Distractions and Extractions

What a week it has been! The weather has been extremely blustery, let alone wet ... rain, and yet more heavy rain (I got wet to my undies on one occasion - but perhaps that's a little TMI!).

My week began as I accompanied my mother to a dental appointment. We have the most delightful dentist, who is kind and gentle (well, as gentle as any dentist can be), and has become more of a family friend than a health provider, but we knew that this trip would not be an easy one, so she was a little on tenterhooks.

I sat in the treatment room with her, joking in between injections to try and keep her mind off the fact that she would be having a number of teeth extracted ... which is of course not the most pleasant of situations for anyone, especially as one of her teeth had fused to the jaw bone, and took a little bit more brute force than average to get out!

She was understandably a bit of a poorly person for the following few days, and quickly began to resemble a hamster gathering all she owned inside her cheeks just as daylight was dawning, but nevertheless, she managed to eat some soft food, and down the necessary pain medication.

We now fast forward a few days, and her recovery is going quite well - the stitches were knitting together, and her gums beginning to heal, but whilst sitting at the dinner table, my father heard a crunch, and felt something peculiar suddenly appear in his mouth ... only to discover that a bridge (containing three teeth) had dislodged itself.

Although somewhat stunned by this event, he looked at the bridge, then at my mother and simply said "Well, we've been together 47 years, and my teeth are just coming out in sympathy"! Awww ... that's true love for you ... x

Fortunately he was able to get an emergency appointment to fix this predicament, and there was a huge sigh of relief on hearing that the work entailed would not be as extensive (or indeed expensive) as he had originally surmised - he blurted out "At least I won't have to mortgage the car", leaving our delightful Hungarian dentist giggling once again at some Newth family humour. Sadly however, he also had to endure an extraction, and the stitches are currently knitting things together.

I also found myself in stitches, but of a different kind a few days later. Whilst waiting in a queue in a well known supermarket, I began to overhear a rather muddled conversation which was taking place between two older women - probably in their late 70's - who were standing directly behind me. We were lined up near a newspaper and magazine stand, and one of the women read out a headline involving a high profile voluptuous celebrity ... at which point these dear women launched into a full blown discussion on the value of British light entertainment.

Of course she's in "Up the jungle", I heard her say. Well, I was aware that there were several concurrent reality tv shows on at present, but "Up the jungle?". Ah yes, well, not being a viewer myself it took a moment to work out which show she was referring to. These two dears continued to denigrate the state of British television, but if they could have heard themselves, I think they may have been a little less vocal ...

"As for Saturday night entertainment" the more outspoken of the two continued, "there simply isn't anything decent to watch any more". Her friend, who seemed to be more timid in nature tried to suggest that she enjoyed a little bit of television for company, and before the word "Strictly" had even left her lips, her friend interjected " Oh, you mean "I strictly can't dance", at which point I could hear a suppressed snigger, which took on the form of a congested cough, coming from a member of the queue in front of me.

"I don't know", our opinionated friend continued, "What with "I can't dance" on the one side, and "I can't sing" on the other ... what has Saturday night telly come to? I'd much prefer to just sit quietly and do my crossword" she said, whilst fiercely folding her arms. Her friend seemed to be left with little retort having been put firmly in her place, but a number of others around me were smirking none the less. Perhaps as we get older, we've earned the right to just say what we think, and say it like it is ...?!

Nevertheless, with the weather forecast suggesting yet more heavy rain for the foreseeable future, it seems that my Saturday night may well be spent sitting in front of the box watching "I strictly can't dance" ... at least its worth a try ...