Now I'm not asking for a sympathy vote for all those greedy politicians (nor forgetting that once the papers get a hold of something truth becomes something with which to be economic). No, it's ME that needs sympathy. It's these horrible (few remaining) teeth of mine. One of the front ones broke off on Friday evening while I was out for a walk to the Osprey nest. OK, I was sucking a peppermint at the time and possible nibbled it a bit, but this was a bit drastic.
The remains of the tooth cut my lip every time I tried to eat something. An ideal way to go on a diet but not to lose weight as comfort in a hugely large whisky becomes essential. I manfully struggled through Saturday until the evening when I could stand it no longer and phoned my mate Sandy who's a neighbour and friend as well as a dentist. Bless him, he had me in there yesterday morning (meant missing church but the Good Lord probably didn't mind). Had 4 people coming for a rib roast lunch so it was all a bit fraught. Fortunately the guests are folk I've known and worked with for over 30 years and, although they work at the very top end of the hospitality industry: one is one of Scotland's leading chefs, his partner runs a small boutique restaurant and the other chap is, in my opinion, one of the best hoteliers in Scotland. And his wife, Carol, is one of the loveliest ladies you could meet. So once they'd all spent their laughter at my bizarre appearance we had a very happy time. I'd bought new season Scottish asparagus from Glamis which is to die for and we had that for a starter. I ate very gingerly but it was OK. So to the rib roast. Refrained from parcipating in the crisp Yorkshire Pudding (made in the same pan my mum used to use) but thought a roast parsnip wouldn't do any harm. Wrong. All Sandy's hard work was undone in a nano-second. Fortunately the roast beef was supremely tender (and absolutely delicious). I opted for camambert (in such perfect condition it was just starting to run off the cheese board) and the mango/passion fruit pudding was easy.
But it meant going back to the dentist again this morning - and I've got to go back tomorrow as well. Then on Wednesday I head north to the glorious west coast to check out accommodation for a new tour. If the weather is like today it will be glorious - Scotland in May is perfection if it's good.
So I guess the sympathy factor has now gone, given that we had a very happy lunch (even if i couldn't eat much) and then a lovely walk during which the Osprey flew off her nest and did a couple of circuits to stretch her wings before returning to her maternal duties. I reckon that lunch guests who are still around at 6 o'clock in the evening must have enjoyed themselves!
The question now is: what's for lunch?
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