Thursday Thoughts ~ waiting around mind games

Where does time go? Here we are at Thursday and so far I’ve got darn-all done – yet I have been busy all week.

Well OK so Tuesday was a day out because I had raging toothache. The pain started on the Monday night and got progressively worse during the night, to the extent that it hurt even to talk. Definitely a duff tooth, not an abscess or anything. So a quick call to the dentist – who took the rotten rotter out.

Now I want to make it quite clear: I hate the dentist’s; I’d go as far as saying I’m petrified. And the blood pressure and stress level was sent through the roof because there was a long wait as they were running behind schedule, the waiting room was therefore packed, and noisy.

Not helped by an entire family who came in – Grandma, two aunts, mother, son and his wife with their baby in a pushchair (I am assuming the relationships as they spoke in a non-English language I had nothing else to go on except the interaction, the loud chatter and the obvious age differences.) They were also rather large people (except for the daughter-in-law who was slender and pretty.)

They filled the small waiting room; did they really ALL need to go into the consulting room with the son for his teeth check up? Apparently so. I think I'll drag husband, daughter and her boyfriend along with me next time.

Add headache to toothache.


I gather the mass family moral support is not a common thing because the receptionist was also frustrated with this family. 
It rather reminds me of the "old days" when medical practises were regarded almost on a level with magic. I assume some poor soul who needed a tooth pulled could expect an interested audience.... a room full of people while a woman delivered her child (particulalry if the woman was a queen). No privacy for "bedroom" entertainment, ditto for "bathroom" necessities.
The past has its fascinations. Its lack of privacy is not one among them.

I passed the time while waiting with one of my usual mind games, designed to keep the stress levels down by diverting my attention – going through the alphabet with different categories. 
This time I had time for three games. A - Z of Films, then Actors and Actresses and I just managed TV programmes.

In old days would it have been an A - Z of parts of a knight's armour, I wonder?

A  Aristocats /Anthony Hopkins / A-team

B Bambi / Orlando Bloom / Big Bang Theory

C Chitty Chitty Bang Bang /  Charlton Heston / Cheers

D Dumbo / Johnny Depp / Downton Abbey

E Elephant Man / Eddie Murphy  / Eastenders

F Fiddler on the Roof / Errol Flynn   / Foyle’s War

G Gladiator /Gary Oldman  / Groundforce

H Harry Potter / Goldie Hawn / Hollyoaks

I Ice Station Zebra / Ingrid Bergman / Inspector Morse

J Jurassic Park / John Mills / Jack Frost

K King of Kings / Kate Winslett / Kavanagh Q.C.

L Lord of the Rings / Lewis Collins / Lewis

M Mary Poppins / Maureen O’hara / Magic Roundabout

N Never say Never Again / Natalie Wood / Neighbours

O Oliver! / Oliver Reed / Open All Hours

P Pirates of the Caribbean / Gregory Peck / Poirot

Q Quo Vadis / Anthony Quinn / Question of Sport

R Raiders of the Lost Ark / Micky Rooney / Road Wars

S Singing in the Rain / Sean Connery / Sooty

T Toy Story / Tom Hanks / Timeteam

U Untouchables / Peter Ustinov/ Untouchables

V V for Vendetta / Victoria Wood / Victoria Wood on TV

W West Side Story / Whitney Houston / Walking with Wainwright

X  X-men / ?? / Xena  Warrior Princess

Y Yankee at the Court of King Arthur / Young Ones

Z Zulu / Catherine Zeta Jones / Z Cars

No prize but it would be nice to fill in the ?? gap in X.

images from Google Search