Hearing cheesy music

First of all, massive congratulations to Mr and Mrs Gym Buddy on their fabulous wedding at the weekend.

Invited to the evening do, I arrived to the sight of Gym Buddy looking radiant, amazing and utterly gorgeous from head to toe.

The day had, I was informed, gone without a hitch and everyone looked amazing, not just the bride and groom!

The party was a fabulous cheese fest of music, scrumptious buffet and not one, but two, chocolate fountains, and a song dedicated to me! Ha!

*blush

Gym Buddy had warned me this was happening after she’d heard it on my iPod on a car journey to hers one day, but I could not for the life of me work out which song it could be – in truth I was slightly afraid.

And then the opening bars came on...

The unmistakable notes of the Baywatch theme tune filled the venue!

And just two people took to the dance floor! Me, and Gym Buddy! But, thankfully, due to years of practice and my exceptionally bad taste in music, I was used to this and happily danced away!

But it got me thinking about my love of cheesy music. I mean, just why do I love it so? Perhaps it’s because cheese often has a very melodic bass line, which is mostly what I can hear, simple lyrics – so I can learn them easily, and a basic beat.

I think, from a deaf point of view, it’s the easiest kind of music to listen to.

I mean, when I listen a band like Napalm Death for example, there’s just so much going on, and so much bass distortion through my ears, that none of it sounds good anymore. The same for more trendy bands, where more emphasis is on the treble notes rather than the bass.

Yes, yes, yes, that is my excuse for my insanely bad taste in music, knowing all the dance moves to every Steps song ever made and thinking that the Baywatch theme tune is fabulous.

And I’m sticking to it!

Turning my hearing off

Today is Thankful Friday and I am thankful for the wonderful night out I had last night with Web Whizz and Gym Buddy. A few quiet drinks after Zamba turned into a party in Gym Buddy’s imminent wedding honour and before we knew it, it was kicking out time and we were turfed out into the torrential rain.

Seriously – what is with the weather? It’s FREEZING! I am in winter clothes – it’s August. Did Britain accidentally float into the Southern Hemisphere and no one notice or something?

I am also thankful that it’s a bank holiday, which means one extra day of fun, and a four-day week, next week!

Hurrah!

However, let’s get back to last night shall we. There wasn’t drinking of epic proportions, but there was wine – and this is the most brain-blearying of all the alcohols in my opinion – and this has given me a very slight hangover.

And, the problem with very slight hangovers – and monstrous ones from what I can remember from my less-restrained days – is that they obliterate my hearing.

Seriously, someone at work just stood beside me for a full five minutes apparently trying to get my attention – unaware of my deafness as she’s new – and then eventually tapped me on my shoulder causing me to jump and shout ‘What?’ at the top of my voice.

*blush

Then, there’s the attempting to lipread. Seriously, I can be gazing right at lips and nothing is registering. It’s quite bizarre. This morning in Pret, I said pardon 50 times to the poor guy at the till before giving up and answering yes or no alternately to see what would happen.

And that is how my day shall go.

I shall be channelling all my energies into my job and the hearing will have to take the back seat.

I’m turning my ears off as of now.

And, I shall be very thankful for the peace.

Have a great bank holiday weekend peeps.
DGx

Two weddings, a baby and some cats!

Today’s blog has somehow gone missing in Cyberspace after I hit ‘send’ from my iPhone this morning. It’s marked as an unsent message but I can’t get to it.

So here I am starting afresh.

It’s almost the weekend, which is fabulous, and what’s even more fabulous is that this weekend Gym Buddy is getting married.

*sob

Just thinking about it gets me all emotional, as I’m sure it’ll be an amazing day.

And on the subject of weddings, Deafinitely Girly has some very exciting news.

I am going to be a Witness at First Ever Friend’s wedding next year.

*whoop!

First Ever Friend went on holiday to Canada recently and I was hoping that her boy would pop the question as they have been together forever. And he did.

I found out yesterday in a card she had sent me, where she also requested I be her witness – which I think is kinda like the Swiss version of a bridesmaid except you get to choose the dress and there’s no aisle to walk down…

So momentous was this, that I actually braved a phone call, cranked up the volume on my iPhone and plugged my headphones in so that I could say congratulations. And, as she is my first ever friend, she knows my deafness well, so she spoke very clearly, and I think I heard most of what was going on.

