On Troublesome Things.

My troublesome tooth is playing up tonight. I’ve mentioned the troublesome tooth before. It’s the one that was subjected to root canal treatment back in about 1991, an operation that was only partially successful since a fragment of chronic infection remained at the furthest extremity of a root. It happens, apparently, and there’s no certain cure for it, not even extraction. It’s there for the duration unless you’re lucky and the infection expires before you do.

The problem is that when the tooth becomes troublesome, it doesn’t just hurt a little; it makes me feel ill in that irritatingly ill-defined way that infections do. Tonight it conspired with the fatigue problem that’s made its autumnal re-appearance (the one my doctor says might be ME or might not) and the result was a feeling of grinding lowness and extreme tiredness at an inconveniently early part of the evening. There was only one thing for it: switch off the computer, repair to the living room, switch on some supplementary heating since there won’t be any coal fires until the sweep has done his job on 25^th of this month, and fall asleep in the armchair. And so I did.

The exercise lasted an hour and a half, but it was a fitful affair, regularly interrupted by tonight’s gale roaring in the cold chimney. And during the sleeping times it was assailed by a recurring dream, as fitful sleep often is. I dreamt that I was still living with a particularly troublesome ex of mine, a woman I lived with quite a long time ago and didn’t get along with too well. The problem was that sightings of her were elusive. I didn’t know whether she was upstairs, downstairs, or somewhere outside. At one point I fancied I saw her in front of the pub, maybe because she had a drink problem. And when I did begin the ascent back to wakefulness, I further fancied that if I opened my eyes I might see her ghost standing at the foot of the stairs that lead off my living room. That was uncomfortably spooky, so I kept them shut until the silliness passed.

Life can turn a little strange when you have a troublesome tooth. I’m wide awake now and have just had a thick slice of buttered toast, which the tooth doesn’t care for but I do. I’m also having a drink to celebrate deliverance from troublesome partners, although the tooth continues to play up.