Audio

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:06:08 +0100

Happy Saturday

Sat, 18 May 2013 11:01:42 +0100

Happy Saturday

Just found a bit of The Croft in my house.

Fri, 17 May 2013 10:55:48 +0100

Just found a bit of The Croft in my house.

What more can I say?

Sat, 04 May 2013 14:43:23 +0100

What more can I say?

My DVD collection.

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 13:33:19 +0100

My DVD collection.

We’ve gone on holiday by mistake!

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 21:07:10 +0100

We’ve gone on holiday by mistake!

Dairy free cheese cake courtesy of Nikki Clarke, nom!

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:32:28 +0100

Dairy free cheese cake courtesy of Nikki Clarke, nom!

All packed for move! Living light.

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:28:29 +0000

All packed for move! Living light.

steve616: Evolution Of The Cybermen (Colourised) Updated...

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 11:23:24 +0000

steve616:

Evolution Of The Cybermen (Colourised)

Updated version of this post

Wacky Washing Machine!

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:12:10 +0000

Wacky Washing Machine!

Visiting Bodymore!

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 20:00:56 +0000

Visiting Bodymore!

The Dental Hygienist

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 13:01:48 +0000

The Dental Hygienist by Dan Tuesday

“Mister Muishkin?” the dental hygienist called down. That was my cue, I grabbed my coat and made my way up the stairs to have my mouth scrutinised. I’d grown quite attached to the stains left by 8 years of black coffee, red wine and cigarettes but spitting blood into a sink every morning had begun to lose its romantic overtones. I walked in, hung my coat and sat myself down while the hygienist checked my notes on her computer.

“Muishkin? That’s an unusual name, you didn’t happen to go to St Johns did you?”

My old school, I didn’t fear the dentist but I did fear bumping into people I went to school with, especially if they were about to stick their fingers in my mouth.

“Yeah, yeah I did.”

She turned around, I didn’t recognise her face.

“What year were you in?”

“All of them at some point”

“You know what I mean”

“Yeah sorry, I started in ‘98”

“Me too! I knew I recognised your name”

“What’s your name sorry?”

“Paula Saunders”

Now it made sense, Paula Saunders had been a good few ranks higher than myself in the social hierarchy and eight years had done a lot to her appearance. The nose job didn’t help matters either.

“Ah yeah, I remember now”

She lowered the dentist chair and shone a lamp into my mouth.

“I’m just going to put this vacuum tube in your mouth”

“Uh-huh”

“So what are you up to these days?” Paula asked as she took some kind of miniature electric chisel to my front teeth.

I’m surprised the stains on my teeth didn’t give it away.

“….‘ot ‘uch” I managed.

“What did you do after school? University?”

“….o”.

She removed the chisel, the vacuum tube whirred away but I was finally able to form a word.

“This and that, various jobs, bit of traveling, I was working in a coffee shop”

“How’s that going?”

“I lost my job”

“Oh dear”. She got back to work on my teeth, “Seems like everyone from our year is getting married and settling down, even me!”

“….’ongras..”

“Isn’t crazy how we’ve all grown up”

I keep forgetting I’m a grown up.

“Uh-huh”

“Any plans?” she asked as she removed the chisel and picked up a rather spiky looking instrument, at least this one wasn’t electronic.

“I’m actually moving abroad, one of the reasons I’m getting my teeth done, make the most the health service while I can!”

“Good idea” she laughed, “so nobody special in your life?”

“No one to speak of”

“That’s a shame”

“Ummmm…thanks?”

She got back to work on my teeth, digging the instrument into particularly deep and painful parts of my teeth I had no idea existed.

“Do you ever speak to Laura Bennett or Lucy Carter?”

They wouldn’t look at me in school, let alone talk to me.

“…o” I managed.

The digging and chipping continued, the vacuum tube droned on.

“There we go, all finished, there’s mouthwash on the side”

I sat up and picked up the cup.

“Thanks” I said sitting up before taking a mouthful of the green liquid and swirling it around my hacked gums. I got up, grabbed my coat and Paula handed me some documents to take to reception.

“Well it was nice seeing you again, good luck in the future!” she said smiling.

“Thanks again, and you” I replied, as I left the room made my way downstairs.

Future plans? I felt like the future had passed me by, my peers were now happy grown ups with real lives and I’d have to do a lot of running if I wanted to catch up.

I walked up to the receptionist and handed over the documents.

It’s not so bad I figured, if I can’t run their race I can always run away and at least now I can do it with clean teeth.

“That’ll be £44 please”

The most painful part of a dentist visit.