Chotto Ittai

Last night drinking a bottle and a half of red wine to myself didn't seem a bad idea. Of course, what I'd forgotten was that EVERY time I get drunk on red wine (not so often, thankfully) I suffer the next day.

Of course, cycling home from my friends house and getting slightly lost and colliding with a barrier, a bush, and finally stopping to ask for directions outside a conbeni - and managing to then fall over, with my bike on top of me, didn't really help.

Woke up this morning with a pounding head, an aching thigh, and a dental appointment to go to.

FUCK ME was it painful. The dentist declared I had great teeth (I know) and then let his sadistic dental hygienist loose on me to give me a good clean. Right. The. Way. Down. My. Teeth. To. The. Nerves.

Oh my god. I was almost jumping out of the chair in pain while the dentist, the receptionist, the other staff all kept walking over and laughing, while reminding me 'chotto ittai' (it hurts a little). Bastards.

I then got an x-ray and had a gum-shield made as, apparantly, I grind my teeth at night. (Job stress).

All of this was free, and whilst I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth (pun intended), just bloody ouch. As the day wore on, the pain in my mouth accelerated.

And they want me to go back for FIVE more (free) appointments to have the nerves dug about in my other teeth. Great.

Anyway, I recommend that if you have a hangover, you should avoid the dentist. The light shining into your mouth will hurt your eyes. The noise of the equipment will drive you nuts. And that's to say nothing of the pain.

And then the fun really started. Imagine your normal class of four 3-year olds suddenly becoming 8 for the day. (No, I wasn't seeing double). And imagine entertaining 8 lively sproglets for an hour. With a hangover and painful mouth. Not so much fun.

And as for the lady in a conbeni who, when I asked her to swap the fork she was trying to give me for my noodle salad for chopsticks, actually segoi'd me for being a foreigner AND being able to actually use chopsticks. GAH! is all I can say to YOU lady.