Yesterday I had a dental appointment that I was quite looking forward to. It turned into root canal treatment with (at first) insufficient anaesthetic. I’m not looking back fondly on the appointment now.

Apart from the clenched hands, rolling tears and closed eyes, what was going on with me? Prime numbers. Yes, dear reader, I got through the ordeal by thinking of prime numbers and I got as far as 601. The allure of the prime number has only struck me in later years. I didn’t enjoy maths as a youngster and ditched it as soon as possible, so thinking about numbers isn’t something I normally do, which is perhaps a good thing. I don’t mind prime numbers being associated with excruciating and expensive pain.

So…. 601- mental pinnacle of the treatment; 71 minutes – the duration of the treatment; £321 – the cost of the treatment. I also got to 77% of my reading book last night (Life and Fate) and got up to episode 4 of series 3 of Breaking Bad.

Oh, and 45 minutes waiting for a friend who failed to turn up for badminton (£4.20 – which was kindly refunded).