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Cyril the Squirrel

edited June 2014 in Writing
Hi folks.

Just had a feature in the Daily Mail called 'How Cyril the orphan squirrel stole my heart and my wife's custard creams.' It was a commissioned piece based on a pitch about a baby squirrel I raised. Originally 1200 words were asked for, It then went up to 1500. Which meant the Mail gave me a full page without any adverts on it. And apart from a few word changes, they kept it as I'd written it.

Here's the link if anyone's interested in reading it:

http://tinyurl.com/p5mvkay

Comments

  • I read it earlier!
  • Wow, brilliant MW! They love you!
  • Lovely article, and well written: congrats
  • I loved it!

    Congratulations =D>
  • Congratulations MW!
  • Lovely well written article, MW - squirrels are a pest, in the wrong places but so much more attractive than rats!
  • Tried to get the Mail interested in a piece from me to show the 'human' side of dentistry (two lovely stories about saving a romance and self injecting to show it doesn't hurt!) but they weren't interested, saying everyone loves a squirrel-like story. Why aren't dentists popular? (no swear words allowed)
  • edited June 2014
    I like my dentist Alexi - though he's a bit nervous of me since he left me for 15 minutes to let an anasthetic take effect and returned to find me writing.
    He was afraid I was going to put him in one of my books!
  • Because dentist hurt you.....
  • It's a question of being told the tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth. (er ... yes ... sorry about that ... just grit your teeth, guys)
  • There may be more squirrility.
  • Nice article. When I was very young, my parents raised a squirrel much the same, named Cherry. It too disappeared one day during its regular walk with them round the local park. One time it ran up someone's trouser leg, if I recall correctly.

    Lizy, did you reassure him? "Don't worry, I'll use another name." ;)

    My dentist has never hurt me, Stan. The old one did, when I was a kid, but I think he was using ancient techniques.
  • Ye oldie dentist of ancient times with his hammer and chisel.
  • The news that the teeth of our Primary School kids are worsening makes me wonder what the heel my profession have achieved since the NHS began in 1948. Or is it parents who don't give a damn?
  • edited July 2014
    Almost, Stan. The way he used to ram that probe into the biting surface of my teeth and then say, "Look! Look how it's hanging in there" . . . I still think that's the only reason I have a couple of fillings now, as surely repeatedly jamming a pointed metal object into the tooth will cause a hole. Toothlight may correct me :) But I have to say my current dentist (who also teaches dentistry) has never done that, he only uses the probe to gently press against gums (to check gum health) or remove the odd bit of rogue "hard stuff".

    Toothlight, we used to have a dentist come into our primary school. It usually coincided with when I had my dentist appointment anyway, so I never saw the point for myself. But it was probably a good idea just as a check and to encourage kids to go and get a proper appointment if anything looked off. I do remember a kid with pretty rotten teeth anyway, though, so not sure who's to blame. But I know a few people now who are petrified of the dentist and just won't go.
  • 'Jamming' a probe into the enamel (the hardest material in the body) cannot cause a hole. The probe is used to detect cavities in places not seen, eg between teeth, though x-ray photos will show up developing holes. Personally, Ioved treating kids and had a large kids list. I was also keen on the preventative side and was the first British dentist to join the new American Society for Preventive Dentistry. Went to their second conference in Chicago, and it blew me away with information and materials to make teeth stronger. Knowing these ideas WORK, makes me b...angry, nowt's been done for years to make kids teeth stronger here.....rant over!
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