AN EYE, A TOOTH AND A POP-UP

All over our part of France pop-up restaurants called "guinguettes" open for the summer months.

They are very popular often hosting musical evenings as well as serving food and drinks.  Our favourite is one calle "La Halle" at Boussay and a couple of weeks ago we went there to an excellent concert featuring the blues/rock singer Angie Palmer.

First the tooth story.  While Nick was in the UK at the end of April I started to feel a mild ache in one of my back teeth.  This tooth has been a problem for many years, three of its four cusps having been broken in the last ten years and the last repair was a big job.  My dentist in the UK said it might not last.

The toothache became more persistent so I popped into our dentist in Ligueil to ask for an appointment.  Even though I said I was in pain the earliest one they could give me was four weeks away, at the end of May.  Finding a dentist in France is not easy and we were relieved to become registered with one locally, thinking that if ever we were in trouble we had somewhere to go.  It seems we were mistaken.  What's the point of being registered with a dentist if they can't see you when you really need them?

The toothache became severe and our French GP prescribed strong antibiotics which settled it fairly quickly but I then developed an allergy to the tablets; a horrible rash and other symptoms.  It seems it is not uncommon to become allergic to penicillin later in life having never had a problem with it before.

Two days before my dental appointment was due the surgery phoned to cancel it and put it back another three weeks.  I was not best pleased and would have told them to stuff it if I had known how to say that in French.  I phoned my old dentist in the UK and they could fit me in much quicker than that.

A few days before I was due to fly back to the UK to see my old dentist Yvonne went missing one evening.  She is usually around us and not far away all the time so this was unusual.  When we went to bed we found her hiding in a corner with one eye clamped firmly shut.  She would not let me examine her but I could see blood on her face and she was clearly in pain.

We had a difficult night with her and in the morning took her to the vet.  She is not easy to examine and the lady vet who normally manages her (we call her the cat whisperer) was off duty so we had to leave her behind to be sedated and looked at later in the day.

I was worried that she might have been in a fight with the most recent visiting cat and that the eye was permanently damaged.  That would result in hard decisions having to be made.  Our previous cat Daisy had to have a number of serious operations for a tumour on her face and looking back we vowed never to put a cat (or dog) or us through all of that again.

When we collected her the vet showed us something like this that he had removed from her eye, an arrowhead grass seed.  No wonder she was in pain.  He gave us some antibiotic ointment to put into her eye twice a day, which was rather a challenge but within a couple of days the eye was fully open and her behaviour was perfectly normal.

The day before I flew back to the UK we went to La Halle hoping for a late lunch but the kitchen was by then closed.  Instead we had a delicious selection of local cheese and wine.

There was hardly anybody else there and the place was calm and peaceful.  We shall go more often.

Once back in the UK I was please to find the garden looking tidy and positively delightful.  How lucky we were when the previous neighbours (an odd couple) moved out and a young woman who is a gardener moved in.  She is doing a great job.

The day after I landed I saw my dentist who said the abscess is still present and prescribed a different kind of antibiotic to be taken for one week with an appointment to then have the tooth removed.  He said I won't miss it and I shall surely be glad to get rid.  I don't ever want to go through all of that again.

And so, with the cat now better and a plan in place to get my tooth dealt with I have been able to relax in our lovely little UK garden in fine summer weather - although feeling a little guilty that poor Nick is sweltering in France in the current heatwave.

A visit to the local charity shops has been fruitful.  These two cookbooks seem brand new and at £1.50 each real bargains.

A set of ten of these small glass dishes will come in very handy the next time I make lemon syllabub for a lunch or dinner party.