Dentistry: a good excuse for shopping!
Dec. 18th, 2009 06:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
janestarzWhen I went to the dentist this morning, the first thing that happened was that my train was cancelled. The railroad traffic is having huge problems with all of the five centimeters of snow we've got. I'd like to quote the spokeswoman from ProRail who said this morning on the radio that this only shows how vulnerable both the railways and the roads are, when they are stuck or filled with traffic because of a bit of snow and ice.
The second thing that happened today was that someone sat next to me on the bench, turned towards me, and said. "Hoi. Remember me?"
Of course I did. Gerwin, from my first school. I also ran into him three years ago, when he was still studying to become a nurse. Now he was a breeze of fresh energy in my morning. He's finished his studies and is now team leader in Ommoord, at a home for the elderly, or he takes care of elderly people at home. Our encounter was pure chance, because he would actually have been underway to his wintersport holiday to teach skiing, except that he still found a key to one of client's houses... strange happenings. It was really lovely to see him though, and I think that meeting him for the third time was a soft nudge for me.
Gerwin also said that he had worked as a consultant for a year, and that he completely agreed with me when it came to people working in IT: they're all very concerned about their cars and not so much about other people.
I called my mother, because I was sort of glad I might not be making it to the dentist's in time, but I promised to try and switch trains at Gouda, and there was indeed a stoptrain towards Utrecht on the other platform, so that we even arrived on time for our 11 am appointments.
The bathroom at the dentist had a sign saying "Caution! Slippery floor due to snowy weather!". People's wet shoes create a slippery mess on the tiles, but I got to brush my teeth and go into the mouth hygene consultant's place quickly enough. Eefje, my dentist, dropped in for five minutes and gave me the bad news: my wisdom teeth on the bottom would one day have to be pulled. One of them (on the right side) has 'fallen over' and is slowly emerging, but there is a gap beneath the tooth, where goo can accumulate. Since I can't get there with toothpicks, pulling the tooth before the goo can infect my gums and the other molars is the wisest cause of action.
Though I completely agree with her, it's still a nasty step, and I'm definitely not going to worry about it during the holidays. Perhaps somewhere next year is a good time to start pondering this decision. I've always hated going to the dentist's and I've stopped going for a few years until my mom recommended me this dentist. Now that I've had three or four treatments there, I'm starting to trust them and trust their judgement, so their timing is impeccable and I suspect not necessarily foul, but smart play at least.
As for the rest of my dental hygene: it's getting better. I use toothpicks and can notice the positive effect on my gums. Stuff gets stuck between my teeth more, but it bothers me less and it's a good reason to use tootpicks again. I love my electric toothbrush, which still serves me very well. The hygene consultant (Debby) advised me to brush twice a day, since nobody gets rid of all the placque in one go, so I'll have to remind myself of that.
I was done more quickly than my mother, who was also glad to be done. To celebrate, we drove to the Margreet Otto Quilt Shop. It was in a lovely one-way street, and it was a splash of colour. Where there were no fabrics posted against the walls, quilts covered the surfaces and empty spaces. The entire shop breathed autumn, winter, and christmas colours, and a Jack Russel terrier came barking over to greet us to the shop.
I showed the lady of the store (maybe Margreet herself?) the pattern: a Wandering Star block and my mother showed the colours she wanted. Not only did Margreet choose a lovely blue and white colour palette for the quilt, she also chose fabrics that weren't all too expensive (quilt fabrics can cost up to € 50,- a meter) and she calculated how much I'd need of each fabric for the bed size of my mom and she gave us both a cup of coffee!
Excellent service indeed, and I was happy to also pick three fat quarters for a tumbling blocks lap quilt (for our darling kitties to lie on) and some rulers. I left over € 200,- in that shop, but it was well worth it! I'll happily go back in six months after our next dentist check-up and buy more fabrics for a next project.
We parked in a parking garage and walked out to find some lunch next, and mom pointed out a small café which was very full. "It must be good there!" we concluded, and walked into Breuren. As soon as we were seated (it was so busy we waited at the bar for a while) mom said "Didn't we once have plans for something similar?".
Food was superb, the atmosphere was a bit noisy, but the waiters were very good and warm, so we felt right at home. Next to EKO-food, they also feature cocktail-nights and live music on some nights. All in all, a very good place to hang out!
Shopped a bit, I bought loads of teas and some chocolate at a gift shop nearby, and after that it was time to go home again. I had to wait a bit for the train, but the ride was fine. I enjoyed the snow-filled landscape outside.
Last stops back in Rotterdam included Bruna for a lottery ticket (Oudejaarsloterij, eindcijfer 2!) and filling for my diary for 2010. And when I got home I surprised NoKey with Dilmah tea!