Phew!

It's brilliant when these life-altering things happen to my friends. The excitement of the journey they’re going on is infectious, and I love going along for the ride.

When I think about all the things First Ever Friend and I have been through, it seems amazing that we actually live hundreds of miles apart. I know if I ever needed her, she’d be there quicker than if she lived around the corner, and I hope she knows the same is true for me.

What an amazing 18 months it’s going to be – Gym Buddy’s getting married, NikNak is going to be a mum, First Ever Friend – a wife, and me?

Well, I think I might join SuperCathyFragileMystic and get a cat!

Despairing at subtitles STILL!

I've come to the sorry conclusion that anything Top Gear is cursed when it comes to subtitles. I mean, I know BBC breakfast isn't renowned for the most brilliant subtitles in the world, but today they were terrible at the precise moment The-man-formerly-known-as-The Stig was being interviewed!

Jeremy became Germany, James became GMs and mostly I had no idea what was going on.

To put it simply: Arghhhhhhhhh

And on the subject of the current Stig – he'd be dumb to publish anything, as I really don't think it would endear him to anyone. Top Gear fans love the whole show, not just him, and I think he'd destroy a little bit of the magic if he shafted the programme.

And do I know who The Stig is? Quite possibly after dating a lose-tongued motoring journalist a few years ago, followed by a Top Gear insider a few months after that.

They both said it was the same person... And google says a whole lot of other people say that too.

And for me, finding out who it might be, did kind of ruin the magic of Top Gear a little for me.

So finding out for definite would probably ruin it completely!

Don't do it Stig!

And on a completely different note, I’ve been working hard over at Superdrugloves.com and the competition is nearing the end. To celebrate my year so far, I launched the Deafinitely Girly Beauty Awards 2010 and, if you like, you can read and rate it by clicking here. Thanks DG readers.

Life before Deafinitely Girly

Now this sunny weather is more like it!

I was expecting rain this morning when I opened my bedroom blinds, and it was so lovely to be faced with blue sky.

Anyway, the end of the Superdrug competition is nearing and that's partly why I've been a little bit quiet on here recently. Over at Superdrugloves.com, I've been trying to think up original posts and new ways to chat about products, and my latest post should up soon, so keep an eye open for it.

It's at time like this when there are so many Deafinitely Girly-related amazing things going on in my life that I wonder what I did before DG was born...

I mean, for starters what did I do on my bus journey to work every day if I wasn't writing my daily instalment?

And before I wrote for Superdrug, what did I do about beauty products? I mean, just going into my bathroom is like walking into a miniature beauty boutique. How did it become normal to choose my styling products to match my mood, my make-up to match any shade I am wearing and my...

…anyway, it's utterly brilliant and I love it!

I think another reason I've been quiet on here recently is because I'm doing Ok with my deafness. There's nothing I need to thrash out in words this week. No niggles or insecurities that I need advice or reassurance on.

It's odd. But I'm not complaining.

I remember as a teenager learning that these things come in cycles, so a high about my deafness is as normal as a low. I also know that the lows are particularly tough after a nice high period...

But when it comes, I'll be ready and waiting on Deafinitelygirly.com, safe in the knowledge that if anything can get me through it, writing can...

And some sparkly blue nail polish from Superdrug of course.

Learning to be a deaf grown up

Today is thankful Friday and I am extremely thankful about the fun weekend ahead I have planned.

Today, my littlest cousin, London Cousin 2, is 9 years old! I can't believe it – it seems no time ago since I was staying with London Aunt and Uncle, helping them out with her when she was a teeny tiny baby.

As I was buying her birthday present yesterday, a little fitted nautical-trend jacket from Next, I felt quite emotional that she has grown up so fast! And then I had to remind myself that she is only 9!

We are all going out to celebrate tonight – London family, The Blancos and The Rents, and it should be great fun...

Anyway, I am also thankful after watching the news this morning that I have already been to university!

I mean, I know the media has a tendency to make things sound worse than they are, but this lack of places thing sounds downright scary.

Looking back, I don't think I would have been one of the lucky ones...

Not without seriously playing the deaf card, and honestly, I never wanted that to be a factor in whether I should get in somewhere.

When I look back at my time at uni, I learnt a lot – it was an environment that suited me and allowed me to adjust to being a deaf adult.

