Friday, September 25, 2009

This 'n' That

Root Canal.  For anyone who has never had a root canal, and/or, like me, never knew what one was, I can report that it is a very deep filling, and that, provided you have a good endodontist, you won't feel a thing.  In fact, the procedure was so long, and the doctor and his assistant so full of pleasant chatter in which I couldn't participate, that I soon became bored and nearly fell asleep while they were working on me!  It never did hurt afterward, either, although the doctor predicted it would.  I never had to take so much as an aspirin. 

Hint:  whenever a dentist numbs your mouth, ask for the version of the drug that does not contain epinephrin ("eh-peh-NEH-frin")  Epinephrin is another name for adrenalin.  Adrenalin, as you know, is what your body pumps out when you're scared.  It gives you that churning stomach feeling, and gives me the jitters.  You'll be a lot more relaxed, a lot calmer, without it.  Only thing is, the numbing lasts a somewhat shorter time without epinephrin.  This was no problem for me; it lasted until well after the very long procedure was finished.  I've had it done twice before, too, with no problem.

Purchase of flat in England.  Things have changed a lot in the 30 years since Demetrios opened his bank account in the UK.  Today, we are living in the age of counter-terrorism.  Therefore, when you transfer large amounts of money (as in, enough to buy that flat) from your US bank to a UK bank and then want to transfer it again, as for for example to the sellers of the property, the first thing bankers today think of is - money laundering!  We have literally spent since the 9th of July trying to arrange these transfers, and have not succeeded.  The funds are in the UK bank, but they aren't going to release them to our solicitors until we get there in person.  This may delay the completion of the deal for a day or two.  Big-time frustration, and we can't even take it out by changing banks.  Our solicitors strongly caution us against doing that, as it may be difficult to find another bank that would even accept us, as foreigners.  At least Barclay's knows us.  Knows us very, very well. 

Travel Plans.  Leaving Monday afternoon, arriving at Barclay's Bank Tuesday by around noon, appointment with solicitors at 1 p.m.  I bought a few autumn clothes yesterday, none of them black.  I'm having fun packing and planning.  You move into a furnished place and you think it's ready to live in, but not so.  Amazing how many things you still need, from toilet paper to wastebaskets to clocks, broom, cleaning rags, clothes hangers...  the list goes on and I'm enjoying compiling it.

Communications.  I will take our laptop, but it won't fit the electrical outlets and I don't know whether we'll manage, this trip, both to get an adaptor and figure out how to get Internet connection.  So I'm not sure whether I'll be posting anything, or e-mailing anything.  And we're still not sure how we want to handle the telephone issue, either.

7 comments:

margaret said...

A reasonable emergency internet connection can be got through buying a USB modem from a mobile phone shop, mine is from O2 and costs £2 for 24 hours. Not something I'd want to do every day but has been useful while deprived of a regular connection.

Anyway, welcome to the UK, bring your woollies, it's winter already.

DebD said...

What fun you must be having! Can't wait to hear about your adventures. One thing I have heard about adapters is that for long-term use they do tend to fry the machines after a while. We had friends who moved to England 20+ years ago. Perhaps things have changed since that time.

Anastasia Theodoridis said...

Thanks, Margaret, for the advice re laptop and clothing. I trust we don't need winter coats, do we???

Deb, our adventures, if any, will assuredly be posted here as soon as may be.

Well, I have a "converter" to use with my laptop in Greece, and so far it does not appear to have caused any damage. Well, we'll work it out somehow...

Anam Cara said...

We lived in Germany for a total of 12 years spread out over 30 years - '74-'78, '81-'84, and '97-'02 - as part of the US military forces. We used "transformers" or bought European appliances. The transformers converted the 220 volt to 110, but not the 50 cycles to 60 cycles. It didn't matter for most things, but clocks would be constantly slow. So don't bother with American electric timekeeping devices. Either buy locally, use battery powered, or go back to the old wind-up alarm clock.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the hint on the numbing agent. I had a bad fall when I was in college and landed face first. Since then, I've had a tooth die from damage about every 3-5 years or so. Each one has to have a root canal, so I'm very used to the procedure and actually did fall asleep during one! (I was in a lot of pain from the dead tooth before that...I hadn't sleep in about 48 hrs and to suddenly not be in pain...was wonderful!) I too have never had pain after the procedure (five in the last 15 years and counting :( ) But no one has ever mentioned the presence of epinephrin in the numbing agent. Thanks for the hint!

Andrea

elizabeth said...

All the best with this! Murphy's law would say if you bring the winter coat you may not need it but if you don't bring it, you'll want it... :)

My guess is that England can be a bit damp which can be bone chilling but I don't know. I look forward to hearing of your adventures and wish you the best on all of these things.

Dixie said...

I have had more than my fair share of root canals...but a few of them were done by this OUTSTANDING endodontist tucked away in little Fort Dodge, IA. I still get compliments on his work when I have dental xrays. Glad it went well for you.