felt a calm settle over him. He allowed a smile to creep across his face as they cleared the table for dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside the comic, Spiderman gave Venom a High-Five. \u2018Still inspiring sixty years on!\u2019 he winked.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mavis Potter reclined in her seat, her body visibly deflating. \u2018That\u2019s such a relief, Dr Parker. I was certain it was a brain tumour. Thank you for seeing me out of hours again. You really are a hero.\u2019             \u2018Just doing my job. The migraine should subside soon, and the tablets will help. In future, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10158782359051062_103813597863211":"","twitter_1225722811282530305_1225722811282530305":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[597,624],"tags":[8,20,558],"class_list":["post-1190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-597","category-may-2022-hero","tag-he","tag-his","tag-paul"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbrNJE-jc","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1190"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1190\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1195,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1190\/revisions\/1195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swanseawriterscircle.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}