Hairy legs and friends we don't wish to talk about
A WEEK IN WHICH MY VISIT TO THE DENTIST LEFT ME STILL WAITING...
I am still playing around with my substack header. You might call it a calling card. One is written by an octogenarian bunny; the other short stories on paper bags. Another name here in England for us oldies is ‘crumblies’. Why? Answer because we are falling to pieces, and I have have certainly been doing that for a few years now!
For two months now it has been my teeth and I thought that last Thursday I was about to get my tooth problem sorted, having decided to have the painful tooth out instead of root canal work, but when I told my dentist my decision she replied ‘You realise you will lose three teeth, not one, because it is the one in the middle I am trying to keep that keeps the teeth on either side in place’ or words to that effect.
Then there is the need for me to take antibiotics for a week before the work can begin, which is now set for Thursday week, the 2nd May, but there is a question. Does the NHS dentist provide them or does my GP? As of now I don’t have an answer, but thanks to my having idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, something I have managed to live with since it was diagnosed in May 2015, I do have a supply of antibiotics at home, which I hope my dentist will say I can use. I can then request some more antibiotics for me to use if I get a chest infection, which I occasionally do (just twice in there last 18 months).
That I have a NHS dentist is another good reason why I can fairly describe myself as ‘one lucky old/octagenarian bunny’. They are like gold dust here in the England where the NHS is slowing collapsing thanks to 14 years of Conservative governments, determined to get rid of free universal healthcare, which doesn't include dentistry, hearing or eyesight for most people. Again I have been lucky with all three compared to many oldies I know or speak to.
The point of sharing my gloom with you is that taking painkillers every day for my painful teeth slows me down and even a modest amount of exertion results in taking more painkillers than I really should, but when it comes to pain I am no hero!!
There have been a number of bright sides to the past week, so here there are in no particular order:
I am a ‘Watermelon’ according to Liz Truss, the UK’s homegrown version of Donald Trump, who lasted just a few days as prime minster and the Queen died the day after Truss became PM and I am not a person who believes in coincidences. In her autobiography telling the world how good she really was and remains she describes environmentalists and those who believe climate change is with us and for real as ‘Watermelons - green on the outside, red on the inside.’ That folks is me and I love the description!
Welcome to my world. It is probably 20 years since I last did this exercise, then with tenants and their support workers living in supported housing I managed. It was a way of getting colleagues and funders to understand how people with mental health problems on medication 24/7 saw and experienced their worlds. At 80, I want to understand my world better than I do. I know it is shrinking at every level and the truth is I am relieved by the fact that it is getting smaller. Why? Because the less of it there is, the better I will cope over the coming years. I also want to change the way I live; of how I use and spend my time. Next time I will give a graphic and simple example of what I mean but now just look at my sheet of paper which it took me 50 minutes to fill, than consider creating a map of your world.
Finally, a family photograph, of Curtis, our grandson, and Becca his longtime partner. They sent us this photograph a couple of hours ago with an update on how things are going. They are both Labour Party councillors in Long Eaton, a short bus ride from where we live. Becca is Deputy Leader of Erewash Borough Council and Curtis is about to become Lead Member for Planning, Town Centres, and Regeneration. Curtis is 23 and Becca 26. I was 25 when I became a Birmingham city councillor in 1970, so Susan and I know how being a political activist takes over your life, especially with a mayoral election Thursday week and a General Election no later than January 2025. We are very proud of them and it’s a lovely photograph. As you can imagine, we see little of one another and it will remain this way until after the General Election.
I wonder what the world will be like 57 years from now, when Curtis will be 80 and they both will be octogenarians? In truth I can’t imagine. I was 23 in 1967 and I thought the future looked brighter and fairer. Sadly it hasn’t happened and the future right now looks grim and my generation is largely responsible for the situation we find ourselves in. I just hope that Curtis and Becca have the energy and vision to help create a fairer world which cares for the vulnerable, the disadvantaged, the poor, everywhere. They are the future and I wish them well and everyone like them.