The bright lights and heady views of Ottawa

While Ottawacker Jr. is still having a fantastic time out there in Victoria, I had my own eagerly anticipated event to look forward to: a visit to the dentist.
 
I am generally one of those people that dentists hate: a lazy flosser who has very good teeth. God knows how well I would be accepted in North America if my teeth were bad. Mine have always been naturally straight and strong – and it is from this position of strength that I like to look down. Unfortunately, my recent experiences of cleaning have been pretty bad: my hygienist, a demure and petite octogenarian who looks like Mother Teresa but might possibly have served under Pol Pot, has a tendency to cause pain where none would appear possible. Her signature move is to talk about an upcoming trip, ask a question, and then stab you in the lip when you try to answer. So, any trip to the Butcher of Carling, as I call her, is fraught with exam-like anticipation. (My actual dentist is on the other extreme: gentle, sympathetic and funny.) Imagine my feeling, then, when I turned up at the allotted time, to find she was not in that day, and I was to be cleaned by a small (hobbit-like, almost) Indian man called Yash. If Mother Teresa is torture, I thought, how much worse would this guy be. It’s fair to say I wasn’t looking forward to it.
 
Well, that’ll teach me to not judge books by covers. He was amazing. The cleaning and prodding and poking and flossing and picking and polishing all went by without me really even noticing. The only time he spoke was to tell me what he was going to do next. It was like getting a tooth massage. I made sure I told the receptionist I wanted him next time – and left feeling elated. This, you will understand, is not a feeling I (or anyone) often gets when visiting the dentist. Yash, you are a legend.
 
After that, the rest of the day sort of flashed by in a haze. Spent a lot of the afternoon catching up on my translation schedule, and then photos and the like. Mrs. Ottawacker was still feeling a bit too sore to go out, so I made dinner, we had a chat with Ottawacker Jr. and our friends out in Victoria, and then did very little else.