A couple of weeks ago I sat over Cappuccino in the local bar when overhearing the village plumber talking about antibiotics. No, I didn't eavesdrop. That would be an impossible thing to do in a Tuscan bar where people generally shout as if everybody present was wearing a hearing aid. Therefore anybody, whether closest in kin or total stranger is invited to join the conversation. Not that you have to. You're free to keep your head buried in the local newspaper. And that's exactly what I did that particular morning. Not for long though. As a homeopath I'm obviously as concerned about the over- and misuse of antibiotics as the man who installed our shower box. Every inhabitant of a Tuscan village has a nickname. Behind his back the plumber is being called Il Professore - the professor. Now I know why. Who else could be bothered to publicly address the growing nightmare of antibiotic resistance first thing over coffee on a Monday morning?