29th October 2008

I've always thought that men can't cope with pain as well as women. Yesterday proved that Him indoors is no exception. It was time for a trip to the dentist. Of course, knowing him as I do, I expected the usual array of jokes nonetheless. Tell them I want an appointment at tooth-hurty (2.30). No! So, we set off for the picturesque Cordes sur Ciel, a beautiful bastide village in our region, where our local dentist is situated. The terrain all around the cite is very high, stony lanes impossibly steep leading up in a circuitous route, past the inevitable ancient castle, high up into the hills. But the day wasn't the day for sight-seeing, even though Him indoors said we should look for the plaque on the wall!
There are excellent dentistes throughout France, around 330 dentists per 100,000 inhabitants, but few in rural areas offer an emergency service. We were lucky to find one who speaks English, as most don't. However, 'Aaargh!' is the same in any language. Inside, the surgery was scrupulously clean. We found the salle d'attente waiting room and Him indoors insisted on practising his French through the tinny intercom on the wall. C'est Monsieur.......... A few seconds later, after some tinny shuffling of papers, came Oui, attendre un instant.... After the inevitable half-an-hour wait, trying to understand the many French magazines chronicling the Boer War (!), H was summoned by the tinny intercom. I waited for the inevitable Aaargh sounds, but surprisingly all was quiet. Maybe Madame la dentiste wasn't looking down in the mouth. Oh no, it's now getting to me too. Soon H came out, holding his jaw. What did she say? 'She said my tooth is cracked and I've got to come back again to have it taken out.' Oh no. 'Yes. I asked her why and she said it was normal at my age. But I told her 'all the other teeth are the same age and they don't hurt!'
Some things never change.