Chicken!

Yes, I played chicken today!  I didn’t go to the dentist!  Well, I call it being sensible rather than being scared!  I was just bothered that after only 2 days of taking antibiotics they may not have had time to kick in properly and I would end up in the same situation as on Monday, so I phoned the dental surgery and spoke to the receptionist.  She must have remembered me as she laughed when I explained and asked to make an appointment next week instead.  Not that I really want the tooth pulled at all, but I’d feel happier knowing that I’d taken the full course of antibiotics, and the infection should be gone!  So there we are!  I still have what remains of the tooth – and it’s not sore!  So I’ll forget about it till Wednesday!

Yesterday, the Lunch Group of the U3A met at the hotel just along the road for lunch.  I’m getting to know quite a number of the members now.  We had a lovely meal -  at very reasonable prices too - and lots of agreeable chatter!  Wynne’s off to Sicily for her holidays this year, and Alex and David are off to France to visit her son  soon, only the flight times between here and London have changed and they don’t know if they’ll be able to catch their connecting flight in time….

Jim kept us amused with photos on his i-phone of a public toilet in a garden centre in the south of England  where the urinals were in the form of brightly coloured flowers!  That set John off  on a tale about some extremely high rise building in Kowloon where the toilet walls are clear glass!  Was that the one that you could see out of but no-one could see in?  No I think that was a story from someone else!  Hmm!  and my most unusual loo was one in Australia years ago where the seats were  these resin ones with Smarties and glitter and  beads,etc. embedded in them!  They’re common place these days!  Amusing the first time I saw them!  The conversation did move to better things soon, and by the time lunch was over we had exhausted a good number of topics!

Later I drove Pat home and had a cup of tea with her, that lasted the whole afternoon as we talked and talked, about her books and paintings, and déja vu, and psychic encounters, then our family stories.  I loved the one about Pat’s great aunt from Wales, who wanted to vet her niece’s new boyfriend.  He was invited to afternoon tea,  a very “proper” affair for great–aunt, so her niece had to explain every little detail beforehand so that boyfriend could make the required impression!  Tea was served in a cup shaped bowl and poured into a deep saucer to be drunk, as was customary in days long gone by but by then not at all usual.  Jam for the scones was to be spooned first from the jam dish to the plate and then each little piece of scone spread individually before being consigned to the mouth …. Apparently despite BF being terrified of doing the wrong thing, all went well and great aunt gave her blessings to the relationship. 

Pat is now writing down all her reminiscences about her large extended Welsh and Irish families.  I’m sure they’ll keep her granddaughters amused for hours!  She has a great way with words, but I think her actions and her accents accompanying the stories enhance them tremendously!  Personally, I think everyone should have to write down their memories for the generations who follow.  I so relish my great great great grandfather’s journals and the “family narrative” manuscript written in the 1860s by a great great uncle whose own memories tell so much of the person he was and the times he was living in!

Reluctantly I left Pat’s around 6 o’clock and made for home via the DIY store. All in all, it had been a great day

….. and I didn’t think about the dentist once!