Broken Tooth, New Government, and First Frost

Another week gone by... (I wonder how many blog posts over the years began with that very phrase?) 

On Tuesday, I had a dental appointment; and much as I suspected, it turned out an old crown was broken, and needed replacing. (It came out as soon as the dental hygienist gently poked it.) It will be a similar big job as with another tooth back in spring - I know "the drill" by now... (ha ha) So here I am with a temporary filling, and needing to be inventive with my meals for a while again. Got a lengthy (1 hr) appointment at the end of the month for "preparations", and then I'll have to wait a couple of more weeks or so for the crown to be made, and another appointment to have it fitted... 

Well, to look on the bright side - it's autumn, and a good season to try out soup recipes...

Tuesday was also an Important Politics Day, and besides my visit to the dentist's I spent a good deal of it in front of the TV, as it it was the day our new Swedish government was introduced (the result of negotiations between four parties that have been going on since the election back in September). 

The new prime minister is the rather short man in the middle (Ulf Kristersson). Basically, the new government consists of representatives from three right-wing parties, with a fourth large one lurking in the shadows behind them. (I.e. with no official representatives in the government, but pulling quite a few strings anyway. Not least when it comes to stricter migrations politics.)

In what ways they will live up to their promises (or threats, depending on the point of view) remains to be seen. (Like so many other countries we're still in a situation of nearly half the population having wished for a different outcome of the election.)

Wednesday was laundry day for me (as it often is). It was also a sunny day for a change (after a number of rainy ones), so between turns to the laundry room, I continued with winter preparations on the balcony: like wrapping the wooden bench out there in a tarpaulin. I also took in a couple of geraniums - one of them about to bloom. (Crazy plant/s... They've had all summer, and choose not to produce flowers until the end of October!) Good thing I did, because that night we did get the first frost. (Which killed off the remaining painted nettles; but I had counted on that. I have more of those indoors.) Continued my "autumn cleaning" of the balcony on Thursday afternoon (which was also sunny). The strawberry plants are rather hardy, though, so they'll be up for a while yet. (Before it gets seriously wintry, I'll put them in hibernation beneath the tarpaulin-covered bench.) I also went out for two walks: Before lunch to the supermarket for a few "extras" (as it was the week between my online-order weeks); and again in the afternoon, "just for a walk" (and some photos).

 

Man made Leaf Blowers competing with the forces of Nature this week!

On Friday we were back to grey and rainy (and a bit milder). I seemed to spend a good deal of that day messing up the kitchen by making soup from whatever I could find in the fridge that might suit the purpose. I did follow a basic recipe for carrot soup that I found online, but as usual I didn't have all the suggested ingredients, or the right proportions of them, so exchanged this for that and that for this... The result was a carrot-onion-ginger-potato-red lentils-chicken bullion concoction. Frozen in portions and might be improved by some actual pieces of chicken thrown in when I heat it up... (No photos. I had my hands full!)

Today, another grey day, catching up with a bit of this and that (including blogging).

'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.

Tooth Fairies and Trolls

 

(Tooth Trolls; drawing by Thorbjørn Egner)

 In the English-speaking tradition, there is the Tooth Fairy, who comes to collect children's teeth (and pays good money for them!). In the Scandinavian tradition, we have Tooth Trolls. I remember them from a book in my childhood; but when I check the facts now, I find that the original is Norwegian - created by Thorbjørn Egner. The trolls were called Karius and Bactus, and they lived in cavities in the teeth of a boy - thriving when he ate sweets and forgot to brush his teeth; but finally driven away by better dental hygiene. 

What brought them to mind for me this week was another visit to the dentist (less than two months after my annual checkup in January, when they found nothing wrong). It happened at lunch on Sunday. Whether it was fairies or trolls at work, they didn't quite succeed: An old artificial tooth crown came loose, but I somehow managed to salvage it rather than swallow it. Phoned the dentist's on Monday morning and got an appointment for Tuesday. In the meantime, I kept a kind of half-fasting diet of soup and yoghurt + meticulous use of toothbrush... And as the dentist saw no evidence of trolls having moved in, he was able to put the crown back. Phew. (For how long this time, remains to be seen!)

Long gone are the days when teeth grew back of themselves and the tooth fairy left money behind for the ones she took away... Nevertheless, I have to say that on the whole, I'm rather thankful for the advances made in dental care since back in my childhood!

 Fairy tale illustration by John Bauer (1882-1918)

December 25 - The Tooth Fairy & Co

These are some of the new additions to my collection of "odd" Christmas ornaments, found in the parcels waiting under my tree yesterday. (It's mostly a passive kind of collection, mind... They just keep coming, and the population keeps growing...) 

