Dentists and patience

I had a dental check-up this morning. I've been to this dentist for some thirteen and a half years now and he's pretty friendly and tolerant. I thought about this when I had my mouth wide open, with him poking around and proving that he could still remember the alphabet. I have never been particularly concerned about going to have my teeth checked - even as a small boy. However, I do find it difficult to just keep my mouth open for long periods and always have done. I had a de-scale and clean and had to keep gulping, whereupon he and his nurse wheeled away in frustration, fiddled with their masks and unnecessarily adjusted the overhead light, before proceeding.

I suppose being patient does not make me a good patient, but it was hard for either of us to complain about it.

Teddy

Our daughter still clings to her teddy bear - Winnie - each night. In fact our sons do too. Come to think of it, my wife's teddy and my own beloved Bonzer still sit in our bedroom. Teddies are special because they comfort us and remind us that when we were little all of our fears disappeared into the black depths of night.

Yesterday, Hayley came to me with a poem she'd written at school which I had to share, contradictory though it is to her's and my realities but showing an understanding of what it is to grow up:

"All teddies are special
All teddies are soft, though
Sometimes the love goes and
They get shoved up in the loft"

Rain deer

We've spent much of the weekend driving the children to various friends and activities, but also taking in some of the pretty Cambridgeshire villages nearby. Today we planned to do some work in the garden but it's pouring with rain. However, an old friend, the deer, walked down the garden path and helped us with some weeding. Truly beauty is everywhere around.

Ruddy Hell! It's quite good

I'm really enjoying the BBC TV series 'Ruddy Hell! It's Harry and Paul, featuring Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse. Their feel for the absurd and cutting satire is as spot on as ever and the currency of the spoof of Jose Mourinho and footballer Didier Drogna is fabulous. Last night we were introduced to a sad 52-year old man whose 'girlfriend' was "only 24." This story played out in the way we all knew it would with him being sad and oily and eventually just sad when the girlfriend realised she couldn't rip him off further and left him all alone again.

I think that's why I enjoy the series - it's sketches appear to lampoon one character but it is more three dimensional than that and the stories actually reveal truths or show scenes to be two-way mirrors of reality.

One criticism is that some of the scenes are just too long - a similar problem to Catherine Tate's show - and, good though the characters and premise is, they're beginning to drag and be a drag.

I've always admired Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse without actually liking either; perhaps that's why these sketches can engage viewers so well as we don't really care about the actors as people themselves