Something to get your teeth into!

Something to get your teeth into!

I don't know why I woke when I did this morning. The first thing I noticed was that the sky was not that startling, all embracing blue. The second thing I noticed was that it wasn't that oppressive heat, although I was already drenched in sweat. I looked at the alarm clock beside the bed and was shock to see that it said 9.40am. I'd set the alarm for 8am and I didn't remember switching it off, although I often do so in a dreamlike state that does not penetrate my consciousness. I picked up the clock and sure enough the alarm button was still raised - how then could it have passed the appointed hour and not gone off? It is only a cheap mechanical clock, but far more effective in this place of almost daily electrical cuts.

'Come on Waldo.' I patted him on the back. 'Petros is coming at eleven and it is ten to ten already.'

I had intended to bake some cakes and I needed to arrange chairs on the back patio, in the shade of the bougainvillea, and the table would probably need a wipe over. I got out of bed, washed and started to dress. I was just in the middle of putting my trousers on when Waldo surfaced.

'You are early this morning, it's only a quarter past seven!' He turned over as if to go back to sleep. I couldn't be bothered to go back to bed. I was dressed. And I now knew that the alarm clock needed a new battery so, I would probably oversleep. I would get up anyway and enjoy the coolness of the early morning.

As I sat enjoying a glass of ice cold water I remembered why I used to get up at six most mornings. It really is such a beautiful part of the day. It is still warm enough for the cicadas to start screaming at each other - apparently they don't start until the temperature exceeds 28'C.  For an hour the sun beams into the window where I usually sit and work, then it moves behind the house, leaving the kitchen and lounge side in shade. The window blinds enable me to work and I make a resolution to restart my early morning habit.

Waldo appears with half a face looking like a chipmunk. Immediately I assume that something crawled over his face in the night, became angry when it got tangled in his beard and in revenge has stung him. But there does not appear to be any entry point for fangs, stinging tails or pincers. His cheek is swollen with a hard central red lump. I pack him off to the chemists to get some antibiotics. And to remember to buy some new batteries for my alarm clock!

In the meantime I busy myself baking some date and orange cupcakes, a lemon iced coffee and walnut cake, and making a large pitcher of iced tea. I cannot help but reflect on my situation last year when I awoke with a swollen cheek. I knew that it was an abscess under a tooth towards the back of my jaw. We went to the local hospital to see the dentist. After examination he decided that he would have to drill into the tooth and drain the abscess. To my utter horror he proceeded to drill, without any anaesthetic! When I queried this he declared that the hospital could not afford it. By this time he was well into the tooth and so I let him finish the job. He drilled the centre of the tooth out and told me to go to the chemist to get some antibiotics and the come back in 5 days. He did not pack the tooth with any temporary dressing, it was just left with nerves open to the air!

I was rather concerned that I would get food in the open tooth. I did not want to create any further opportunity for infection to grow. I telephoned my dentist in Cardiff who told me that he thought it should be left open, but that I should have it checked every second day, and that he would probably have removed the nerves rather than leave them jangling. We looked in the local book of telephone contacts for businesses and professional people and found the telephone number of a private dentist and made an appointment for seven o'clock that evening. I went to see Iannis the dentists every second evening and he put antiseptic pads to clean out the abscess. He gave me more antibiotics and after 10 days he declared that the tooth was ready to be filled. He completed the task and charge me just 40 Euros which included the filling materials and the 6 appointments that I had had with him.

Two days later my face was swollen and the abscess was pulsating again. As I have an allergy which means that I cannot take any painkillers, all this pain is really inconvenient.  I use self-hypnosis which gets me through most of it, but it does sap my energy on times. we went through the whole process again; having the tooth drilled, antibiotics, cleaning the tooth. back and forth to Livadi we went every second evening. It was nearing the time when we would be returning to Cardiff and I wanted it sorted by then. Iannis decided that he would put a temporary filling in and then if the abscess did not recur during the month in Cardiff, he would fill the tooth properly when I came back to Kythera. Everything went well; I was out of pain and there was no sign of the abscess recurring. Waldo and I returned to Cardiff and after a month came back to the sunshine. There was no rush and so after about 10 days on the island we made an appointment with Iannis who took out the temporary filling and replaced it with a proper one. No charge, I'd already paid for it to be done then had all the trouble.

