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Thursday 8 March 2012

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

4 comments:

  1. I love your game for passing the time at the waiting room! I cant think of an 'X' actor to help out though. #laugh

    So glad the offending tooth was pulled!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can: Xander Berkeley (24, amongst other things).

    Glad the you're feeling better!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Oh thank you Elspeth - never heard of him (her?) LOL! But then I have a limited actors' names capacity, even though I am involved in 1066 the movie (in development) as co screenplay writer. The producer tends to ask me about certain actors for various roles knowing if I've heard of the actor he must be OK! LOL.
    I can imagine the first day of filming .... I go up to Johnny Depp and say "now, who are you again?"

    (as if!!!!!)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Him! You'll probably take one look at his face and recognise him: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0075359/

    ReplyDelete

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