Danskcolin: Thursday February 25th 2022

11:00 Our first day home and it's going to be slightly ruined by a visit to the dentist - yikes!!!!

It's our first day back home, for Lois and me, after our week's stay with our daughter Alison and family in Headley, Hampshire. I've got to have filling, and Lois wants a consultation over a problem tooth.

The worst thing is that it's yet another new dentist we haven't met before. Oh for the old days, when for most of our married life our dentist was good old "Mr Williams" [Why the quotation-marks. Isn't that his real name? - Ed] [oh all right, I'll let you have that one! - Colin].

"Mr Williams" [There you go again! - Ed] retired about the same time that Lois and I did, around 2006 or a bit later, and since then you would not believe how many changes of dentist there have been at the surgery.

It's dental madness!!!!

First we had the nice Canadian dentist Caroline, then the dodgy senior dentist who had Caroline fired, then young Josh who cleared off to pastures new, then the Romanian Daria, and now this guy Keshan, who's just joined the practice and doesn't know where everything is kept - he says it's like cooking in somebody else's kitchen, which is a good analogy I imagine.

Lois is nervous because Keshan has a foreign name - she's not prejudiced against foreigners, she just doesn't like people whose English she can't understand. And who could blame her? It's important if you're discussing options for treatment, where you don't want to keep having to say "I'm sorry. Can you say that again please?"

I had no problems with Daria for instance, but Lois couldn't handle her Romanian accent.

Daria, the Romanian dentist with the good, relaxed conversation skills

and the charming smile, photographed here, pre-pandemic, with a typical patient

Luckily it turns out that Keshan speaks English as well as you and me, and probably better: he must have been born here, that's for sure. And he's got a great sense of humour, which is rare in a dentist. I have constant trouble this morning trying not to laugh with a dozen dental instruments and probes in my mouth, which is a challenge, that's for sure.

Keshan, who's just joined the practice - and he speaks

English as well as you and me: and probably better haha!!!

I go in first and then Lois has her consultation. She wants to know if she can avoid having a tooth taken out, but Keshan says unfortunately no. So she makes another appointment for April.

Keshan wants to see me again in May for my 6-monthly check-up, so I make an appointment for both Lois and me for early June. And we'll also see Ursula the hygienist the same morning.

while Lois is having her consultation, I amuse myself

in the waiting room by taking selfies

Ursula the hygienist

I feel slightly disappointed after the visit. I find I really like Keshan, and I've been thinking Lois will like him too, but she's less than effusive: nothing to do with Keshan as a person. She finds it really hard to like dentists, because of what they represent- the world of dentistry. Oh dear !!!

15:00 Meanwhile our daughter Alison and husband Ed in Hampshire have had their new electric car delivered, which is exciting. Lois and I have no plans to "go electric", however. We instinctively reject any new ideas, until we are forced, by UN sanctions, if necessary, to do otherwise!

Our son-in-law Ed with his 11-year-old son Isaac

showcasing their new "shortie" haircuts and the family's new so-called "electric car"

20:00 We watch a bit of TV, last Sunday's edition of "Antiques Roadshow", a series where members of the public bring along treasured, or just mysterious, mementos from their attics, and have them valued by experts in the field.

Recently, although neither Lois or I can remember exactly where or when, we heard about special glasses that they used to make ceremonial horses wear - the sort of horses that took part in state occasions or other prestigious events. The glasses were designed to make the horses think that they were going uphill when they weren't.

This made the horses lift their knees up, thinking they were going uphill, and this made their little trots look more impressive or "military"-like.

What nonsense !!!! And poor horses !!!!!

Now, tonight on Antiques Roadshow, we hear about special glasses for hens.

What is the world coming to????!!!!!!

Even presenter Fiona Bruce, after all her years presenting Antiques Roadshow, is rather surprised, to put it mildly. My god !!!!!

Apparently, back in the 1950's and 1960's, when everybody in the Northern Ireland countryside had a few hens, and they were all run free-range, hens would have pecked one another. And once they had seen blood on another hen, they would peck that hen to death.

What was the solution? Well, apparently, people used to put little glasses on the hens' beaks, which made everything the hens looked at seem red. So they didn't notice any blood and they weren't tempted to peck each other to death.