None of us could believe it but just two days later, my face became swollen and very painful. That damn abscess had returned. This time Iannis declared that the tooth would have to come out. This time he gave me a shot of anaesthetic and brought out a huge pair of pincers that looked more suited to Waldo's tool box than a dentist's piece of equipment. Iannis clasped the pincers around my tooth and told me to keep my head still. Flexing his muscles he started to twist and pull. I have very deep roots to my teeth, particularly the back ones. I knew he had a job on his hands that needed his strength and my patience. I knew too that there was precious little of the tooth to hold onto and that if it started to break up we would be in trouble. It would need an operation to get the roots out. Iannis continued to pull and twist and I felt some movement. Whether I moved my head or did something to alert him to the fact that something was happening or whether he felt it himself, I don't know. But, he changed his stance slightly and, as if trying to distract me, started shouting in a heavy accented voice 'God save the Queen. God save the Queen.'

I was so shocked, it took my mind off the tooth for a moment and then, as I rolled my eyes to look at him, he changed his tune: 'God Save the Queen. And God bless the Prince of Wales'. At which point the tooth came clean out. He cleaned me up and sprayed antiseptic into the yawning bloody gap.

Waldo then asked Iannis how much we owed him and were told, 'Tepota - nothing'. Iannis declared that he had done nothing, he had not been able to save the tooth and so there was nothing to pay. I made up my mind there and then not to struggle to find a NHS dentist, my dentist of long standing had retired just weeks before and so I decided from then on all my dental work would be done on Kythera.

Sure enough a few months later a crown fell off one of my teeth. We went back to Iannis who tried on four occasions to stick it back on. All to no avail. Despite all his time and glue used he would not let me pay anything. 'What I have done, nothing. You don't have a good tooth so you don't pay.' Eventually he declared that I would have to have a new crown made and did all the necessary mouldings of my mouth. If I had porcelain it would cost 120 Euros but if I had plastic, which looks the same and is as strong, it would be 100 Euros. As it was not a tooth on view, I declared that I would have plastic. At this point Iannis told me that plastic was no good and that I should have porcelain; 'You have porcelain, is better. I only charge you 100 Euros.' So the deal was done and within two weeks I was back in the dentist's chair having the new crown fitted.

The following evening, when out in a taverna, the new crown fell out! So it was down to Livadi to see Iannis again. he was mortified, embarrassed and a little angry. He'd given me the previous moulding of my bottom row of teeth to use as an ashtray. Fortunately I don't smoke and I'd had the foresight to take it back with me. He checked it out again and said that this time he would send the impression away with my current plate and that it would be back in a week - the times of the ferries make it impossible to be any less. The following week I had a new crown fitted and there it sits to this day. The cost of the new crown - 'tipota'.

The sound of our car brings me out of my thoughts. Waldo comes in brandishing antibiotic cream and tablets. It is the chemist's opinion that it is a bite of some sort which has turned poisonous. Waldo's chipmunk cheek looks bigger than ever. He just needs to give the antibiotics time to work.

Petros turns up within minutes of Waldo's return. He is laden with fresh melons just picked from his vegetable field. He gives me a huge watermelon, a very large standard yellow-skinned melon and a type of water melon that looks like a massive  18 inch long 12 inch wide courgette, but which is apparently a local species of water melon. These are all being grown totally organically from seeds from his grandmother's garden. Petros has two fields where he is experimenting with organic, minimal water gardening. One field is full of melons, tomatoes, courgettes, pumpkins, squash, aubergines, and the local horta and vlita (the former a cross between dandelion leaves and spinach and the latter a sort of spindly broccoli). The other field contains all manner of herbs: rosemary, thyme, basil, mint, dill, and the ubiquitous oregano. We were supposed to be meeting to chat about Petros' solar power engineering business, but soon the talk of sustainability takes over. This leads back to herbs and vegetables and how to preserve then. He is fascinated and wants me to look out some old recipes. I think I'm going to be busy when more of Petros' crops are ready to pick. In the meantime I'm off to make some melon and ginger preserve.