good teeth and bad weather

With my life in Grenoble shortly running out, more and more missed opportunities manifest themselves, or near misses. Thinking about London the other day, it came to me as a smart idea to get my eyes and teeth checked before I have to pay pounds for that.

I went to see an ophthalmologist on Wednesday, and was very disappointed afterwards. I had to pay fifty euros – normally, seeing the doctor costs 21 here. There were no space-age gadgets to measure my vision, just old-fashioned lenses and a slide projector. And the guy told me my vision hadn't really deteriorated from what my current glasses, eleven years old and still hanging on, were made to correct. I should have at least considered laser surgery – if I had done this earlier and time left for an operation.

Today, I went to the dentist, about the third time in the last ten years. Against all tradition, I arrived with a hint of unease. My teeth are all natural, and none is missing (the only part of my body to be unequivocally proud of, in a way), but lately I've felt an occasional but piercing pain while chewing hard.

I explained the symptoms after the dentist's assistant had recovered from the jolt of beauty that gazing into my mouth inevitably gave her. She looked again, checked my bite, filed a bit off the surface of a tooth or two, but claimed she could find nothing wrong. You don't even have tartar, she exclaimed before letting me go. I left relieved – and happy.

My happiness quickly morphed into apprehension and later full-blown anxiety when I checked the weather forecast for Lans-en-Vercors. Rain on and off and the mercury oscillating between five and fifteen degrees C. Normally I wouldn't care, but tomorrow I'm registered to participate in the Challenge Dauphiné, a bike race-like event of 180km that takes place around Lans, up in the Vercors massif.

The forecast makes me tremble in anticipation. I'm a wimp at heart and like to cycle in the sun. I hate the cold. But I also do what I've started, and tomorrow I'll grit my teeth and brave the elements.