As always folks I have been meaning to blog for ages and things just got in the way. But I have a lot to blog about so look out this week I will be doing lots of posts, they will be short and sweet, and will include something for everybody, housey stuff (we have just finished the prison task from hell!) crafty stuff, and stories about our life here, including a post about the new season.

But this post is about my poor husband and also raises a question: Why is healthcare in England so bloody expensive, especially when it is supposed to be subsidised?

Rich has had toothache for some time but he is afraid of the dentist, and we were also afraid of the cost.(As stupidly we listened to the horror stories that some ex pats like to put out there.)

So Rich took more and more painkillers and held glasses of hot water to his face and hoped that the toothache would go(I think he was hoping that the tooth fairy was going to pull it out whilst he slept!) Obviously it didn’t go and as the weather got colder it got worse. Eventually on Sunday Rich woke up looking like a lop sided Hammy the Hamster, who had really packed his cheek out for the winter! His whole face was red and swelling up as he sat there looking at me, and still he said he would not go to the dentist. But, sadly for Rich sometimes, wifey makes the decisions and on this she would not be moved.

Now I have written about serendipity many times, about life showing you the way, and last week on one of the Facebook forums someone asked about a dentist in a town near us, and others were saying how good he was. I noted it and found his number and yesterday I called them – yes I have confidence to call French people on the phone now! (A big thank you to my wonderful French teacher.) I looked up the French for abscess (it’s abces) and I knew the word for tooth – dentair. I also looked up the word for swollen (gronfle) and I knew the word for face (visage) because by yesterday morning my poor husband had a very visage gronfle. I also knew that he was running a high risk of sepsis and obviously so did the dentist, because we were in the waiting room two hours after I called them, and Rich now has 2000 millligrams of Amoxycillen to take a day, and moutwash. He has to have two teeth our next week.

How much did this cost? 23 euro! I kid you not! How much did three items cost at the pharmacy? 10 euro, in total. This does make me ask, how are prescriptions subsidised in the UK when they cost over three times more?

But also it makes me ask why the bloody hell did we wait so long?

As we sat in the dentist’s room, Rich in the dentist’s chair, I had to remind him – this is all part of the adventure.

So those people who live out here, don’t put it off it is not expensive, and the service was fantastic. But my poor husband is feeling a little bit worse for wear at the moment, but he still went and cut logs! (I am frightened of the chainsaw!)

Look out for the other posts folks.

Moisy