All in all, not at all a bad day, considering it started out with public transport woes (somewhat) and dentistry!
The second thing that happened today was that someone sat next to me on the bench, turned towards me, and said. "Hoi. Remember me?"
Of course I did. Gerwin, from my first school. I also ran into him three years ago, when he was still studying to become a nurse. Now he was a breeze of fresh energy in my morning. He's finished his studies and is now team leader in Ommoord, at a home for the elderly, or he takes care of elderly people at home. Our encounter was pure chance, because he would actually have been underway to his wintersport holiday to teach skiing, except that he still found a key to one of client's houses... strange happenings. It was really lovely to see him though, and I think that meeting him for the third time was a soft nudge for me.
Gerwin also said that he had worked as a consultant for a year, and that he completely agreed with me when it came to people working in IT: they're all very concerned about their cars and not so much about other people.
I called my mother, because I was sort of glad I might not be making it to the dentist's in time, but I promised to try and switch trains at Gouda, and there was indeed a stoptrain towards Utrecht on the other platform, so that we even arrived on time for our 11 am appointments.
The bathroom at the dentist had a sign saying "Caution! Slippery floor due to snowy weather!". People's wet shoes create a slippery mess on the tiles, but I got to brush my teeth and go into the mouth hygene consultant's place quickly enough. Eefje, my dentist, dropped in for five minutes and gave me the bad news: my wisdom teeth on the bottom would one day have to be pulled. One of them (on the right side) has 'fallen over' and is slowly emerging, but there is a gap beneath the tooth, where goo can accumulate. Since I can't get there with toothpicks, pulling the tooth before the goo can infect my gums and the other molars is the wisest cause of action.
Though I completely agree with her, it's still a nasty step, and I'm definitely not going to worry about it during the holidays. Perhaps somewhere next year is a good time to start pondering this decision. I've always hated going to the dentist's and I've stopped going for a few years until my mom recommended me this dentist. Now that I've had three or four treatments there, I'm starting to trust them and trust their judgement, so their timing is impeccable and I suspect not necessarily foul, but smart play at least.
As for the rest of my dental hygene: it's getting better. I use toothpicks and can notice the positive effect on my gums. Stuff gets stuck between my teeth more, but it bothers me less and it's a good reason to use tootpicks again. I love my electric toothbrush, which still serves me very well. The hygene consultant (Debby) advised me to brush twice a day, since nobody gets rid of all the placque in one go, so I'll have to remind myself of that.
I was done more quickly than my mother, who was also glad to be done. To celebrate, we drove to the Margreet Otto Quilt Shop. It was in a lovely one-way street, and it was a splash of colour. Where there were no fabrics posted against the walls, quilts covered the surfaces and empty spaces. The entire shop breathed autumn, winter, and christmas colours, and a Jack Russel terrier came barking over to greet us to the shop.
I showed the lady of the store (maybe Margreet herself?) the pattern: a Wandering Star block and my mother showed the colours she wanted. Not only did Margreet choose a lovely blue and white colour palette for the quilt, she also chose fabrics that weren't all too expensive (quilt fabrics can cost up to € 50,- a meter) and she calculated how much I'd need of each fabric for the bed size of my mom and she gave us both a cup of coffee!
Excellent service indeed, and I was happy to also pick three fat quarters for a tumbling blocks lap quilt (for our darling kitties to lie on) and some rulers. I left over € 200,- in that shop, but it was well worth it! I'll happily go back in six months after our next dentist check-up and buy more fabrics for a next project.
We parked in a parking garage and walked out to find some lunch next, and mom pointed out a small café which was very full. "It must be good there!" we concluded, and walked into Breuren. As soon as we were seated (it was so busy we waited at the bar for a while) mom said "Didn't we once have plans for something similar?".
Food was superb, the atmosphere was a bit noisy, but the waiters were very good and warm, so we felt right at home. Next to EKO-food, they also feature cocktail-nights and live music on some nights. All in all, a very good place to hang out!
Shopped a bit, I bought loads of teas and some chocolate at a gift shop nearby, and after that it was time to go home again. I had to wait a bit for the train, but the ride was fine. I enjoyed the snow-filled landscape outside.
Last stops back in Rotterdam included Bruna for a lottery ticket (Oudejaarsloterij, eindcijfer 2!) and filling for my diary for 2010. And when I got home I surprised NoKey with Dilmah tea!
All in all, not at all a bad day, considering it started out with public transport woes (somewhat) and dentistry!
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no subject
Date: 2009-12-18 06:52 pm (UTC)I do most sincerely hope you'll share photos when you have blocks or the whole top complete, with or without the quilting stitches in place! Sounds lovely!
no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 09:03 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 08:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-19 08:13 pm (UTC)