Our friends Peter and Chris live in L'Estartit, about 40 minutes away and they come to meet us for coffee, which soon morphs into lunch. Before this they help us to find a dentist in Platja D'Aro. The first one we gets to tells us it's 40 Euro for an x-ray and a minimum 60 Euro for a filling. The receptionist then informs us that amalgam fillings cause depression. We're not in to have our depression treated, though the toothache gets you down. We try a different dentist, they don't charge for an x-ray but we suspect that fillings will cost proportionately more.
Having booked our appointments, we head into town for lunch. Hippopotamus looks nice and a charming, dishy young Spaniard with the unlikely name of Taff serves us. He knows it's a Welsh name, he's heard it all before, but he humours us and we enjoy menu del dia for 12 Euros.
Mike has an hour's work done to repair and fill his tooth. This had broken while he was eating crisps-CRISPS, I ask you, he'll be breaking teeth on porridge next. A lovely job, costing 90 Euroos. This gives me the courage to proceed and I'm feeling positive.
350 Euro, scrape me off the ceiling-gulp-that's October's budget blown out the window. Specialist orthodontic treatment required. The nerve has to come out. She starts to drill out my two week old filling from England and blow me, she has to scrape me off the ceiling again. the pain is unbearable. Now please forgive me, if you're still reading at this point. I've never had problems with the dentist before. She has to abandon the procedure and I am prescibed two different pain killers and anti biotics ready for Monday's onslaught.