'Cringe' - Barry O'Connor

My 'cringe' experiences are separated into three periods:

1. During my early childhood my major cringe periods were when my Mother would mention the words, ‘Hypol’, which was a cod liver fish oil, which tasted terrible.  Believe it or not, the product is still inflicted on the community today, albeit in a number of formats that appear to have had the taste genetically modified to be more acceptable. The second cringe moment would be when my Mother would mention ‘Milk of Magnesia’. This was an equally disgusting product that had the consistency of liquid chalk and did not taste much better.  This product is also still available through health food shops.
2. My second cringe period was going to the Dentist. In my younger days a dentist in Preston suggested that he remove all of my teeth and replace them with dentures. Fortunately my parents thought it better to get a second opinion, which resulted in me keeping my teeth and having a new Dentist. Our new dentist was Mr. Podbury who had his dentistry next to the Plaza Cinema in Reservoir. I think that he treated most of the children in the adjoining northern suburbs. When I moved to Sydney in 1995, I was fortunate to locate a dentist near our home that practiced painless dentistry. Since moving back to Victoria, I have been unable to locate a dentist in the region who subscribes to the same processes.  I still have my original teeth, although some at the back are now missing, but I do not have dentures or plates.
3. My current cringe moment is when I look at the television and a politician’s lips are moving. I find the whole political process at the moment rather disgraceful. Not only do they avoid answering the question directly, but they then proceed to expound their own virtues, and continue to make derogatory comments about the opposition members. Perhaps if some of these ill-mannered ‘elected representatives’ got on with the management of our taxes for the benefit of the country, we might all be a lot better off. When the next State and Federal elections are held, we as Australians need to think very carefully about the candidates and vote for the person who we believe to be capable of doing the job without resorting to insolent behaviour.

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Barry O’Connor.
July 2021