"suddenly thinking you are French is terrifying"

This baffling condition sounds like something nearly every addled-brained lefty Manhattanite suffers from:

She lives in Bristol and works in Bath. But Louise Clarke became convinced she was French. A rare brain disorder left the 30-year-old recruitment consultant believing she was living in Paris.

She started speaking French all the time, rang her friends to invite them to stay in the French capital - and asked to eat croissants. She was also plagued by migraines and hallucinations and ended up so confused that her worried family took her to hospital. After months of tests, she became one of only 200 people in the world to be diagnosed with Susac's Syndrome.

The disorder is thought to be brought on by stress and affects the brain, ears and eyes, mainly among young women. In Miss Clarke's case, it appears to have brought back memories from when she was living in France four years ago and confused them with the present. "It might sound funny to others, but suddenly thinking you are French is terrifying," she said.

In October 2004, she began to become confused, disorientated and suffered cloudy vision. "It started with migraines and hallucinations," she said.

In the spirit of equanimity, I can post this with a perfectly clear conscience.