I’ve had a wonderful event this week, a deeply depressing one and a bit of a bounce back from the latter, if that makes sense.

The good one was spotting four jays at the end of the road. They are probably our brightest coloured bird, but very shy. In the past they have been hunted because they are crows (and therefore seen as vermin). They have also been hunted because they were used to decorate the hats of Victorian ladies. That would make me shy.

However, in autumn, as the leaves fall they become more active, seeking food, particularly acorns. These, they hide for later. The lack of cover and the activity means they are more visible.  Their habit of hiding, and forgetting, acorns, accounts for some of the random oak trees you see dotted round the countryside.

I have seen them described as intelligent, but I’m not sure how you measure it. Hiding food and forgetting it does not feature highly in many IQ tests.

Later, whilst chewing ginger bread, I became aware that all was not well in my mouth. One of my crowns has become detached. At the time it felt like a disaster as I it seemed like I was so old my teeth were falling out. Then it occurred to me it was a crown,  which is slightly better.

Now, I have not had a dentist for a while. Mine packed up after lockdown. Like quite a few dentists, they took the government money then pulled out of the system. The replacement stopped calling me and wouldn’t get back to me, as they too went private. In Peterborough there are, famously, no NHS dentists.

However, if you trained in sales and spend a lot of time researching, you tend not to take things at face value. I found one that was taking on NHS patients but they aren’t going to be taking any on, they told me, until the end of November. I thanked them and asked politely what I could do in November to have the best chance of getting on their list.

My pathetic, downtrodden query must have struck a note in the heart of either the Universe or the Receptionist, who found me a cancellation on Tuesday and assured me I would be able, when I visited, to turn this into enrollment as an NHS pension. Result!

Other things have happened this week, which will be revealed in later posts.