Salads

I'm  not one for spending time making salads but now it's summer, the cupboard is bare and I wanted a light but filling lunch. I normally keep a stock of crisp lettuce and celery.

I've noticed that commercial salads increasingly are fleshed out with red cabbage - and it's ok. We had some grated cheese sandwich filler in the fridge and nobody knows more about chopping red cabbage than me.

So that's what I've done - mixed red cabbage and grated cheese, eaten with a fork. Mmmm! It's been delicious and filling.

Perhaps I can come up with more ideas for tasty and easy salads over the summer. Any thoughts?

RAS

Was it the wrong tooth?

To tell the tooth, I'm not sure. I thought she was meant to take out a wisdom tooth on my lower jaw but instead she pulled it from the upper jaw. I questioned this and she said this was right. It came out fast  with a satisfying crunch. Maybe there are no wisdom teeth on the lower jaw. The problem is the ache on my lower jaw is still there.

It probably wasn't helped by my indulging in Shloer fizzy grape juice yesterday. I took a montelukast beforehand but my lower left lip has been thick and my teeth aching since. Yesterday my left eye was quite sore and itchy. It's still sore but a little better today.

No harm done. As I managed to get it on the NHS, it cost less than £30, a fraction of what I was spending last year. And it didn't take much of the dentist's time - she has a reputation for pulling wisdom teeth. You may realise that I am increasingly wondering whether my allergic-style symptoms have been aggravated by gum problems. Which came first: the chicken or the egg?

The operation seems to have solved very little. I now need to get on with sorting out my scuba diving medical and see if  the medical expert passes me to dive or not.

RAS

Sore eye, no tooth

Now my left eye is really sore. That's because I had the wisdom tooth removal today. I was told to expect soreness and pain - but in reality it's no worse than I've had to put up with at different times in the past few years. I'm hoping it's the last time and this will remove a source of inflammation. I'm hoping.

So far I've taken just one paracetamol.

The stop-start British spring has reminded me of horrors to come. Saturday was a lovely warm muggy day and as I was out in it it felt as if hordes of insects were alighting on my skin. I don't know if it's the bugs or the heat irritating the skin or reactions to vegetable matter in the air. Even though it's mid-May the volcanic ash and whatever else is going on with the climate has made spring cold in Britain. Maybe we won't have a long hot summer after all.

The dentist told me I could not exercise for 24 hours so my original plans to do some gardening today had to be put to one side.

RAS

What difference does a wisdom tooth make?

It's early the end of April and I didn't realise it was so long since I last posted.

I went to the dentist and she confirmed that a wisdom tooth on my right jaw is playing up. It only needs a filling but we agreed we might as well take it out. I used salt-water mouth washes and lots of flossing to calm my teeth down and haven't had any major problems for a couple of weeks.

My left eye remains a little sore so I'm looking forward to seeing the impact of the wisdom tooth removal which is booked in a couple of weeks.

RAS