Visual Clues
When my hair used to be half way down my back (with only white highlights) a police officer called to me from behind, “excuse me Miss.” I turned so he could see my manly body (insert laughter), beard...
View ArticleWhat If?
Out of the following please pick the stupid question. “Excuse me sir, is this your motorcycle?”“Can you tell me what speed you were doing?”“Do you want fries with that?” Obviously it's the last one,...
View ArticleWhat's The Word I Want?
As I’ve said, I met with Dick Hill to talk about being the hearing half of a partnership. It wasn’t a moanfest in any shape, Dick’s gathering of experiences will enable him to further assist new...
View ArticleDid You See?
People tend to meet and greet with “how are you's”. If there’s time for a chat the next question very often takes the form of “did you see ‘'Get out of being an X factoring celebrity chef house...
View ArticleWe Are Not Alone
After six months of meaning to upgrade my mobile phone I finally called Vodafone yesterday, and I’m glad I did, not just because I’m getting the mobile I want but because I had a long chat about deaf...
View ArticleAgony, agony and No Help from Sue
Finally, I’ve got something negative I can say about how Sue’s deafness has affected my life. My lower back has given me problems for decades, occasionally, randomly and without any obvious cause, it...
View ArticleIntruders upstairs?
Sunday night, 9.40pm, Sue and I got in after a long and busy day, our plans were - bath, eat, stare at TV for a while and then sleep.While Sue had a bath I wandered round the house drawing curtains etc...
View ArticleLaughter At The End Of The Tunnel
TV gets away with it all the time, so why shouldn’t I? I’m going to repeat a subject - Dame Evelyn Glennie. But this time I want to focus on the hope she brings to us, the hearing partners.Last week...
View ArticleAnd About Bloody Time
Ofcom propose to improve the standard of subtitling. Good, but what took them so long?My last comment on subs was how they had improved. I typed too soon. Over the past three weeks the standard has...
View ArticleMore fiddling than I can manage
Hello, Who's There?Push button - BUZZZZ.Voice -“Hello”.Me - “I’ve got an appointment for 1.”Voice - “Sorry, couldn’t hear, that bus drowned you out.”Me - “Pardon, I couldn’t hear because of that bus...
View ArticleDiary of a fool
I’ve never been fortunate enough to watch more than 15 minutes of a Morse episode on TV or read the books. I know how stupid it is to comment on anything without having all the...
View ArticleHear Less To Learn More
Sue and I were talking the other day about hearing partners understanding deafness – nothing deep and meaningful, just what’s helped me understand the requirements of someone who’s become deaf. We both...
View ArticleDream a Little Dream (of Mama cass, not me)
As well as being beneficial to mental health, dreams have been the source for and subject of all varieties of art – they’ve also resulted in some outrageously harebrained ideas. Anyone whose spent time...
View ArticleBSL Signing - 'Apple For The Teacher'?
It’s taken far too long, but Sue finally started a stage 1 British Sign Language (BSL) course last week.Ironically, after four years of failing to find a college which succeeded in running a course...
View ArticleLooking and learning
Week three of BSL and Sue’s not feeling so anxious or out of place. Not criticising tutor or classmates, it’s just that for some deaf people - more than hearing folk could imagine - entering a learning...
View ArticleBeowulf the Scourge of Hearing Loss?
During education I had girlfriends, who had fathers, who had misgivings about me. Well, not just me, any lad who spent time with their daughters – which I now fully understand. However Margaret’s...
View ArticleDeaf Characters in Novels, again.
In a previous blog I mentioned listening to a radio play of the Morse story, ‘The Silent World of Nicholas Quinn'. I was incensed at the discrimination and ill-will aimed at the eponymous Mr Quinn...
View ArticleTimes of the Signs
Those old enough to recall Jackanory (BBC story telling series for youngsters, 1965- 1996) will have their favourite story tellers. The talents of Bernard Cribbins and Kenneth Williams always prompted...
View ArticleForward Thinking
Laptop and pc developed serious problems for Christmas, all better now.New Year frequently involves looking forward and back. When it comes to hearing loss I’ve found looking back frequently unhelpful,...
View ArticleTo Tell or Not to Tell?
Anyone out there got experience of wearing an informative reflective vest? For a few years now Sue and I have discussed the merits of her wearing a ‘Deaf Rider’ vest. I’ve got a thick marker pen and...
View ArticleTable Manners
Signing is going well, Sue’s gaining confidence in her group as she increases her vocabulary. Even so, the first exam a couple of weeks ago was a bit of a tribulation. Not that it was hard so much as...
View ArticleRaising the Rabble
No offence to the Hearing Link team or anyone involved in the deaf community who was looking forward to the TV programme below. Hopefully you’ll understand what I’m on about. Hearing viewers who do...
View ArticleFantasy Island
I’ve mentioned that not being able to share with Sue has lessened my enjoyment of music. Well, it hasn’t improved and I have a dilemma on my doorstep.If I wanted to impress with the sophistication of...
View ArticleDeaf Awareness Week
I’ve struggled with how to express my opinion of the significances of Deaf Awareness Week, this is the 14th rewrite. In previous versions I’d written how DAW will make hearing people aware of the best...
View ArticleDeaf Awareness Week, the Movie .....................
................................. Opening. Caught your attention, didn’t I? Now reread the heading in the deep, bass, tones used in most American movies.AH! Of course, for a deaf person that’s a...
