Return of the Wuss!

So........last night I awake in the darkness of the Man-cave and remember that the last time I had my tooth filled, the same one that was being dealt with today, that the dentist had said that it had been very difficult to do because it was so deep and very near the nerve!.......I didn't get much sleep after remembering that.I was already stressed out when I got to the QE II as the traffic had been dreadful. Even here in Australia, road planners and traffic light programmers get it badly wrong.The lift door was wide open as I entered through the front sliding doors and I made a dash for it but it started to close. It was a bit of an Indiana Jones moment as by the time I reached it there was only about a foot gap left and I stuck my arm in it hoping it would slide open again.I heard a woman inside squeal in alarm before the lift door slowly opened again."I thought you were going to get crushed," she said, "and I would travel up with am arm stuck in the door."The Dental surgery waiting room was empty. I stood at reception. The woman who booked your next appointments was sat there but no one else was about and it was probably not in her job description to book people in as well.A woman eventually appeared. I handed her my card. It was already 9.20."Thank you, take a seat."I think I sat for only 10 seconds before...."Nicholas Allen to surgery 6, please"I knew where it was this time.The smiley Indian woman was there and the Elective Mute. The Indian woman greeted me warmly,"Hello again,"But the Elective Mute ignored me and was wandering about opening and closing cupboards.I sat in the chair."How lucky that you were able to get an appointment so quickly," said the smiley Indian lady."I don't see it as lucky. I was hoping for it to be at least a month. I hate fillings. Actually I remembered last night that the last dentist who filled this filling said that it was very deep and very close to the nerve.""It will be fine, I am only replacing the filling."'Have you been listening to me?' I wondered.The Elective Mute was loading the dentist's tray with all manner of implements of torture." What a frightening array of implements," I said.Nothing! Deadpan!They started to mask up and put on their welding gear.The chair slowly lowered and I pulled a funny but frightening face and noticed the Elective Mute's eyes crease at the sides...I made her smile!I thought the chair was not going to stop and it got lower and lower and I actually did start to slide off it backwards before it thankfully stopped and I was raised a little again."Could you pass me the harrowing stun probe?"I closed my eyes."I'm just going to give you a little anaesthetic to numb things a bit for you."'No, pleashh, give me a lobt,' I wanted to say but my mouth was full of her fingers.She sprayed something on my gums.....surely there was more to it than that. I was at least expecting a needle!The needle came next. The spray must have been to numb my gum for the needle going in."Right we need to let that go numb. We'll just give the area a clean while we wait."The Elective Mute was in there with her sputum hoover and the Indian lady with her tooth hose."Just relax your cheek," she said pulling it as far is it would go.The cleaning did not take long at all and was not uncomfortable at all."Right, let's get started."'Yikesh! Do youb fink I ab numb enub yet? I don't!' My head was saying.The drill appeared and in it went.I ground down on my tooth."Just raise your hand if it gets too much and we will stop."I got my hand ready.It seemed to be endless grinding and the sputum hoover was going and a tooth hose as well. I just clenched my eyes closed but expecting any minute for her to hit the nerve.She stopped and paused to look at my tiny x-ray.....I could see nothing except the outline of teeth.She started to drill again and then stopped again."Yes, it is very deep."'Well, shtop den." I thought.She carried on drilling......surely she would hit my nerve any moment now..........The drilling stopped."Right, we need to dry it now because the filling will not stick if it is wet. Relax your cheek. Sandy could you pass the cataclysmic desiccating device? Now don't move, keep still."They dried my tooth. and she went at it with the mini metal hook trying to break bits off."Now I am going to fit a containment clamp.......if.........I .........can..........get..........it.......on," she said, wrestling it over my tooth."Now I am going to put the lining in. Sandy, the pernicious impermeable sheath?"She put something in, packed it into my tooth and then stuck in a purple glowing light stick and Sandy held an orange colour paddle over my mouth to shield their eyes from its glow. The light stick beeped twice and she pulled it out.She kept stuffing things in and then holding the light stick over it, and Sandy the orange colour paddle, before she finally said,"Right, now we will polish it. The pestiferous staining quilt, Sandy please."She stuck a small piece of black paper in my mouth."Now bite this gently and grind your teeth side to side a bit for me."She went in with the polisher which was very much like a different drill to me and seemed to be grinding my new filling down. I suspected that the black paper had in some way marked my tooth and she was grinding those bits down so that the top and bottom teeth fitted together well.This process took almost as long as the the filling itself but finally she seemed happy with it and the chair came up."Fank you sho mush," I gushed."Oh, it is nothing. I will put you on the waiting list for check up and clean. You are free to go.""Do I nob neeb to shee der lady ab der deshk?""No, you are free to go.""Well, fank you bowsh sho mush."......and I walked out without paying anything.It was the best filling I have ever had!