Everyone is different but I think that many people benefit from this staggered form of growing up. I did my final bit during my postgraduate where I learnt how to be deaf in a work place...

It may sound bizarre but I didn't know how to act, how proactive to be and what to say to people – there is a professional way to vocalise your disability and it took time for me to get to grips with it.

If I had gone straight into work, I dread to think where I might be now. I would have had to have done all my learning and all my growing up in the harsh, unforgiving land of the work place.

It actually makes me feel a bit nauseous just thinking about it.

Big Bro on the other hand, did all his growing up in the work place and his amazingly successful career so far is a testament to his hard work but also evidence that uni was not the right path for him.

So here's what I think…

In an ideal world, Uni selection should not just be about grades, it should be about passion and drive. About the right people getting in because it's what they really want.

If times really are changing then people need to stop using uni as an excuse to get drunk for 4 years and start looking at it as a job in itself – regardless of the career plan they choose to follow afterwards.

If they don’t already, universities need to ask questions like, why do you want to come this uni? Why are you right for this course, what are your expectations? How can you contribute?

They need to weed out the time-wasters in the same way that companies do during job interviews.

I am good at my job. I got a 2:1 at uni, and that was without attending more than 4 english literature lectures in the entire three years – I self taught from notes as I couldn’t hear in lectures at all.

But I got not great A-level results, which today would probably not even get me a look-in on any course I wanted to do.

But my uni gave me a chance. They called me in for an interview and asked me all the same questions I listed above. They saw beyond my crap A-levels, saw my passion, drive and determination and allowed me to excel.

And for that, I will be forever thankful.

There was an old lady…

Today, I cannot stop yawning!

Sat here on the bus beside a little old lady, I'm worried I'm going to be snoring in minute.

Anyway, do you know this week I have apologised to a spider a total of five times?

Regular readers will know I have something of a wild front garden outside my house. Rainy weather sees me battling snails on the front gate and slugs on the pathway, and just when I'd got used to them, I was leaving my house on Monday morning and walked smack bang into the biggest spider’s web ever, stretched across my pathway. Seriously, this spider must be Tarzan in his spare time to bridge the gap over the crazy paving!

And what happened to the spider? Well I presume he was the blob on my face that I threw off while doing the manic dance that people only do when confronted with bugs.

The question now however is, is this spider so dumb that every day and every night he builds a new web across the pathway? Or is he so clever that this is him bearing a grudge for pillaging his palatial mansion the first time around?

Whatever it is, every morning and every night, without fail, he's there. And he's not little either! I believe the human term for legs like his are thunder thighs, and he has eight of them.

The question is, what am I going to do about him? At the moment I de-string one half of his web from the wisteria, which sends the other half flying into the bush with him left in the tangled web he's woven, and then I apologise to him politely and walk through.

I've tried commando crawling under the web, but that's not conducive to turning up at work looking like I actually give a damn. And short of exiting my flat via the window, there's really not much else I can do.

Anyone got any tips for spider relocation that doesn't include sending them to spider heaven? Should I get this old lady next to me to swallow a fly?

Suggestions on a postcard please!

This 'not hearing' business is getting easier!

This morning I had a new patient appointment at my doctor’s surgery at 7.45am, so right now, I’m feeling a bit sleepy!

I’m rubbish at doctor’s appointments. I’ve got that syndrome where you get inside the room and when they ask you how you are, your reflex is to say fine, because it’s amazing how much better you feel when faced with the prospect of a diagnosis.

I remember when going for my surgery last year, checking with the anaesthetist numerous times whether this was really necessary and that I felt much better already. He then pointed out the vat of paracetamol I’d had through an IV drip and explained that most people would feel better after that, too.

Anyway, my nurse today had the most fabulous accent and a rich deep-sounding voice, which made understanding anything she said virtually impossible!
I explained I needed to lipread and she was brilliant. But honestly, I still had very little idea what she was saying. The vowel sounds were so prominent, I couldn’t make out a single consonant!

But all in all it went well, and hopefully the Crohn's will stay quiet enough that I won’t have to visit again for a while.

This week is the week before the week before Gym Buddy’s wedding so we’re squishing in as much gym as we possibly can to ensure she’s in tiptop shape for the occasion! Last night was Body Combat where I beat my imaginary person to a pulp, and today is Body Balance – and I have no idea what that is. But it’s held by Web Whizz’s favourite instructor, the Tasmanian Devil, so it should be fun!

