大象传媒

Grin and Bear It

• Kim Lenaghan
• 12 Feb 08, 08:20 PM

“Now, I was wondering if you had seen the lovely picture of the treasured doggie Ella and I in the Belfast Telegraph last Friday night. The reason for our appearance in print was to highlight the very popular ‘Days Like This’ slot on Radio Ulster which, this week, is featuring a number of the station’s presenters including me. My special memory was the day I met the puppy who would go on to become the ‘Princess of Pooches’, although I did briefly consider going with the moment when I first learned to kiss – but that is a story for another occasion…..let’s just say that realising I was supposed to breathe through my nose changed my life!! And, in case you’re wondering, I was only 14 and girls were a lot more innocent then.

Back to Ella, and along with the photograph in the paper I had to say a few words about how wonderful she is, which was all completely heartfelt, and I really wouldn’t have missed the last 12 years with her for anything.

However, old dogs are like old cars and once they start to go wrong they’ll end up costing you a fortune. Since my public declaration of canine devotion there is no going back, even if I wanted to, so at the weekend when the vet suggested a series of tests to determine the state of her health, as well as get her ears cleaned out under general anaesthetic, what could I do but agree. I love her.

Fast forward 48 hours and I have just forked out many hundreds of pounds to be told that Ella’s ears are grand and she is fit as a fiddle. Don’t get me wrong, I am absolutely delighted to hear it, don’t begrudge a penny spent, and the vet did a fine job. I just want to know why everything has to be so expensive these days. I seem to spend my life robbing Peter to pay Paul. For example….I have a cracked filling, a root canal job, and whilst it isn’t sore it is sensitive and I know it needs fixed. But it was the vet or the dentist, because there is no way any normal person could afford both in the same month. So I have to postpone getting my teeth fixed now until after Easter. To be honest, even at the best of times, you practically need a second mortgage to visit the dentist, and I’m not talking the cosmetic stuff here, this is just for the basic oral upkeep.

Remember the good old days when dentists had NHS practices and you didn’t have to save up for weeks beforehand, or pay it off on you credit card over half a year. I think there are still some NHS dentists out there, I certainly don’t have one. Indeed I’m beginning to suspect they may just be an urban myth as rare as the proverbial hen’s teeth – pardon the pun.

Also lets be honest, given what they charge, dentists and vets must be making a fortune!! Oh I so wish I’d been better at science at school.

So the conclusion of this shaggy dog story is that Ella is happy and healthy while I am broke and must avoid biting off more than I can chew. And the moral…..make sure you get pet insurance and a private dental plan and you’ll never need to worry.

‘Days Like This’ with Ella and I is on Radio Ulster at 08.55 on Saturday morning.….

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