Warm.

We had cloud cover for most of the day so didn't really feel the 'hottest day of the year' that the weather people have been talking about.

I wasn't really looking forward to today's appointments. The first was to see the practice nurse for a smear test which wasn't bad at all. The embarrassment factor is easily outweighed by being reassured you don't have cervical cancer. There was a gap before I needed to be at the dentists' so I headed to St John's Garden Centre for a wander. They are a bit expensive but have a very good range of plants and the other gift type things that you get in posh garden centres. 

I certainly don't need more plants but it was nice to look at the new varieties now available. 

If I was going to plant a hydrangea this one would be at the top of my list. 

I wanted to see which carnivorous plants they had as now that my pitcher plant is doing so well I've got a hankering for  the kind that has vase-like pitchers. However they only had some Venus Fly-traps but my wandering in the glasshouse took me past the reduced section. They had some interesting orchids and I eventually settled on this small pink one for £4 instead of £9. 

In the outside area I found some pots of tiny pinks reduced to 50p so I bought four which I've squeezed into one of the planters.

My visit to the dentist wasn't as bad as feared. As it was an emergency appointment I didn't know which dentist I'd be seeing but thankfully it was my regular lady dentist. She reminded me that the fallen out crown was the one she'd done a side filling on as suggested by the hospital. She also said that crown was near to the point of failing which would mean pulling out the remaining root but she'd have a go at fixing the crown back in first. I reminded her that I'm terrified by the drill and she offered to numb the area first. I jumped at her offer and had a stress-free drilling out of the bad bits of the stump before she fixed the crown in. Earlier she handed me a mirror to see the decay on the root and I noticed some red areas on the roof of my mouth which must be where the sore parts are. The dentist hadn't come across anything like that before but I think it is related to the very old crown and whatever was originally used to fix it in place. I'll go to the doctor if it isn't improving in a few days. Ice cream has proven very soothing and I've got some benzocaine spray which I'll use before I go to sleep. An extra bonus at the dentists' was that there was nothing to pay as it counted as part of the last visit.