these should see you out

is what my dentist said. A couple of days ago, while I was eating wasabi-flavoured rice crackers, I realised that a piece had fallen off one of my back teeth. A piece of the enamel, naturally. It seems likely that I swallowed it.
My dentist, who has a lovely Scottish accent, has been suggesting that while I am still employed and in possession of a dental plan, I should get my old fillings done over, in new and sturdier materials so that they will 'see me out'.
The matter-of-factness of this pleases me no end.
The difficulty so far is that the old fillings are proving durable. Even the tooth that I cracked during the Year of Clenching My Teeth is holding up. I've been gloomily expecting them to hold up doughtily until I hit 65, then fall out in sequence like something from a Warner Brothers cartoon.
So I'm feeling quite cheerful about this tooth. It didn't hurt, even when I had hot tea, and I've got a temporary crown (the phrase 'temporary crown' is rather resonant) which will be replaced in a week or two with a real crown. Perhaps of gold. I haven't asked.
My dentist told me of going in to have one crown done himself, and being told he needed another five. He was in the chair from 10 am to 5 pm. I'm not sure whether they broke for lunch. I hope his dentist did, anyways. You wouldn't want someone getting shaky towards the end.
This should see you out.
It's rather comforting.

Last week we were at the salmon-pink hotel in Surrey that we've so often driven past on our way to the Peace Arch crossing. The event was Twelfth Night, with some new king and queen being crowned, but more importantly, my wonderful apprentice Alicia becoming my ex-apprentice by being made a Laurel. Her ceremony was based on the oaths and ritual of becoming a freeman of an English trade guild. And went off tidily, with only a little glitch in the order of speeches.
Ex-apprentices Elisabeth and Sina were present, as was current apprentice Siobhan aka Lucy, and her twin Evangeline. Alis and Eileen weren't able to attend, which is sad, but I make them all promise that Real Life Will Come First, so I'm relieved they had their priorities straight.
Yes. Elisa, Eileen, Lucy, Alis, Alicia, Sina. The similarity in names has been noted. It was not intentional. Someday I'll yatter here about what I think the peer-apprentice relationship should be, but not until there's an actual expression of interest from somewhere.
The event was in Canada. I kept forgetting this, and would trot down the carpetted stairs to the lobby, thinking that I should find an ATM and get some US cash. Apparently my brain has classified hotels as things that exist only in the US.

With Sina and Gudrun, I drove to the Richmond IKEA to buy a new mattress.
It turned into an epic journey, which seems to be unavoidable for any trip to IKEA. This one, unlike the last, did not involve driving rain and wind or stalled vehicles on bridges, but did involve a wrong turn (it looked like the way into the parking lot, honest!) that led us round about the outside edge of the store, nearly close enough to touch, and then inexorably away, onto the freeway, and miles back on our tracks until we escaped onto the Steveston Highway.
The gas station we scrambled into must see a lot of this, for when Sina went to ask for directions, the fellow inside said 'Ikea?' before she'd finished speaking. We drove very cautiously back, not taking any freeways.
Right in the entry of the store was a display of a bed, offering to any buyers of any size latex mattress, a 'full size Hallingby bed frame' free. Huh.
After the usual meandering and staring, we found the beds, and I plumped myself down on each of the foam and each of the latex mattresses, finally picking a latex one. At the end of the row was another sign offering a free bed frame.
The mattress turned out to be in the other building, across the parking lot, and to require a printout and payment before claiming. The printout said nothing about a bed frame offer.
The checkout clerk knew nothing about a bed frame offer. She phoned. The offer didn't begin until the 17th. Oh. But the sign said it ended on the 14th.
I do get kind of spacy in malls and big-box stores, but not so much that time goes backwards. Stops, perhaps, but not reversing.
More phone calls. Us stepping out of the way so as not to be beaten with giant cardboard slabs by other customers. More phone calls. Sina going to check the sign, then talking to Customer Service. Me considering going back upstairs and getting a different printout. Gudrun getting ice-cream to sustain us. Eventually getting clearance to go and pick up the mattress at the building across the parking lot.
Where, it turned out, they had only the mattress and not the bed frame. That was in the building we'd just left. Sina pointing out that this wasn't really helpful, and since we'd been waiting almost 2 hours and did have a place we should be, could they bring it over to us? (She is very good at the kind but firm, where I usually find myself weakening. I felt sorry for the staff, because clearly they'd not been warned about the offer.)
Well, um, no, because the transaction would have to be done over so there'd be a record of the bed-frame being taken.
Back to the main store. Everyone was, I must say, helpful and conciliatory during this process, and I got a discount on the mattress, and IKEA meal vouchers.
The drive back to the hotel was thankfully uneventful. We had left about 3:30 and returned after 8:00 pm, I think.

The mattress is queen size and I'm pleased with it. New mattress, new flannelette sheets, and a new crown to my tooth. Renewal is a cheerful business.
The crown is the only thing I expect to see me out, though.