Five go 'mild' in Margate!

So.......today was going to be a hot day with 39 degrees predicted for Ipswich, just down the road.Xiaoling came over on the bus and all four of us escaped to the coast where we hoped it would be cooler.We went to Margate, near Redcliffe and had lunch at the Seafood Lovers Cafe....Will and Xiaoling had the octopus salad and Dulcie and I shared a Fisherman's basket but it was nowhere near as good as the last one we had which was a bit disappointing.After lunch we wandered slowly along the seafront to Settlement Cove and back.There was a wind of the sea which kept us a bit cooler but it was still quite 'Scorchio!'

Nathan is coming back!

So........Olwyn has gone and dwindled to the South and Pam has slunk East but Nathan is coming back!After moving away and from the coast last week Nathan has turned round and intensified again and this time is expected to cross the coast before the weekend near Cooktown as a Category 3 cyclone.

The Power of the Possum!

(The following is from The Brisbane Times.)"A possum is to blame for commuter chaos in South East Queensland on Tuesday, Queensland Rail says.The admission comes as Translink promises full refunds to tens of thousands of passengers affected by lengthy delays in the morning peak.A Translink spokesman said the refund would be automatically added to Go Card accounts. It estimates 30,000 people catch trains into the CBD alone on an average weekday morning.Queensland Rail's  general manager of corporate and customer relations Rebecca Masci said the possum crawled on to power lines near Bowen Hills train station just before 5am, causing 25,000 volts of electricity to arc and knock the powerline to the ground."Unfortunately it happened just around 5am so it was as we were moving into morning peak so that then had knock-on impacts across the rest of the network," she said.The rail network operator suspended all trains running through the CBD for about 30 minutes as it investigated the fall, causing huge delays.Delays of up to 45 minutes continued even after electricians isolated the problem and re-opened four of the six tracks running through the city centre."We were still able to get trains through the CBD precinct but we only had four tracks available instead of six," Mrs Masci said."Which meant that there was a bit of congestion through those CBD tracks so there was knock-on delays through the whole network."Passengers on the Ferny Grove line had to wait through hour-long delays as buses replaced trains from Mitchelton to Roma Street.At 2pm passengers were still being warned to expect 45-minute delays on all tracks and one-hour waits on the Ferny Grove line but Mrs Masci said technicians were confident of returning the network to normal in time for the afternoon peak.And trains were running again on the Ferny Grove line by 3pm after almost 10 hours of lengthy delays across south-east Queensland.Shortly after 4pm, Translink announced train services across the network had finally returned to normal, in time for the afternoon peak as promised.Queensland Rail has been testing methods to keep wildlife away from overhead lines for about a year now, she said.Along with keeping vegetation to a minimum around tracks, the company has been installing two different types of prevention directly onto power lines.The simplest method is a pipe, which gets fitted around power lines and makes it hard for animals to walk along."They simply rotate if an the animal lands on the cylinder and that tips the animal away from the high voltage wires without any harm," Mrs Masci said.A second "wildlife shield" option emits a small electrical charge to frighten animals away from overhead wires.Mrs Masci said the solutions were rolled out on a case-by-case basis to areas where there had been previous issues or animal crossings were likely.She said neither of the systems were in place at Bowen Hills but both solutions would be installed on Tuesday once the power lines were fixed.Mrs Masci apologised to passengers affected by the delays."Wherever possible in these situations we just do our best to get the network back up and running as quickly as possible so that we can get people on their way to their destinations again," she said."We're just really grateful to people for their patience as we do work to rectify these incidents."I don't think the Possum survived.

A Gecko ran up my leg!

I was just called over to our neighbours by Daryl, who is trying to replace the 'whirlygig' washing line thingy that was damaged by the branch that fell off our tree in the storm.He was trying to get the concrete cylinder that the broken one had been fixed into out of the ground but it was too heavy for one.We did get it out eventually.....which  was pleasing.....as 'man jobs' like that are not usually my forte.I was feeling full of testosterone and my voice had noticeably deepened as Daryl was wondering how he could make a cylinder to fill with new concrete to hold the new 'whirlygig' washing line thingy..."I could use plant pots, " he said."Yes!" I said gruffly!He found some empty ones that would work perfectly but they must have been home to a startled gecko that fled as he picked them up.......and it ran up my leg as far as my knee.I squealed like a girl until it ran down again......and my manly moment was gone!I learned two things from this....i) Geckos have very rough feet'ii) Geckos also wet themselves when they are scared!