The little grumpy-looking grey creature really came bearing another name (the original sign says "data virus"); but was renamed by me towards the end of the evening (Christmas Eve) - when I happened to break a tooth! Only three weeks after my annual check-up at the dentist's... And it was neither fudge nor toffee nor chocolate that did it... But a piece of dentist-prescribed fluoride chewing gum! Believable story, eh? (Sigh.)

It was one of the four corners of a molar that went. The filling in the middle is still in place, though, and I'm not in pain. The answering machine at my dentist's informs me they'll be back on Monday morning, so I think I'll manage to survive until then - even if it involves some slight changes in the Christmas menu.

Ah well, as I'm spending a quiet Christmas in my own company this year, it's not as if I had all that much of a special menu planned in advance anyway... Plenty of food though; no worries about that. So today I chopped some ham very fine and put it in a quiche (very tasty and hardly requires any chewing at all).

Outside, a Christmas storm with rain has been raging most of the day today. Protected by some more friendly Christmas fairy (perhaps), I managed a short walk in the late morning, in between showers. Five minutes after I got back in, the rain was hitting my windows hard again. Anyway I have been quite happy to stay in the rest of the day.

Yesterday morning at 11 am (before the tooth incident), I also managed a visit to a Nativity church service.

Toothache, Storm, Rain and Snow…

Is Time in a rush, or is it me getting slower and slower? – I think I’ll pass on trying to sort out the answer to that right now, or I’ll never catch up…

It did not help that on Wednesday evening I broke a tooth, which meant that on Thursday afternoon I had to go out in a rainstorm and spend the afternoon at the dentist’s. I’m very thankful that they managed to fit me in, though!

Actually, even the horrible weather sort of worked to my favour – as I had to take the bus; and not wanting to risk being late, I was early. (I had brought my Kindle – well wrapped in an extra plastic bag inside my other bag! – prepared to spend at least half an hour reading in the waiting room…) But as it turned out, when the nurse saw me, she called me in almost directly, as they had just had another cancellation.

As suspected, the extra time came in handy, since fixing my tooth turned out to be a Big Job. (The tooth in question already had a root filling, but to make a long story short I’m getting a new and better kind of cap fitted on it now. He did all the preparations and put in a temporary one yesterday; and I’ll get the proper one the week before Christmas.)

To the left: a reflex tag hanging on my backpack.
To the right: the same picture turned upside down…
(Put together as a collage in Picasa.)

Awful as the rainstorm yesterday afternoon was, at that point of day it was still ‘just’ rain (and wind) here – it had not yet turned to snow. I had on double layers of rainwear, though, and after the dental treatment, I sat down in the waiting room again… not leaving until I needed to in order to be sure to catch my bus…

Still, when I got home, it was off with all the cold wet clothes and into a hot shower! …

Before I went to bed at night, it had started snowing:

 

… and this morning I woke up to a frozen white world (which has not thawed during the day).

I’ve had no compelling reason to go out today though – so I’ve been perfectly  warm and snug inside.

However, from radio and TV news I learn that there have been major traffic problems in all of south Sweden ; hurricane winds along the coast, the Öresund bridge to Denmark closed, trains standing still again, roads blocked, trucks and buses and cars caught for hours on snowy roads (also near my town)… Worse this time than in the last storm earlier in the autumn, as it’s colder now.

We Have Summer

Today we had a rather perfect early summer’s day here. I was able to spend most of the afternoon and early evening sitting (and reading) on my balcony. Often it’s either too cold or too windy or too hot (in the summer) to actually do that, but today it was “just right”. (In Swedish we have a word for it: lagom. It can be used about anything that is neither too this nor too that but somewhere in between and satisfying.)

Update on the tooth situation:
Yesterday morning I called my dentist’s office first thing. I could not get a proper appointment with the dentist until the next day (i.e. today) but a nurse said she could have a look at it and see what she could do. I brought the crown that had come off and it turned out she was able to glue it temporarily back on so I got protection from further damage to my tongue. As I was not in pain otherwise I ended up having quite a tolerable day yesterday too, even if (to be on the safe side) abstaining from food that needed serious chewing. Today at noon the dentist ripped the thing out again – but ended up putting it back in again, only (hopefully) a bit more securely. So once again I came out of the whole (mis)adventure quicker and with less pain and at less cost than anticipated.

