残念。歯科衛生士が退職 I WILL MISS THE HYGIENIST

　　　　　　　残念。歯科衛生士が退職

かかりつけの歯医者の衛生士がこの２月で退職するという。驚いた。彼女ほど丁寧に診てくれる衛生士はいない。この六年間私の歯を懇切丁寧に診てくれたから、私の歯の隅々まで知り抜いている。マスクをしているから（残念ながら）顔が分からないが４３歳ぐらい。いつも沈着、丁寧で、余分なことは話さない。（おしゃべりで、偉そぶって、つっけんどんな衛生士は嫌いだ）。おかげさまで、歯周病の歯が治った。

万物流転

ローマ帝国

満開の花

彼女が退職したら、これからどの歯医者に行けばいいのか。もし彼女が別の歯医者で働くことになれば、今の歯医者はやめて、そちらの歯医者に行きたいものだ。恐らく彼女の患者はみんなそちらに移るだろう。そうなれば今の歯医者は破産だ。

飛び去りて

南に消える

雁の群れ

My Hygienist

　　I was shocked when I heard that my dental hygienist would retire at the end of February. I’m afraid I will never see a better hygienist than her. She has cleaned my teeth thoroughly once every two or three months for six years. She knows every nook and cranny of my teeth. She is around 43 years old (her face is always masked, to my regret). She is polite, quiet, and emotionally stable. I hate talkative, insolent, or gruff hygienists. Thanks to her cleaning and advice, my bad teeth have been cured.

nothing’s eternal
the Roman Empire
blossom at peak

　　I can’t stop her from retiring. I don’t know which dentist I should visit when she retires. Nor do I know how to find as good a hygienist as her although there are many dentists near my house. I am afraid my teeth will be disappointed and soon decay. What will she do after retiring? Why will she retire to begin with? Did she have a quarrel with the dentist, that thin, long-fingered and sour-faced man, who is always mumbling? I hesitate to ask such a question of her. I will always stand by her. If she should be working at another dentist’s, I would rather go to that dentist than the present one. Many of her patients will surely follow her, bringing about bankruptcy to him.　

a line of geese
flying away
south

音楽は値段じゃない EXPENSIVE BUT EXHAUSTING

音楽は値段じゃない

　最近、コンサートに２回行った。一つは値段が高かったが疲れた。もう一つは安かったが素晴らしかった。
　１月１２日、私と妻はハリウッド・スクリーン・ミュージック・オーケストラの演奏を愛知芸術センター大ホールで聴いた。主な曲は、「インディー・ジョーンズ」「マイ・フェア・レディ」「戦場に架ける橋」「風と共に去りぬ」「魅惑」「タイタニック」「ET」「ハリーポッター」「アラビアのローレンス」「オペラ座の怪人」「シャレード」。
　演奏曲目をほとんど知っていたから期待してコンサートに行き、最初の曲を聴いて、４０年以上前の古き良き時代を思い出した。
　ところが、３０分ぐらい聴いて疲れてきた。演奏は素晴らしいのだが、７１歳の私にとっては、あまりにもやかましく耳にガンガン響いた。１５分間の休憩があったものの、２時間も窮屈な椅子に閉じ込められた。休憩後の演奏は騒音以外の何ものでもなかった。早くコンサートが終わらないかと思ったぐらいだ。
　演奏が終わり、家に帰って寝床にバタンキューであった。その夜は耳が鳴り響き、興奮して眠れなくて酒を飲んで寝たが、翌日も疲れが残っていた。結局、疲れに行くために６５００円も払ったのだ。
　１月１５日、高田知子さんのハープ演奏を女房と熱田文化センターホールで聴いた。ヨハンシュトラウスの「美しき青きドナウ」やサンサーンスの「バイオリンとハープのための幻想曲」などの曲を聴いた。ほとんどの曲は初めてであったが、演奏が美しく、心地よくて、まるで心の琴線を指で弾かれているように感じた。アンコールでは「雪やこんこん」をアレンジして演奏してくれた。演奏は約一時間だったが、素晴らしい演奏で、楽しい時を過ごすことができた。チケット代は５００円だった。
　コンサートが終わって、高田さんと話す機会があり、指を触らせてもらった。どの指も先端が足の裏のように固かった。
　コンサートの良し悪しは代金では決まらないのだ。


　

　

EXPENSIVE BUT EXHAUSTING

　　Recently I went to a concert twice. One was expensive but exhausting; the other was inexpensive but entertaining.
　　On January 12, My wife and I listened to the Hollywood Screen Music Orchestra at Aichi Art Center Hall. They performed such old screen music as Indiana Jones, My Fair Lady, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Gone with the Wind, Fascination, Titanic, ET, Harry Potter, Lawrence of Arabia, The phantom of the Opera, and Charade.
　　I had expected that I would enjoy the music because I had seen almost all the films. As soon as the orchestra began to perform the first score, I remembered the good old days more than 40 years ago.
　　However, I felt tired after listening to the music for about 30 minutes. The performance was exciting and beautiful, of course, but too noisy and too exciting and too loud for a 71-year-old man like me. Furthermore, I was confined to a narrow seat for almost two hours (with a 15-minute break). In the latter half of the concert, the music was nothing but noise for me. I wished the concert would finish sooner.
　　I was so exhausted after the concert that I went to bed as soon as I ate supper. That night, my ears were ringing. As I couldn’t go to sleep, I drank sake. I was still tired even the next day. I paid 6,500 yen only to be exhausted.
On January15, I listened to the harp music performed by Tomoko Takada at Atsuta Cultural Hall. She performed seven pieces of music including Johann Strauss II’s The Blue Danube Waltz and Saint-Saëns’s Fantaisie for Violin and Harp. Most of the pieces were new to me, but I enjoyed the harp. Her performance was so beautiful and comforting that I felt as if she were playing on my heart strings. I was totally fascinated by her performance. The concert lasted for an hour. She performed Japanese folk music Yukiya Konkon (Constant Snow Falling) as an encore. It was a very nice concert. I had a good time. I paid only 500 yen for the harp concert. After the concert, I had a chance to talk with her. She let me touch her fingers. Each of her finger tips was as hard as foot sole.
　　The ticket price has nothing to do with the feeling you get after the concert.