I was given three choices by the dentist

1  have it extracted

2  live with it and run the risk of its infection spreading

3  root canal treatment costing hundreds of pounds

You won’t be surprised to learn I discounted No. 3 quicksticks.

So today I went back for the extraction.

It’s been over 50 years since I last had an extraction and I can tell you in those days dentists were butchers.  So despite now being a big boy, I was nervous.

I needn’t have been.  The dentist, Zara, was in her 20’s I’d guess and looked as though she wasn’t strong enough to pull the skin off a rice pudding, let alone a 70 year old, entrenched molar.

But she did.  A quick needle jab and 10 minutes later she was gently rocking the tooth out.

Lesser men than me might have cried at the pain.  But I am a Tottenham fan and, believe me, it was nothing compared to losing a 2-goal half-time lead at Manchester City last night to contrive to lose 4-2.

Indeed it occurs to me that being a Spurs fan ought to be available on the National Health.  Think of the money they could save on anaesthetics.