Before I left the dentist’s office I asked when they close for their summer holiday… Not until July. So I have another 4½ weeks or so in which I can continue to break teeth. In July (i.e. while my dentist is unavailable) I’m contemplating to switch to a strict diet of foods that don’t need chewing…

Here We Go Again

Feeling a bit on edge tonight… Just broke another tooth a couple of hours ago. (No, not on toast this time; but equally unexpected.) Another ten hours to go until I can phone the dentist’s. Hopefully I’ll sleep through at least some of them! I’m not in pain (think it must be another root-filled tooth) but the edges on what’s left of the tooth feel as sharp as this tulip looks. (Wondering if it’s possible to put a sticking-plaster on one’s tongue??)

Let’s Raise A Toast

It’s not been a great weekend for toast. I can only hope you had better luck with yours than I did with mine…

On Sunday morning my breakfast toast was burned to cinders (almost) by my old toaster, which refused to throw the bread put in back up again.

Later on in the day I went out and bought a new one; and then decided to give it a test run for my afternoon tea.

So far, so good. It seemed to know how to do its job.

Then I bit into the toast and broke a tooth…

Which meant oatmeal porridge for supper, and just a banana-soy milk smoothie for breakfast this morning; and then a visit to the dentist instead of the pool…

I was lucky though, in that my usual dentist was able to receive me on short notice. At first when I called they squeezed in an emergency appointment around lunchtime; but ten minutes later the nurse called me back and said they’d just had a cancellation if I could come earlier. I could, so I did.

It turned out to be one half of a tooth with an old root-filling that had cracked. (The root-filling explains why I did not get into more pain than I did.) As the other half still seemed okay my dentist managed to do some magic at both less cost and less pain than I had expected.

Coming home from the dentist’s at lunch time, I was hungry but still sore and numb… Solved it by making myself some “baby food”! (Leftovers chopped in the mixer, and eaten luke warm… No culinary hit, but it did its job.)

Not ready to try toast again this evening, I think! Possibly a soft cheese sandwhich with a cup of not-too-hot tea while I contemplate the possibilities of getting the manufacturer of the toaster to pay my dental bill…?

Nah, maybe not! ;) But if I’d had a different kind of accident – like a fire caused by placing an inappropriate object on top of the toaster – then perhaps I might have been able to sue someone re the Swedish manual. (The new toaster came with a few more functions than my old one, like defrosting and reheating; that’s why I bothered to read it.)

Translation jokes are not easy to convey unless the reader knows both languages… But maybe if I turn part of it back into English it may give you a rough idea:

"To heat up, place the bowl in bread compartment, to sink the lever the wagon the control until it clicks in place and push reheating the button.”

The most puzzling part was the bowl (“skålen” in Swedish). What bowl?? 

So I turned to the English part of the manual:

"To reheat, place toast into the bread slots, lower the carriage control lever until it clicks into place and press the Reheat button."

Toast in English has two meanings, rarely confused with each other: 1. “sliced bread heated and browned” or 2. “A proposal to drink to someone or something or a speech given before the taking of such a drink.”

In Swedish:

 
toast 1 = rostat bröd

toast 2 = skål!

BUT
a skål is also – a bowl

(Try to get that into the toaster if you can!)

Let’s have a vote. Do you think the translation was made by a human or by a computer?

(Pictures in this post from Google Images)

 

Toothday

You may think it’s Thursday, but to me it’s been Toothday.  I had a visit from the Evil Tooth Fairy last night - the kind that takes your tooth AND your money!

So first thing in the morning I got on the phone to my dentist’s office; only to be told by their answering machine that the whole gang of them were away for education, and won’t be back until Monday.

Somehow that feels typical, although I suppose if I had kept proper statistics over my tooth emergencies over the years, I’m sure I’d find that my dentist has been available more often than not. In fact I’ve had the same dentist for well over 20 years, and I think it has only happened once before during that period that I had to seek help from a different dental practice.

Today however, they were referring emergencies to another dentist/number; and since four days seemed too long to just wait and worry, I took the plunge.

Luckily they were able to fit me in already at 8:40 am, so no complaints about the service. I took a taxi and got there in time. It was an old crown that had got broken off – together with a piece of the original tooth it was attached to. Luckily it was one that already had a root-filling, so no pain. He gave the rugged remains a bit of a polish and put a temporary protective filling on top. So at least now there’s a smooth surface and no sharp edges to cut my tongue on. This will hopefully keep until I can discuss the more permanent solution with my regular dentist.

There will be no steak for dinner over the weekend. 

Picture from http://www.supercoloring.com/

“The folklore states that when a child loses a baby tooth, if he or she places it beneath the bed pillow, the tooth fairy will visit while the child sleeps, replacing the lost tooth with a small payment.” Wikipedia

I can’t really recall any stories about the tooth fairy in my childhood, but I think I did get coins when I lost my baby teeth.  - What about you?