Sunny.

Tooth hurty or to be more precise 2.35 was the time of my appointment to have the tooth out. (BTW himself has come home and forgotten all about it ......... poor me.) If you are squeamish about dentists skip this section. I'm fine with everything at the dentists apart from drills. Turn one on and I'm a quivering wreck. Luckily none needed to pull teeth out. After giving me the preamble including 'if the root breaks and we can't get it out you'll have to have it done at the hospital,' she set to work. First the injection, no problem and then trying to get the tooth out. Loud crack and the top part of the tooth broke right off. In fact that bit stayed in my mouth until I got home and took the swab out. It wasn't the dentist's fault, most of the tooth was filling and the root underneath had decayed. After more worrying cracks she called the male dentist from the next room and he got the rest of the root out. As well as telling me what to do she gave me a leaflet with all the information on. This is the first time I've been given the instruction ...... take some painkillers and eat an ice-cream. I was happy to oblige on that one. I've had a number of teeth out before and I don't recall only being advised to eat soft cold food (ice-cream ?) for the next 3 days. One bonus was that when I went to the reception to pay I was told it was all included in the payment I'd made for the check-up. 

I'd spent the morning in town first meeting up with 2 friends for coffee and cheesecake and a good chat. Then I had a couple of hours to complete my Christmas shopping, very few presents to buy now as the boys all need cash, and get some books from the library. The dentists is right next to Tesco so I did a basic food shop in there as well. Their value (cheap) range is better than at the Co-op but they are nothing like as good for reductions so I visit both shops in turn. 

Coming home the countryside was bathed in a golden light. It had been sunny all day but at this time of year we don't get much sun in our valley.

It was sad this morning to hear of the death of Patrick Moore. A great character who inspired many young astronomers. He was the speaker at Vytas' graduation ceremony and before the ceremony he was guest of honour at a reception held for the physics graduates. There were so many people there who were desperate to talk to him or have their photo taken with him that I contented myself with a few photos from a distance. It was a day to remember.