It’s amazing how used to not hearing in classes I am getting, too. It’s frustrating, sure, but I don’t feel the need to give up as easily as I used to now, and instead just accept that I will eventually have a clue what is going on.

It’s very satisfying to have overcome this hurdle and I’m even tempted to try some other classes I’ve always wanted to do.

Would a French class be too ambitious? If I could find a ‘Learn to lipread French’ class to accompany it, then my life would be complete.

Au revoir!

Hi Honey, I'm back!

You know you’re having a busy time of it when there’s not even time for a Thankful Friday.

Phew, massive apologies to anyone who needs them for the appalling lack of blogs last week. With a deadline for Hearing Times and Superdrug looming, my day blog took the back seat a bit. But that doesn’t mean I wasn’t off being Deafinitely Girly and gathering plenty of material for the cyber pages of my blog.

On Friday, I was actually very thankful as I took the day off to go and visit Picture Mate. She recently had a baby, and I had a fabulous day catching up with her over lunch, meeting her gorgeous giggly little boy and generally chilling out.

Then, on Friday night I headed to down to Uni Housemate’s place where she lives with The Man. The Man used to have a terribly boring blog name, so it’s been upgraded as of today! Anyway, the reason for the gathering, which also involved Onion Soup Mate, G, Tigger and Mrs Tigger, was that Uni Housemate has turned 30, so we decided to celebrate at an open air classical concert on Saturday evening.

On Saturday, we woke up and prayed that it wouldn’t rain. It rained, so we set off for the concert armed with waterproofs, hats, umbrellas and me with a rather fetching camping chair that was bright pink, circular and featured the most fabulous Orla Kiely-esque print on it. We drove through the flooded motorway with some reservations about what we might be about to experience. But then, as we arrived, the rain stops, the cloud cleared and the sunset warmed us as we ate our picnic, waved our flags and sang along badly to Rule Britannia.

Twas fabulous!

Then today, we went for a walk in Pompey, along the sea front I know so well from my days spent studying there. What I had never stumbled upon though, was the unofficial nudist beach that I accidentally walked through today. A sight for sore eyes on so many levels, and let’s just say, I suddenly found the pebbles directly in front of me far more interesting that the surrounding vista.

Turns out Deafinitely Girly is a prude!

And there’s just one other piece of fantastically wonderful news to report from the weekend, and that is that Penthouse Flatmate and her husband, Future Prime Minister, had a baby – their third one and a little brother for my fabulous goddaughter.

Proving that good things really do come at weekends.

Roll on the next one I say!

A deaf girl in Paris

Phew! Am now on the planet to write a blog, after being slightly exhausted yesterday from my weekend in Paris...

But what a weekend it was!

It nearly didn’t happen though, after my Crohn's put in an impromptu Friday appearance, just before a lunch date. Three sips of soup later, I was trying to conceal my shakes.

But, after a consultation with my oldest friend, Dr SuperCathyFragileMystic, I decided that a holiday was just what I needed and, after promising Ma I'd be careful – turns out getting travel insurance with Crohn's is not that straight forward – I set off…

…in Premium Leisure class!

This meant I got a three-course meal and seemingly bottomless amounts of alcohol. The latter of which I couldn't have as I was feeling rotten, the former was a welcome sight after eating nothing that day.

And what of Paris?

Well, if I could lipread French better and afford to live in a little flat on The Seine, I would move there in an instant.

It's fabulous.

The Saturday was spent wandering the Musée d'Orsay, which is literally littered with fabulous and famous artwork. My favourites being the Degas Little Dancer sculpture and Van Gogh's self-portrait. Both of them had a vulnerability about them that was captivating.

Another interesting thing about the d'Orsay is that it used to be a station, so it was fun sitting in there, surrounded by paintings by all the great impressionists while imagining it was once the Parisian exit to Orleans.

Next, saw a trip to the Rodin museum. A magnificent house, where the artist himself lived and grounds that are adorned with his famous works – The Thinker, The Kiss, The Gates Of Hell.

But to get there however, we didn't walk. We cycled on the Parisian equivalent of the London Barclaycard bikes.

