Daily Archives: 02/05/2017

Flower of the Day: 02.05.2017 Geranium

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Geranium

Yes the good old fashioned geranium. Since I was a kid we had geraniums in Summer on the window sill in a box. Mum had to have her geraniums. We had a flower market near where we lived in the East End of London. It would take place on Sunday morning and mum always got her geraniums at the market. Once she was not feeling so well and so dad said he would go. The only problem was that dad did not know what a geranium was and how it looked, so mum had to give him an exact description as well as the colour. It was a success and he brought home geraniums, but he probably asked the salesman to be sure. I no longer have geraniums, but they arrive every year in the store and if you buy them when they arrive, they are very reasonable in price because they are smaller, but they grow to the normal size.

Flower of the Day: 02.05.2017 Geranium

Daily Prompt: Control is good, but trust is better

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Dental

Which reminded me, when wondering what wise words I wanted to write today, I should go to the dentist. It is not that I have lost a filling, am suffering from tooth ache or a tooth decided to fall out. My teeth are in perfectly good order. That is my opinion. For a 70 year old golden oldie, they could be worse

Mum never really bothered with teeth problems and neither did dad. Mum came from a family that only visited the dentist if you had tooth ache and dad was of the opinion, if it hurts, then have it removed. I was one of those kids that had my first two teeth at the age of two months, and the next four all appeared at once a few weeks later. I was already equipped to eat a steak for dinner, all on my own.

I was of course educated to have clean teeth, but in the East End working life of London, you only needed to clean them in the morning, the rest took care of itself. In the meanwhile mum already had a complete set of false teeth at the age of 45. This was in the fifties when teeth care was still in its beginnings and the british national health service, which was free, only covered the cheap stuff.  Mum’s teeth were not in a good condition and the only affordable solution was to have them removed.

In the meanwhile my teeth were ok which was more luck than judgement. I was cared for by the british school dentist, who was also a memeber of the cheap free national health system. As I said mum and dad were not the perfect examples of teaching me how to look after my teeth, and at the age of 12 I had to have my top front tooth repared.

Long story cut short, I made my own dental appointments as mum never bothered to do it for me. She was convinced that is was not necessary to have your teeth checked from time to time and dad was still having the painful teeth removed. This seemed to run in the family as my mum’s sisters were of the same belief. If it hurts, either have it removed or live with it.

I even began to clean my teeth in the evening before going to bed. Not because mum told me to, but because it seemed a logical step to take.

Today I still have all my own teeth, with the exception of one so-called pivot tooth, which I had inserted at the age of 18 and it has remained firm since. Swiss dentists are expensive, there is no insurance and I clean them three times a day.  Mr. Swiss always visited the dentist regularly and thanks to him, dental visits also became part of my life. I have had a few ups and downs, nerve removals, and even have a gold tooth. It is a back tooth, cannot be seen, and had to have a new crown. The idea of a gold tooth appealed to me and I still have it today after many years.

And so another appointment is to be made, actually overdue. In the meanwhile my trusty dentist is now retired and his son has taken over the practice. The practice has grown over the years and I now visit the assistant. I received a letter reminding me it is time to go again. Unfortunately I skipped the first letter, but the second tells me the month of May must be for the next visit for a control and a professional tooth cleaning session and so it seems the daily prompt is an omen, and I have now organised an appointment which will take place in two weeks. My actual dentist is absent at the moment but it really only needs a tooth cleaning expert. X-rays and general inspection also belong to the job, so if anything has to be done a further appointment with my dentist will be made. Dental treatment has improved over the years, and it no longer hurts so much. It is only the pain you feel in your purse that hurts.

Daily Prompt: Control is good, but trust is better

Good Morning

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Raindrops 01.05 (4)

Yesterday began with the usual rain and grey in grey, but eventually in the afternoon the sun decided to pay us a visit. In the meanwhile I occupied myself with trying photos from a different perspective. Everything is a different perspective here since we have metal parts in front of our appartment from the scaffolding. However, seeing the raindrops hanging onto the metal I was inspired to take a few photos. The blossoming lilac in the background completed the effect. I am sure I am in the closer choice for a prize winner for a Pulitzer.

This morning three men in white walked passed our appartment and said “good morning” so at least they could speak. First of all I was worried that they had found me and were coming to take me away. However, they walked on and Mr. Swiss informed me they were the plasterers, the are always dressed in white apparently. Yes, today is the first plastering day and they made an inspection tour this morning. The scaffolding is ready and waiting and they can begin. Plastering is not a good thing. It means removing the old surface and replacing it with new.

This work will be combined with noise of course. Personally noise does not bother me so much, I grew up in noise. My mum’s family depended on noise. She and her sisters never held a conversation, it seemed to me they just shouted at each other. Additionally dad did not hear so well: a result of five years in the second world war on the heavy guns and working his life in a factory amongst the machinery, so we all had to shout if you wanted him to hear you. In later life he got a hearing aid, but never used it as it “was no good” according to this assessment. Even plasterers go home in the evening, so we will have peace and quiet throughout the night.

It is the dirt and dust that is bothering me, although they have not yet begun. We have already been giving information, in writing, telling us to keep the windows closed during the day. We now have summer, like temperatures around 25-30° C and I like some fresh air during the day. I am not sure how this one is going to work. On the other hand in Summer it is the Swiss way to keep all blinds and windows closed to prevent the heat getting into the home (a Mr. Swiss thing) which never really bothered me as I prefer to sit outside. However, the outside sitting place has now been reduced to a small table with two chairs, which will now quickly be covered by a layer of dust.

Today we are prisoners in our own home. The men are coming to remove the blinds and here again we have all received written information threatening us not to leave our home or refuse them entry. They have a job to do and we must ensure that it can be carried out with no problems. We do not know when they are coming and how long they need. They have thirteen appartments to work through, so it will not happen in five minutes. We have already made the beds and are making ourselves decent for their arrival. I hate this sort of thing. Life used to be so simple.

I must now move on, the blind removal men have arrived and the good thing is that they can do all the work from outside and do not have to come inside.

Must go, things are happening here and I have photos to take of the working force – everything is documented. See you around.

Wild Flowers 29.04 (1)