Dear Norwich

The dentist spent ten minutes looking at my teeth, my gums and my tongue*. He took two x-rays. He said I have good plaque management, which to me equates with my optician once telling me I've got good eye-muscles as I see surprisingly well for the eyesight I have.

The bill was £50. I took this in good humour. I have made another appointment, for 17th September.

I pottered around Norwich for an hour, for the first time this year. Norwich has made it clear that they do not welcome drivers and coming in by bus is more effort than it's worth. I still come for meetings and such things, but rarely to shop. I had a key cut at the market, visited two bookshops (bookshops, for me, prove to be more expensive than the dentist) and checked out the prices of fruit. Norwich market appears to be dearer than Al's shop. For example, he charges £2.97 per kilo for plums and the stall I looked at charged £3.30. He charges £1.60 for English Cox apples. It charges £1.80. Grapes were more expensive too. Clementines were the same each, at 20p, but he charges £1 for six. I was in danger of having my eye caught by that of the stallholder, so I did not look at the price of vegetables.

I had paid for an hour's on-street parking and trotted back on time, smiling cheerily at the traffic warden as I passed him. He had not a disappointed air nevertheless, as he had just filled out a ticket for another motorist who had overstayed his time.

The sun shines. I checked that the key works and it does. I shall eat lunch, change into gardening clothes and spend the afternoon outside. Maybe, later, the Sage will want me to help with more carpentry.

*I appreciate this. I have, in my time, known three people whose first signs of mouth cancer was observed by their dentist, who advised them to visit the doctor, urgently.