A quiet night in and a little root canal flare up...

Family,

And a good evening to you from across the Pond after a GREAT DAY in the Mother Country. Granted, the weather was arguably THE WORST it's been since we landed 8 months ago (HOW is that possible?), but it was a productive day at work, and I even found a nice brie and broccoli soup for lunch. After work, I spent another hour on the bike (Price - I'm one step shy of needing an altitude chamber - fear my greatness), and I'm happy to report that my legs are tired yet again (okay - so maybe don't fear my greatness too much). Seriously - I was watching the "Tour of Qatar" in the gym today, and I must confess - I don't know how those boys do it. The temperature had to have been about 4,5000,000 degrees, and they were moving at damn near 40,000 mph - impressive.

JT hit the pool today, and we took it easy this evening with some salads and a little parmesean cheese - SO GUUUUUUUUD (peppy cheekies). I am officially addicted to cheese. There's SO MUCH of it, and it's all SO GOOD AND FRESH here. I smell a trip to Borough Market in the not too distant future.

We watched a little curling from the Olympics (let me tell you - the Norwegian cats have got some KILLER uniforms - too bad they lost to Team Maple Leaf), and then we caught some of the Figure Skating. I realize all the Americans are getting the finals in real time, but hey - I'll take what I can get.

The only bad news of the evening is that my root canal seems to be flaring up again. I just skyped with my mom for 30 minutes (I LOVE YOU, MOMMA!), and there were times where it really hurt to even talk. Consequently:

a) I am already wearing my "whistleguard" that prevents grinding (normally this is just a stylish sleeping accessory).

b) I have spent 20 minutes online looking at possible reasons for the pain (because self-diagnosis is ALWAYS the best course of action).

c) Tomorrow I'll be asking the girls if they've got a dentist they trust for consultation.

At the end of the day, all signs point to a return of "night bruxing," which is the involuntary grinding of teeth whilst sleeping (the whole reason I had to have a root canal to begin with). Apparently stress is the key driver of grinding - I'm going to blame the OTL interface and a "slight" mix-up with a V-lookup in late January. There was also a reference to "increased alcohol consumption could contribute," but I'm going to conveniently ignore that one. And hey, the foot has been pain free for 2 days, so it was about time something else acted up, right?

Tomorrow is back in the gym early for the gun show, and then we'll hopefully get a PM workout as well. Still no sign of my cheek bones, but I'm officially downgrading my "muffin tanks" to "muffin Land Rovers." It's definitely a step in the right direction (even if I did have a Staropramen tonight just a half pint!).

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print. Chat tomorrow!

Love,

Sam and Jenny