Rodney’s Blogs
13th December 2010
The damage to Marcia's tooth was, thankfully, far less than it might have been – thanks to two slices of good luck.
The gold cap had broken away from the tooth stub and – first slice of luck - we kept it.
The morning of the day of her appointment was brilliantly sunny but the roads looked extremely icy so Marcia phoned the surgery to suggest that we might not be able to make it. The receptionist looked at the appointment book and said, 'Oh dear. If you could get in to-day we might be able to fix the cap back in place but if not the tooth may shift and that will mean a new one. You have kept the cap, haven't you?' That was slice of luck number two as neither of us would have thought to take it with us had it not been for that telephone call. Marcia explained this to me and asked whether we should give it a go. 'Yes,' I said – but then, I have always been one who commits sins of commission rather than sins of omission. 'We are coming,' said Marcia to the receptionist, 'and we'll try not to be late but it will all depend on the roads. I'll have my mobile and I'll 'phone if there's a problem so long as I can get a signal.'
The gold cap had broken away from the tooth stub and – first slice of luck -
The morning of the day of her appointment was brilliantly sunny but the roads looked extremely icy so Marcia phoned the surgery to suggest that we might not be able to make it. The receptionist looked at the appointment book and said, 'Oh dear. If you could get in to-
Now there are five routes we could take. (the map will make this easier to understand).
Route one is to go down to the A30, drive towards Exeter and then cut back to South Brent (where the dentist is) using the A38. Both of these main roads would be gritted and easy to use but there would be quite a lot of traffic on them.
Route two is via Tavistock and then down the A386 towards Plymouth and onto the A38 that way. The A386, like the other two A roads, would be gritted but busy.
Route one is to go down to the A30, drive towards Exeter and then cut back to South Brent (where the dentist is) using the A38. Both of these main roads would be gritted and easy to use but there would be quite a lot of traffic on them.
Route two is via Tavistock and then down the A386 towards Plymouth and onto the A38 that way. The A386, like the other two A roads, would be gritted but busy.
The other three routes would take us over Dartmoor where there would be little or no traffic but the roads would be largely untreated.
After some discussion we decided that we would go over the moor. The rationale we used is that so long as one is driving very sensibly most problems are caused by other people making mistakes (such as driving too fast) and so the less traffic the better even if the roads are slightly dodgy. After all, Marcia's little car is a Suzuki Jimny which has a four wheel drive facility and is used by hill farmers as the vehicle of last resort for use when they can't even get their Landrovers around the place. Dodgy roads should be the least of our worries. In any event we were pretty sure that the worst part would be getting from home to any main road – and we were right.
These three moorland routes all take us to Tavistock first.
Route three is to the west end of the moor through Whitchurch, Horrabridge, Dousland and Meavy and over the moor to Cornwood and Ivybridge. It is probably the busiest of the north/south moorland so we rejected it.
Routes four and five go right over the top passing Princetown where the road is at or about 2,000 feet above sea level. The routes split on the southern side – one going on to Ashburton and the other cutting west to Buckfastleigh where they join again.
The Buckfastleigh road has one stretch through Hembury Woods where the sun would not have been able to penetrate and the road is quite narrow so meeting someone coming the other way could be a problem.
Thus we chose the Ashburton route, filled the Thermos flasks, made sure we had enough supplies – coffee, sugar, biscuits, milk, water for Jossie and her 'treats; (Pedigree Schmakoes if it matters) – and set out on our journey.
The sun shone brilliantly until we approached Princetown at which point we met a wall of thik fog (or low cloud) and visibility dropped to a few yards. We stayed in the fog until we reached Badger's Holt at Dartmeet which was the bit we were most concerned about as the road drops down a steep hill before crossing the bridge and climbing up the other side. There the skies cleared and the sun shone once again.
So we made it. Marcia had had to contend with a few skids but nothing too bad. The cap was duly glued (if that is the right word) back in place and we were soon on our way home. This time there was no fog and as the sun dropped behind the horizon in the west the light over the moor was wonderful. We stopped for coffee and I took some photographs and I hope that these three will give you some idea of what we were able to see.
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After some discussion we decided that we would go over the moor. The rationale we used is that so long as one is driving very sensibly most problems are caused by other people making mistakes (such as driving too fast) and so the less traffic the better even if the roads are slightly dodgy. After all, Marcia's little car is a Suzuki Jimny which has a four wheel drive facility and is used by hill farmers as the vehicle of last resort for use when they can't even get their Landrovers around the place. Dodgy roads should be the least of our worries. In any event we were pretty sure that the worst part would be getting from home to any main road – and we were right.
These three moorland routes all take us to Tavistock first.
Route three is to the west end of the moor through Whitchurch, Horrabridge, Dousland and Meavy and over the moor to Cornwood and Ivybridge. It is probably the busiest of the north/south moorland so we rejected it.
Routes four and five go right over the top passing Princetown where the road is at or about 2,000 feet above sea level. The routes split on the southern side – one going on to Ashburton and the other cutting west to Buckfastleigh where they join again.
The Buckfastleigh road has one stretch through Hembury Woods where the sun would not have been able to penetrate and the road is quite narrow so meeting someone coming the other way could be a problem.
Thus we chose the Ashburton route, filled the Thermos flasks, made sure we had enough supplies – coffee, sugar, biscuits, milk, water for Jossie and her 'treats; (Pedigree Schmakoes if it matters) – and set out on our journey.
The sun shone brilliantly until we approached Princetown at which point we met a wall of thik fog (or low cloud) and visibility dropped to a few yards. We stayed in the fog until we reached Badger's Holt at Dartmeet which was the bit we were most concerned about as the road drops down a steep hill before crossing the bridge and climbing up the other side. There the skies cleared and the sun shone once again.
So we made it. Marcia had had to contend with a few skids but nothing too bad. The cap was duly glued (if that is the right word) back in place and we were soon on our way home. This time there was no fog and as the sun dropped behind the horizon in the west the light over the moor was wonderful. We stopped for coffee and I took some photographs and I hope that these three will give you some idea of what we were able to see.
IF YOU WANT TO COMMENT ON THIS BLOG, CLICK HERE
