One of the many – out of MANY MANY MANY – reasons I love living where I do is how well connected I am by public transport in my barrio. And especially since getting my old geezer free bus pass, in combination with THE KNEE mobility issues, I can just hop on hop off taking buses for one or two stops… and trust me sometimes that makes all the difference.

Anyhow, today I had an appointment with the cardiologist at the ridiculously beautiful but otherwise not especially efficient Hospital Duque del Infantado. Get this. I saw my GP on March 17th and within a couple of weeks had received dates for two specialists appointments – Cardio and an MRI for my neck and shoulder. In fact, I had to move the MRI forward because I still had that pesky cough from when I was sick a couple of weeks ago. Meanwhile I am STILL WAITING TO HEAR ABOUT THE KNEE SPECIALIST APPT THAT I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR SINCE OCTOBER. Fuck.

In the past, just like when I go to Hospital Virgen del Rocío, I’ve always just grabbed a taxi at the end of my street in front of the posh Gran Meliá Hotel Colón (always lots of taxis there). Six to eight euros well spent, I reckoned. But this week is Semana Santa, which means the Bastard Taxi Pirates are out for anything they can get. Yes, there is an official Semana Santa surcharge, but I just didn’t want to have to go through the hassle of all that. And so I checked the bus routes and saw… OMG… I could catch the updated Línea 3 not far from home and get dropped off about five minutes from the hospital. FOR FREE.

And it’s a good thing I discovered this as I now have an appointment there on April 28th to get a 24-hour Holter, and that is also where I will see the knee surgeon WHENEVER THAT HAPPENS. It’s actually one of the two specialist hospitals I end up at most. The other one, Clínica Fleming, is also accessible by bus. For now. It’s this time of year that I start to worry about whether my landlord is going to renew my contract in the summer, and I will now be on tenterhooks until July. But for now… just loving living here.