An American in Provence

Last week I was the unwitting recipient of a French Medical First. No, I'm not talking about a face transplant or first artificial brain.
I am talking about....
A French doctor being on time for the appointment.
I know all of you foreigners in France are thinking...
Whoah!!!!!!!
I have been going to this doctor's office since I arrived in 2005. The name on the door is Dr. (first name) X-Y.
It took me three years to figure out that it was Dr. X and Dr. Y, not Dr. X-Y.
Anyway, every time I had gone to see Dr. X, I always waited 30 minutes to 1 hour after my scheduled appointment time.
However, recently Dr. X has been sick, so I have been seeing Dr. Y.
My appointment last week was for 6 pm. I left work at 5, missed the first bus to the parc-relais, so didn't get to the car until about 5:25. Didn't get back to Marseille until 6. By the time I parked and got to the doctor's office, it was about 6:15. No problem! It will be at least 20 minutes before I am called.
Except that Dr. Y was leaving as I entered- apparently she had a conference to go to, and couldn't wait any longer. Wow- a doctor waited for me?!

I had to reschedule for this week, and a bit later too.
This time, Dr. Y was on time as well.
Could the old regime be changing? Who knows.

Though judging by the other doctors, such as my eye doctor, I am thinking no.
I quickly realized that if you do not want to wait hours after your scheduled time in France, you should either schedule your appointment for the first thing in the morning, or right at the end of the day. First thing in the morning there haven't been too many people before you dragging their feet, and at the end of the day the doctor wants to go home so he hustles them out the door faster.
The problem is that in France, there are no nurse assistants that do the preliminaries- taking temperature and blood pressure, asking the basics about how you are feeling, etc. The doctor does it all. Which I guess is better for the patient, but means a longer wait for everyone.