Luckily, French Cousin 2 is an accomplished Parisian cyclist so I just followed her, while silently hoping my European Health Card would cover me should I park myself under the wheels of a passing Renault.

And it turns out that cycling really is the best way to see Paris, and indeed the best way to get home at 2.30am after a party in the rain by the Seine!

On the Sunday, we took a boat trip down the canal from Parc de la Villette into the centre of the city. This involved five locks and a 2km tunnel under Paris. Interspersed with circular grills giving views of the sky, we motored down this secret highway by the gentle lamplight, marvelling at how creative the architect of this has been. When faced with the industrial unsightliness of the canal, he simply hid it, and built beautiful buildings on top.

Naturally, after seeing it from below, I wanted to see it from pavement level so we rented bikes and headed to the Place de la Bastille, a road junction that saw me wishing I had really had managed to take out travel insurance and letting out random yelps as I bounced over cobblestones, dodged buses and cars and kept a watchful eye on my excellent tour guide, French Cousin 2.

And all too soon it was time to return to London - on yesterday's 7am Eurostar... hence the lack of blog yesterday.

So now all that’s left to do, is plan the next trip…

Hurrah!

Covered in cobwebs

Today is Thankful Friday, and I am thankful that I have a long weekend ahead in Paris with French Cousins 2, 3 and 1, and Mustard Boy!

I haven't been to visit them all for far too long so am most excited. And the bonus is, I love Paris, too.

I am not thankful however, about the fact that, after making an effort to look nice today, I have now ended up looking like I've been dragged through a dusty broom cupboard backwards.

In a sense, I kind of have, in the form of the cellar in the old conversion I live in. This cellar actually belongs to my neighbour, but the electricity meters are down there, so today I had to brave it for the first time ever.

The first problem I met is that the staircase was designed for miniature people – think The Borrowers – and so, after navigation my way around two ladders, a lawn mower cable that was threatening to garrotte me, and a mysterious carrier bag, I began my descent... smack bang into a thick wall of cobwebs!

Sticky cobwebs.

I could even shake myself free as I was still stuck in the stairwell of minute proportions at that point.

Eventually, I reached the cellar and was confronted by the spaghetti junction of the electricity world. To find my meter was like following the lines reaching from Tony the Tiger to his bowl of cereal on a box of Frosties.

I then made the mistake of looking up, and found a housing estate of spiders above my head.

All in all, it was a traumatic experience!

This morning, sat on the bus, (probably still not cobweb free, probably with spiders in my hair... the thought of which was making me scratch my head quite a lot – proabaly the reason why the seat next door to me was vacant) I realised with sadness that my pristine look had gone out of the window.

So, I decided to work the shabby chic look instead...

Pssssst... One more thing – if you have a mo, check out my latest post for Superdrug, HERE!

Learning with my eyes

Today, I am having trouble writing this blog, because yesterday, while drying up a Starbucks mug in the kitchen at work, the handle came off and the jagged bit sliced open my hand right in the webbed bit between my thumb and index finger.

There was blood, and a few panicky tears, and lovely colleagues sorting out first aid and wondering aloud if it needed a stitch!

*Eek

But what amazed me was how doubly deaf I became when I was in pain. People were talking but it just wasn't registering with me. I mean, I kept saying no to my colleague, who it turned out was offering me chocolate, and since when have I turned chocolate down?!

Anyway, today, like yesterday, I am heading into town early. I have a lot on at the moment, and a Superdrug deadline that's tomorrow. I have a vague idea of what I am doing for it, but I have to juggle that with dance class tonight and various other fun things before I head to Paris tomorrow evening.

And speaking of dance class, I am a little bit apprehensive about it. I mean, the last time I went to a dance class, I left, 10 minutes in, gutted that I couldn't hear anything.

The time before that? Well, I was 13 and doing ballet...

...which was not a pretty sight!

But I am going to give tonight's class a go, and see if I can rely just on my eyes to learn the moves and not on my ears. I only hope we don't have the same instructors as we did for Body Combat (they were dry-humping each other), otherwise the person next to me may get quite a shock!!!!

Getting back to work

Today is Wednesday…

It feels like Monday, because it is my first day of work this week.

On Friday, I am going to Paris – the place where I mispronounce things like Versailles (think lots of LLLLLs) and eat lots of bad things.

