A Red Kite Day

Today has been a rather unusual day for me as I had an appointment with a Dentist. As my reader in the UK will know, here in Britain there is a serious shortage of dentists. There are plenty in private practice, but finding one that will accept NHS (National Health Service) patients is dam near impossible. I have been on several waiting lists for all of this century.

Anyway, on Monday I had an initial appointment and because I needed a filling and the Dentist had a cancellation I had this appointment today. On Monday while waiting for the bus early in the morning I could see a Kestrel hovering just over the gardens of the houses bordering the road. If ever I needed something to take my mind off something this was it.

Then Today as I walked down to the bus stop, a pair of Red Kites came wheeling over head. As I stood waiting they were criss crossing the whole expanse of sky, quartering the open ground around the houses of the village. The sight of them put a smile on the face of even the most miserable folk.

It stopped me thinking of Laurence Olivier in the film Marathon Man.

The Dentist was fantastic, for me a test of a good dentist is if he doesn't try to hold a conversation with his fingers poking around in my mouth. I even told him an old joke:

A new patent goes to the dentist after being sat in the chair, the patent grabs hold of the dentists testicles and says “We are not going to hurt each other now, are we?”

With the treatment over I had the best part of a hour to wait for the bus home. Therefore I went and got some shopping. Having just spent the last few days doing my washing, I needed to get some Washing Liquid. As I use the brand Ecover, an environmentally friendly one, I have to make the effort to obtain it. It was as I bought it that someone else from the village saw me and commented on me using this. I don't know what it is about our current culture but people seem to want to us all to be some kind of homogeneous mass?

Even after getting my shopping I still had time on my hands, so I went to a really nice friendly café and indulged in the wonderful home made cake they have and some real coffee. It is something that puzzles me why so few cafés will make the effort to make decent coffee or even decent tea?

When I got back home I went straight out to see if I could film the Red Kites. While they were still about they were up at altitude. They really did seem to be just enjoying the freedom of the open sky. I don't know if it was the dentist or the kites that improved my smile more.