Thursday 29 May 2008

A Bonus Day

No, there’s not been an extra day added to the week but I didn’t get the rain and thunder forecast for today. Instead it’s been sunshine the whole day (and it was dry yesterday too), so I abandoned the rainy day stuff I had planned for today and got on with scything down the 1.5 metre high grass along the ditch on the other side of the new vegetable area. That with animal feeding and washing just about sums up today. It doesn’t sound a lot but it has taken the day.

The cats have loved the warm weather, cue cute picture of Cid giving Hazel a quick wash.

Still it gives me plenty of time to cover yesterday and Tuesday.

The fencing posts for the alpaca paddocks have arrived – hurrah; hopefully the person who’s going to put them in will be round soon. I’ve no idea who it is as it’s being arranged by Regis.

The main news from Tuesday was the arrival of two new alpacas so let me introduce you to Dior and Dartagnan. Dior, on the left is a female while Dartagnan on the right is a male. They have both settled in really well although I think Dartagnan is missing some of his previous herd mates and hums a lot. No such problems with Dior who I think will eventually give Silver a run for her money and not be bullied.

Wednesday’ main event for me was a trip to the dentist, yes, the 3 weeks wait was finally up and the appointment was at 3:30. I found the place without any hassle and went into the waiting room. It was quite a different experience from my dentist in the UK.

In the UK I was with a modern practice, all shiny, new, lots of receptionists and lots of people waiting usually over half an hour their allotted appointment time. Here I was the only person. Granted I did have to wait but not very long. The next difference was that there was only one dentist and a receptionist who worked in a room off the surgery and not in the reception area. It turned out they knew of me; the receptionist is a friend of my neighbour and I’m easily identifiable as the Brit with the alpacas. The dentist himself only lives about a kilometre away too.

I’d gone prepared with a drawing of my teeth and a list of relevant words with their French translation. I explained that I had one tooth with a big hole in it but it was the tooth next to it that was actually giving the pain.

Both teeth were worked on by my dentist in the UK. I had to go onto a private dental insurance due to a lack of NHS dentists in the area and I had more done to my teeth after going onto the plan than I had before going on to it and that included all the remedial work that had to be done before they would let you join the dental insurance plan. In this case, a deep filling had to be done, while the dentist pulled my tooth around to the point I thought he was trying to extract it he managed to dislodge a filling out of the side of the adjoining tooth, something neither of us noticed until later when I had to go back because I was having a problem with it. He drilled out the hole and put in a new filling…that lasted about a week. Back again and he drilled out a bit more and put in another filling. That lasted about a month; just long enough until I had arrived here and of course cancelled my insurance.

But it was the adjoining tooth that he’d worked on that was causing the problem now and oh I heard on the grapevine that he didn’t last very long at the dental practice.

The dentist here looked at the hole and decided to check that it wasn’t that causing the problem. Did he poke and prod, not at all, he used a cold spray which caused no reaction from me so he was then happy that it was the other tooth. Another thing that was nice was there was no dental assistant dragging open one side of my mouth while a dentist worked on the other, it was far more gentle I didn’t feel so assaulted and I was actually able to talk to the dentist.

He removed the filling from the other tooth and saw that 2 of the roots had been killed but the previous dentist had left/missed the third when he did the previous work. It’s this root that is now part dead and decaying that is giving the pain. I’ve now got a temporary filling while the gunk that’s been put inside the root is hopefully killing it and I have to go back in 3 weeks for the next bit of work.

Another difference to the UK was the lack of anaesthetic injection. They were almost standard at my last practice and often resulted in very sore gums for a day or two where the 2 or 3 (for some reason one injection point never seemed to work on my gums) needles had been inserted. I was really impressed as I felt no pain what so ever. I flinched a tiny bit when he very gently poked the live root which then confirmed that it was the problem, but really it was nothing.

Wednesday evening I realised that it had been dry and warm enough to dry the alpine strawberry plants and on closer inspection they had been ripening despite the lack of sunshine. As rain was on the cards for today, I wasted no time and got picking. While I picked, the mosquitoes feasted. I think I managed to kill about as many as bites I received – I have about 20 – they were biting through my leggings and tights as well as my arms, talk about voracious. Still it was worth it, I got two baskets of berries that are destined to become Alpine Strawberry Preserve. Scones anyone?

Update on Super Mouse; he may have had his chips. The trap was sprung this morning and there was a much smaller mouse in there than last time. I think it might have been Super Mouse but the trap is back down and I’ll see if I catch any more. I might bait the humane trap again as well, if Super Mouse still lives he’ll get the bait from there with no problem and I’ll know he’s still about.


3 comments:

aims said...

I was just at the dentist too. Seems two of my fillings have come out but there isn't any pain so no huge rush to fill them. I don't mind the dentist at all. I drive 40 minutes to get to mine and do so because he is so good. Nothing beats a good dentist.

I've never heard of alpine berries. They look a bit like rasberries tho. I guess I'll google them and see what they are all about.

Georgina said...

Our dentist doesn't even have a receptionist. He's very nice and we just turn up and wait in turn. I have only ever had check ups as touch wood no treatment required. Your alpacas look too cute for words. Good luck with the fencing, the ground should be perfect. Debs x

Debra in France said...

Your new alpacas look lovely. I hope that they settle in well.

I haven't yet been to a dentist in France. My dentist in the UK for a private one but he was one of my hairdressing clients and often didn't charge me for checkups and other bits done. He was wonderful. Apparently the local dentist here doesn't believe in using anaesthetic. She says that she finds that it masks the situation she is working on! Hmm, maybe thats why I haven't gone to her!