Mint, gum?

I've heard today that American viewership of the World Cup tournament has gone up 40% since 4 years ago...although with our first loss already on the scoreboard, who knows if that will be true for Saturday's game as well. Bye the bye, we're playing Italy, a very good team, so I'm more than a bit nervous!

I need to vent a bit, about a piece of my job that I don't like in general. Now I have chosen to work with older adults and for the most part, I really do enjoy it. However, you do run into patients on a fairly regular basis where they are lovely lovely people, but they're in their 80s and 90s, they've had the same teeth for 80-90 years, you can see where decay and rot exists as they talk, and unfortunately a smell usually accompanies it. So you have to figure out how to strike a balance between leaning in so they can hear you, and wanting to pull back for fear that an awful grimace will involuntarily show up on your face as they talk and breathe. I don't know about anyone else (Kristy, Midge, Viv?), but I end up in the middle of a ridiculous juggling act, trying to gauge when to just hold my breath, when I can lean back if they've got a lot to say all at once, etc. And this has nothing to do with being in the UK, nothing to do with the Austin Powers stereotype of bad dental care (in general I have discovered it's not true, though dental care is costly here). It's the population I work with, and I think I couldn't escape this particular problem no matter where I work in the world! I had a great lady this afternoon on Birch ward, who kept calling me "dear" at the end of every sentence in her Irish accent, and I loved it-- although I think I was holding my breath whenever I wasn't actually speaking. Ah well. I'm off to the pub for a happy hour drink or two, although if they don't have a TV (we're going to the Hitchcock right next to the hospital), I'll only stay for one before going home... kickoff for England v Trinidad & Tobago game is at 5pm!