Tuesday 29 June 2021

'Devil Whirls'

I don't know where to start. Perhaps I'd better just pick up where I left off...

Towards the end of Midsummer Eve, Friday evening, I cracked a tooth (a pre-molar in the upper jaw). It broke in two, but the loose half did not fall out. I spent the rest of the weekend keeping my jaws clenched and/or keeping the tooth in placer with my tongue; with occasional breaks for very careful intake of fluids and half-liquid/mashed food. And worrying about how to manage Monday, when I knew I'd need to call my dentist first thing, hoping they'd be able to fit me in the same day, and preferably early, as in the late afternoon I also had my important 2nd covid jab scheduled, which I also had to count on to perhaps be followed by similar flu-like side-effects as with the first one, and...

Well, I did my best to distract myself from worrying too much over things I could not do anything about over the weekend anyway. But it wasn't easy!

I thought of contacting an on-call dentist but for one thing I wasn't in severe pain (just "in trouble"), and for another I really thought it best to have my regular dentist handle it. (Even if she's new and I'd only met her once before. But I've been going to the same clinic for 30 years, and they have all my dental records etc.) 

On Monday morning I got up early; I needed to get dressed and have some sort of breakfast (yogurt) before calling (as soon as they opened), in case they would be able to fit me in early. I called around 7:50, actually did get an appointment at 8:30 (and walking into town takes me around 25 minutes)... Good news: Although it was a tricky job, the dentist was able to replace the broken-off half of the tooth with a filling. (Bad news: Next time something happens to that tooth it might not be fixable any more... But I'll worry about that when the time comes...)

I was back home again before 10 am, and my covid jab was not until 5:30 pm (across town). In between, a (local) friend messaged me - the same friend who was kind enough last time to offer to drive me to the vaccination center. I asked if she would have time to do it again, and she did. I feared there might be more of a queue this time, as I knew they were carrying out at least around 1500 vaccinations that day.* But again, it turned out well organised. I got there around 5:20 and was out again by 5:45 including the 15 minutes wait afterwards. 

*The reason I knew the number of people that day is that all of us were the same 65+ who had been given our first jab the last weekend in April. (My friend's husband also among them, by the way. But not the same time of day as me.) Back then, we were all told we'd have to wait until 2 August for our second jab, i.e. 14 weeks, which was longer than the 9-12  recommended. In between, some people have protested about that; and then recently the 'delta' version of the virus caused some concern, so the authorities decided to reschedule after all, and - with extra resources - moved all of us forward to 28 June. So we ended up waiting only 9 weeks instead of 14!

Felt very relieved last night to have it over and done with, but was prepared to face similar side-effects as last time setting in during the night or morning (fever, headache, muscle ache etc). However, that did not happen. My morning temperature was normal and I felt pretty much as usual (except still a bit sore in my mouth, from the dental job!) 

So I even decided to go for a walk into town (late morning, back before noon) and take some photos of that new sculpture at the travel centre; which by now I knew had been unveiled already the day before (we caught a glimpse of it from the car when driving to the vaccination centre). They filmed it in advance to include it in a digital celebration of the town's 400th birthday today.

Here it is:

 




 

I like the sculpture; less sure about the name... But while writing this post, it struck me as a quite suitable title for this whole post after all...!

More about the 400th jubilee and some other things to follow - another day.


12 comments:

  1. I am glad this all turned out so well for you! I don't know how you got any sleep the night before. Is this sculpture supposed to be something, or just whatever you see in it?

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    1. Ginny, I guess in one way, all art is what the beholder sees in it. The artist has made more similar ones also including "twister" or "whirl" in the title, though.

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  2. You're extremely lucky they were able to save the tooth, the dentists I worked for would've taken it out.

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    1. Amy, it was the dentist's opinion that the best option was to try a filling in this case. But she also warned me that if it didn't work out or if the tooth breaks again they might have to take it out. So far, so good, though!

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  3. Oh dear, what a devil's whirl of events for you! You must be so relieved that your dentist was able to help you quickly, and that all went well with your 2nd jab. Phew!
    I like the sculpture, and I see you have parked your eScooter in front of it ;-)
    How did it happen with the tooth? Were you biting on anything particularly hard and crunchy?
    Oh, and happy 400th birthday, Boras!

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    1. Meike, more a case of long-lasting wear and tear and the final straw, I think... I have a mouth full of old fillings, and alas have broken a number of teeth in later years on "nothing special". The final straw in this case just a rather ordinary piece of brown bread, I think.
      As for the eScooters (for hire), they have been introduced here quite recently and are quickly becoming a nuisance (used carelessly by many youngsters and left everywhere and anywhere...) I don't think I'd dare use one, I don't trust my sense of balance enough these days.

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  4. what ever the name, i am loving this sculpture! one of my favorites. it is beautiful and looks like a whirlwind or tornado. so happy for you all of your trials worked out fine in the end and all was done without a problem. good news in spite of the dental work

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    1. Thanks Sandra. I agree about the sculpture, and actually it's also replacing a different one that used to be in the same spot before, which I think was called Tornado. That one was a sort of multi-coloured spiral shape and I think it will be (or has been) moved to some other spot. (They have moved quite a few pieces around this summer, in connection with also cleaning/repairing them.)

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  5. This is a pretty sculpture, tho I don't care for the name. Whirls would be a fitting name. Your Boras has a lot of attractive public art. What an ordeal you had with your tooth and great they could see you and fix it quickly.

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    1. Terra, maybe the artist just had a particularly difficult time putting this sculpture together... ;) And yes the town has made a special effort over the past decade or so to become known for art and design (getting rid of its old reputation of just being a rather dull industrial town)

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  6. I just can't make up my mind about the sculpture.

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    1. Good news Graham: you don't have to!🙃 (I often feel that way about various works of art myself...)

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