Agony seat

There are fears in life that develop as one grows.

My first one was the barber. He would come to our house in Trinidad on his bicycle with a shoebox-sized wooden box strapped on the back. Out would come the electric razor and I was strapped down to a chair under the house (it was on stilts) while he operated on me. The neighbours were hopefully out shopping. It helped not even a tiny bit when my father offered to go first to show me it was painless.

The next and even worse fear was generated by the dentist in San Fernando, Trinidad about an hours drive away. Again strapped and chained to a chair, the dentist placed the drill on the teeth and then started peddling furiously with his feet to get it up to "speed". Speed being that awful slow loud crunching sound. I suppose one got an anesthetic but my memory tells me it didn't have the slightest effect.

I mention this only because I am trying to sort out old bits & pieces from my childhood days in Trinidad (1954-1970) and have been in contact with the University of West Indies Archives people about giving them the odd, possibly interesting historic item. Mainly worthless memorabilia but I have noticed during my back-bliping of late, that certain places and things, appear to have been lost in the course of time.

I hate to think the worthless-looking objects will be thrown on the rubbish pile when they may be of interest to the people of the country that gave me and my parent's so much happiness.

I don't have any extracted teeth from back then to pass on to future generations and so the memories of the barber and dentist will one day only be a few sentences on a hopefully immortal Blip server.

Last night, I whizzed through about 200 days of my journal - simply the photos. Wonderful to see the events and have the record, despite the agony that often comes of "getting today's Blip".

Shortly after I first started bliping, I thought why bother with all the online system, simply do it yourself on a computer. What I quickly realised was that without Blip there was no "discipline" and without the fellow Blipers reactions, no joy.

Early morning after a sleepless night fearing the appointment at the dentist for the filling that has been postponed a few times in the last year. Small and easy, it was claimed. My request for a full anesthetic was rejected and I was offered a treat out of the children's bowl on the reception desk - if I behaved well.

I survived but shot out without collecting my prize.

Waiting for the injections to start taking effect, I thought I would look up the name of the manufacturer of the dental unit. KaVo. A pretty large business with 3,000 employees worldwide and based just down the road from here. They also have a set up in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, and Charlotte, North Carolina. So maybe some UK & US  Blipers have undergone torture while seated on their equipment. Blame the Krauts, everybody else does!

I had to return to Ottobeuren in the afternoon to have my penultimate massage. Goes without saying that this experience was slightly more at the other end of the agony and extasy scale.

The worst thing today has been the incessant rain which fell this morning on iced roads and caused chaos for the Munich commuters. In over 14 years of having Flash, I can't recall Angie ever saying "don't take the dogs out for an evening walk". They did get a morning walk when the rain was still light and almost snow.

And finally my thanks to Dr. Müller for yet another painless job. It's just the "Well, it could hurt at any moment" problem that makes me dread entering your building.