View ArticleWish she'd said that quieter
Lip reading is a difficult, but rewarding (what an understatement) skill to master.Sue spent three years at lip reading classes with me joining her for the last – not because I couldn’t be bothered for...
View ArticleMine's not a pint
Thanks to the email from Anon with comments on Meniere’s and the coping tip of vigorous head shaking, which is similar to advice Vestibular Rehabilitation gave Sue after years of sitting motionless...
View ArticleMoon River
Credit where it’s due. I’ve learned I was wrong, thanks to subtitles.I thought the actress, Audrey Hepburn, couldn’t sing and had all her ‘songs’ dubbed by a voice artist. I’d shared that knowledge...
View ArticleWorld War One and hearing
As I write this ceremonies are being held remembering the start of World War 1, I’m not watching because I’d find it too emotional. I often think about the men and women caught up by, and severely...
View ArticleHero of the hour? Or just a pain in the neck?
Our confusion over me avoiding someone reminded me of a tremendously heroic incident by me, which ended with me feeling grumpy and somewhat superfluous.Last year Sue and I walked across a large car...
View ArticleRows and Arguments
If anyone wants to comment I’m always pleased to hear from you and shared tips (ideas, not gratuities) are always welcome as they’d save us having to find out we had a problem the hard way, such as how...
View ArticleGlancing In The Dark – apologies to Mr Springsteen
Autumn; Sue’s back at college learning British Sign Language (re-taking level one) and, apart from Bonfire Night, barbeques are in store.We enjoy barbeques, I burn the food and we share the eating. For...
View ArticlePainting a Gloomy Picture
I’m not commenting on how David Hockney chooses to lead his life. I mean no offence and respect his opinions and his options. I’d heard Hockney speak before of his severe hearing loss and how he...
View ArticleI'm a swell guy
Slight pain near a tooth on Thursday turned into agony on Friday night - luckily I have Co-codamol on prescription which helped. Saturday morning I was told I had two large abscesses that had nothing...
View ArticleWristbands
So, how was last year for you?The most cheering event of ‘14 for me is simple, and cheap. Even better, it signifies a change in how Sue views her loss of hearing.
View ArticleTinnitus Awareness Week
To recap for new readers. Our introduction to Meniere’s Disease was when Sue woke me in the middle of the night to ask why all the church bells were ringing, she had tinnitus. The internal noises have...
View ArticleUK National Blog Awards - being shortlisted
It was a simple question, how did I feel to be shortlisted for the 2015 Blog Awards? So why has it taken seven rewrites to get to reach an answer?
View ArticleDowns & ups
I’ve tried to keep a positive view on things here; if someone is visiting these pages then they probably need reassurance. But there is a negative side to being positive - that new visitor to Hearing...
View ArticlePractice makes perfect
Well, I thought the new laptop would solve the computer problems. Wrong. Turned out the problem transferred with the recovered data. Wonder if I should have binned the old laptop?
View ArticleA Capital Day Out Grommit (copyright Aardman Animations Ltd)
Sue and I paid a fleeting visit to London, just a dash up and back as she’d had to get back for her last BSL lesson before the final exam.
View ArticleDisappointments mount up
Fleetwood Mac played the Isle of Wight and even though Stevie Nicks must have passed within a few miles of me at most, she didn’t stop to whisk me off. Crushed, that’s what I am, I’ve adored her...
View ArticleWhy is it a secret?
Before anyone accuses me of not having a sense of humour – wronnnnggggg. Yeah, I know that’s the comment of someone without a sense of humour.
View ArticleSea in the Dark Lipreading (pun intended)
It’s been a traditional Bank Holiday weekend. It rained - a lot. Yesterday I briefly skimmed through the Sunday Telegraph seeking something other than gossip and speculation that seems to fill the...
View ArticleThe Man in the Ironed Mask
Spiders, confined spaces, clowns, no problems for me. I’m a real man, able to fight my own weight in chocolate Santas.Injections!! Dentists!! Entirely different story, I’m genuinely dentist and needle...
View ArticleSense of Humour
If I was a successful writer or just rich, people would smile (condescendingly) and whisper “eccentric.” Instead I get everything from “odd sense of humour” to “weird.”
View ArticleIt’s a Sign!
I’ve mentioned how easily amused I am by wording and signs and, I’m afraid I mislead. The Iceland T-shirt read “ask me about home delivery”, same meaning but not what I recalled. Saw a van this morning...
View ArticleDeafness Changed Our Relationship.
When Sue and I first met 30 years ago I had no idea she had impaired hearing. In common with most people she met, I had no reason to think she didn’t have a pair of fully functioning ears.
View ArticleAnd How Does That Make You Feel? Part 1.
I had no idea University College London was so big, let alone that the hospital isn’t part of the Uni. Nor did I realise that the socks I’d put on were a nylon/cotton mix – which I hate anyway, but...
View ArticleAnd How Does That Make You Feel? Part 2.
So, my turn came and a lot of what I’d intended to say had been included in the previous talk, it was adlib time. I opened with how proud I am of Sue’s achievements and that we’ve been together for 30...
View ArticleIn my defence
My reaction to that woman surprised me, I didn’t raise my voice or use any strong language, I simply said “I might slap the next person to do that, it wasn’t funny the first 500 times.” I ended with...
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