
To see a dentist is enjoyable
Greetings Adventurers
This week I went to the dentist. It was fantastic! An actual consult; faces behind masks; eyes that blink, voices lacking the dampened timbre of telecommunication – at long last, human expression! While I sat and waited for my appointment I had a silent chuckle at the exuberance of some of the children’s colouring of posters on the wall. Image outlines served only as a general guide to contain the colours of play and creation: freedom and happiness. I smiled.
In the chair again and while the hygienist scraped a whale harpoon over my pearly whites, I wallowed in anticipation of a complete upper and lower jaw x-ray. Interaction – oh lawdy, lawdy, (Gone With the Wind homage here!) the joy of it all!
And so, like cracking runs of ice, on uncertain ground, we are venturing into a new normal: almost the old normal, but maybe not quite. No appreciable difference in a visit to the hairdresser, rockyroad is back on the shelves at Haighs (although no freebies yet!), my lottery tickets still lose every week.
Tim the dentist showed me a photo on his phone of an extraordinary gold cutlery set he had seen last year when he was in Hong Kong. While standing looking at his phone we both suddenly paused. We had each realised simultaneously that neither of us would be going near Hong Kong anytime soon.
GALLERY BUSINESS: It’s all good news.
Last Wednesday your Committee enjoyed its first face-to-face meeting for some months. Employing the social distancing format we had a terribly secret toast to celebrate Chair David Milne’s 70th birthday. (It will also be the Treasurer’s 70th birthday soon but he doesn’t want anyone to know.) [The Minutes Secretary, Marie, also had her 70th very late last year and decided to get married on the same day. Since she doesn’t want anyone to know, I am not saying]. However,
- The Committee decided to waive a membership fee increase because of the impact of COVID19 on Gallery activities. Membership is due July 1st but will remain at $25/annum.
- Increasingly, payments for classes are being made via credit card/eftpos. We absolutely encourage this but please note there is a transaction fee attached. This fee only covers the cost charged by the service provider to the Gallery. No extra profit to Gallery One whatsoever.
We encourage members to make payments via Bank Transfer.
Direct Banking Details
Account Name: Mitcham Village Arts and Crafts Assoc. Inc
BSB: 065-140
Account No: 0090 1540
Reference: your surname + (“Memb2021” or “class name”)
- The Committee further decided to keep the class fees paid to Gallery One by your tutors at the same amount. No increase. (Tutors are not employed by Gallery One but rent the space in the Gallery to provide their lessons on a per/student basis.) Your tutors may decide to increase their fees to you but Gallery One will absorb any additional costs incurred by the Gallery over the coming year. Like domestic insurance, we do expect some increases are on the way.
The Book Worm
Michael Connelly’s - Fair Warning
Felt the need for a comfort read last weekend – an author I knew and a style I could glide through easily. I am a Harry Bosch fan (LAPD detective for those who are unfamiliar with the character) so, when I saw Michael Connelly’s new novel, Fair Warning, on the Mostly Books shelf it felt like Haigh’s Rockyroad and a glowing fire all in one.
Fair Warning is not a Bosch book. The protagonist, Jack McEvoy, is a reporter for an online news site which reports on consumer issues and breaches. The plot, and Connelly is a true master of the good plot, turns on DNA tests to genealogy sites and privacy issues surrounding the use of these DNA samples once submitted. Of course, there’s a murder.
It’s a great read which deals with a ticklish question – something I had wondered about myself and which is why I have never actually gone ahead with a DNA test despite being very curious about my mother’s racial heritage. What does happen to the DNA? and who then owns it? I am not sure I want my DNA out there or at least out there outside a medical research centre.
And in the new normal, perhaps a root canal or a colonoscopy or even a breast scan could happen soon? Life is good!!
PS Don promises to do the book review next week.
Videos of the Week
Lorraine Brown Watercolour Group
Photo Credits
Photo by Nhia Moua on Unsplash-Teeth
Photo by H Shaw on Unsplash-Dentists
Photo by David Greenwood-Haigh on Unsplash- Truffles
Photo by Megan Markham on Pexels -Homemade Ice-cream
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash-Happy Birthday