Stamps, cards, teeth and confessions

I have been doing Christmas cards. It is quite hard work. What I do now is write a letter, rather than just send a card. I like to get such letters from friends, as it keeps me in touch with those of whom I see very little, and with whom I want to keep in contact.

It took ages to get the letter done. Little changes here and there, and then some radical re-arrangement, were made. There were times when I drifted away from the computer , to let my mind float free and sort things out. Naturally the printer ran out of ink. It always does.

Anyway, it is all done. All have been posted, unless there are some people omitted through insufficient vigilance.

Dr P had a lot of old stamps, and envelopes, which I inherited. The envelopes have lost their stickiness, and so have the stamps. They are old, the stamps - 27, 30, 33 cent stamps. A lot of glue sticking was needed. Some addresses needed to be double checked. The stamps are in sheets and had to be carefully separated. Two stamps per card were needed. It takes some time to re-glue stamps and envelopes.

Christmas cards tend to have a kind of serenditipity to them. As I ticked off the names of old friends, and then collected the day's postal deliveries, some arrived in time for me to acknowledge them. I have spent two days doing the cards. Now I feel very virtuous, not to mention efficient.

In between all this I had a dental appointment. I was lucky, the tooth was fixable and it did not hurt. But it cost a lot. It must be very satisfying to be able to do such precision work as dentistry.

In the olden days, when I was a little girl, we were naughty and ate too many sweets. Sugar is extremely addictive. My parents did not send us to the dentist frequently enough to prevent all the decay that so much consumption was causing. The teeth in my family were not good. Dentistry was relatively primitive, and teeth tended to be extracted rather than repaired. My remaining teeth are in a very parlous condition. I hope I took better care of my children's teeth. I did my best. I hope it was good enough. I am very embarrassed about my teeth and how it came about that they were so bad. It is easier to pretend that such things did not happen.

Dentistry has made great advances since I was young. Thank goodness.

To add to my disgrace, when I went to the library yesterday to borrow a couple of books, I was barred. I had failed to return a book. It got stuck in my shelves with lots of other second hand books. I had changed my email in the meantime, and so the overdue notice did not reach me. I had to pay a $10 fine today, but I have been restored to grace.

I only went to the library yesterday, which is not my local one, because I was meeting a dear blogging friend for lunch. She has finished her PhD since we last met. I do so admire her and her achievements, and take great pleasure in her company. We had a very good time together.

And I have been watching the cricket. And Australia won. I don't watch a lot of sport, not having had control of the airwaves for most of the time. I don't understand the finer points of the game, let alone the less fine aspects. But this week I had a good time watching, as I crocheted away, or addressed cards. and we won. The Ashes are ours again. Yay!

In between all this excitement, I have enjoying a frenzy of Margaret Drabble books.