Another week, another visit to the dentist. Not that I knew a visit to the dentist was in store at the beginning of the week. Months ago, after a checkup, an appointment was scheduled for two weeks ago, but it was cancelled on the day. They said they’d be in touch to reschedule. They phoned as I was heading home after my first ‘front of house’ shift this year at the museum. Could I come in for an appointment in an hour and a half? Wanting to get it done, even though it was only a filling, I said yes.
Bird on the rocks
The dentist doesn’t hang about, and I was in and out of the comfy chair in about 20 minutes. As I went to the car, it was impossible not to notice the plume of smoke in the near distance. My first thought was ‘tyre fire’. As I prepared to leave the car park, a fire engine went up the road. ‘Must be serious’, I thought. As I drove away from Thurso – for the dentist is in Thurso – the town was obscured by a pall of smoke. Soon thereafter, a fire brigade hatchback and a little later two engines sirened past, coming from Wick. Definitely serious.
Daffs on the Braes
The local evening news shed some light. There had been two wildfires that day, one in the southwest of Scotland, and the other in Thurso. In both cases the moorland was burning. Wildfires aren’t something you’d usually associate with Scotland, but they seem to occur in the spring nearly every year. The Scottish Fire & Rescue Service reports that since 2010 80% of large outdoor fires occur between March and May. Most are due to human interactions – cigarette butts, improperly extinguished campfires, discarded glass bottles.
Along the path
The trip to the dentist was one of the highlights of the week. The other? A saunter to the local hospital to get my eyes checked. This happens once a year now. A few years ago, the optometrist detected incipient glaucoma, which the consultant confirmed. They’ve put me on eyedrops, which reduce the pressure in the eye. Thus, once a year, I sit at a machine and click a button when a pinpoint of light appears, attempt to read the last row of the letter chart, and have bright lights shone in my eyes. But I am thankful it’s a problem that can be treated and that I don’t have to go to Inverness for the checkups.
Frothy blossom
On the gansey, the back is about 80% done. The final central diamond panel has been started. I am tempted to take out a few rows and end the back there, because the yoke is getting very long. Too long, in fact, and I can see problems to solve looming in the future. Either that, or rip out the yoke and do it properly. But even I don’t want to do that.
Leave a Reply