My secret diary 1972 January (ii)

Jan 21 - Jan 31st*
On Jan 21st went to Barry Aron's** in Manchester. He fitted a small brace on my bottom teeth. By the way I've finally had my 'fangs' out. I'm glad. Only the jabs hurt, not the actual extraction. Poor old J, she always gets dragged along to the dentist and optician's with me. What a friend to have though, she's great. I hate this brace thing really though, it's ugly and it makes my teeth ache.***
Jan 24th '72 - Put £1 in bank, towards holiday - thrills. I'll try my hardest to pay for my own holiday. It wouldn't be fair for mum and dad to have to pay.# I hope we have nice weather on holiday. I'm making lots of summery clothes. I think I'll take both pairs of jeans, smock & shorts****, brown smock, red skirt and jumper etc
I went to the optician's sometime in January to see if I could have contact lenses. He said I could which was nice, and about 6 weeks later I got them. I guess they suit me more than Norma, she couldn't wear them. I have had to work up - starting from two hours and adding 1 hour every Wednesday. I'm quite used to them now. I don;t really like wearing glasses now. (Would you believe it after 7 or 8 years?)

*Commentary
This is written as a continuous stream over all the pages during this period. I obviously went through a sloppy diary-keeping time. I made a note that I was writing all of this in April 1972, so it is really just an overview, lacking the detail and mundane bits that you get when writing an entry conscientiously every day. AND Dear Reader, I have to confess that entries become very sparse indeed through February, March, to mid-April, when they start again in very small writing, cramming a lot in.
What shall I do to keep you entertained during the gaps? I'll think of something.
** an orthodontist. Mum used to take me on the bus - it was quite a long way, and I remember being very scared. I wonder if there was no-one nearer, or if I needed some special skills that Barry Aron could offer.
*** My mouth was too small to accommodate all my teeth, so I went through a lengthy process of extractions and new braces which gently shifted my teeth into new positions. Is the normal number of teeth 32? I think I ended up with 22.
# It hasn't escaped my notice that last entry I left something out that would put me in a bad light, but here I leave something in that makes me look like a lovely devoted daughter.
****I drew a little arrow here, at a later time, and wrote 'They've got memories!!' I think I can recall why, but we will have to wait and see.