Therefore it feels strange to be at work, when really I feel as though I will soon be on holiday.

That is why I got to work one hour early today, so that I can catch up on stuff and make sure I am on the ball when 9.30 rolls around.

And that is why today’s blog post is rather short, as I really had better get back to it.

*sniff

Three times thankful

Today is Thankful Friday.

This weekend, The Rents are coming back from a month-long trip to the USA.

It is for this I am thankful for!

I have missed them.

And they also promised to bring me back some Peanut Butter M&Ms and some Combos…

Oh, and some Bush’s Baked Beans – the most divine thing on the planet!

For this, I am also thankful.

And, for obvious reasons, as a result of the above, I am thankful for my gym membership!

Have a great weekend peeps.

DG
x

Lipreading mishap!

Yesterday, I was walking along the street when a man stopped me, clearly in a hurry, and said, ‘Phshf ghjdihg dhhghfidh?’

Or at least that’s what my ears heard and lips read.

I said pardon and this time I heard, ‘Do you know where Holyraw Road is please?’

‘Eeerrr, what?’ I said, with him looking at me like I was some kind of moron.

‘The. Hole. In. The. Wall,’ he said again, slowly this time, before adding, ‘Cash. Machine!’

And finally, I had a clue what he was on about. But it did make me laugh how ‘Hole in the wall’ can be lipread so differently.

Except I didn’t know where a cash machine was, so had to send him on his way, after wasting five minutes trying to get me to understand him – all for no reason.

*blush

I don’t know what it is, but people always seem to stop me for directions – even when I am in foreign country. My Pa is exactly the same, and as I look a bit like him, maybe we just have the kind of face that says, ‘Ask me the way, I know everything!’

Which clearly, as yesterday demonstrates, I don’t!

So now, I am going to work on pulling a face that says, ‘Don’t ask me the way, I don’t know anything…’

I will let you know how I get on.

Not hearing with hearing aids

Yay! It's the middle of the week and the sun is shining! What more could
I ask for?!

I had a brilliant evening with Fab Friend last night - regular readers will know she actually wears her hearing aids, and yesterday, she'd been to the audiology clinic to see about the new hearing aids she's been trying out.

Apparently, they transpose the pitch of high sounds into frequencies that you can hear. But it turns out, they may not be a great as first thought, and I really felt for her when she expressed her disappointment about this. But luckily, she does have a pair that do help. In fact, I think with them on, she actually hears more than me.

For me, realising that hearing aids don't help me was quite a painful process. It's hard not to place expectations on the aids. I mean, I'm shortsighted, and yet I spend every day with perfect vision. I think I, and many people forget that hearing aids don't achieve this - you don't get perfect hearing with them.

I remember the high expectations I had the first time I got digital aids, I was so excited. I was warned it would be different but that I should persevere through that. But even with (OK... mediocre) perseverence, I just could not see how my life was better with them in it. Everything was so loud... and this, made me fall over.

And I still stand by that. It's not so bad not hearing birds sing, babies cry and cats meow. With my hearing aids, I only get these as a white noise crackle anyway, and a cat emitting white noise is not a pleasant thing.

And if not hearing white noise in the place of high sounds means I'm saved from the unpleasantness of falling over at loud lower frequencies when my aids are in, then I'll take that over babies crying anyday.

Wouldn't you?

Guess who's coming to dinner?

Last night I had the wierdest dream, I dreamt that I was juicing lemons, all night long!

Odd, don't you think?

The strangest part of this is that I don't even own a lemon juicer. Although the one in my dream was pretty nice - red and melamine! Two of my favourite things!

Anyway, today I am most excited because Fab Friend is coming to dinner! Her first visit since she moved to the Wild West erm... Country and her first visit to my flat this year - so she hasn't seen my sofa yet, or the spare room looking unbombsite-like.

I can't wait to hear how she's getting on in the Wild West erm... Country, as it's a place I love very much. In fact, a part of me always thought I might end up back there. And who knows, one day i just might.

Which reminds me, I must remember to ask Fab Friend how her search for Country Boy 3 is coming along!

Forgetting my Crohn's

Wow, another weekend over. But this time around, I actually managed to have a quiet one.

On Saturday, I saw Friend Who Knows Big Words. We had lunch at her flat and after lunch I fell asleep for an hour – charming behaviour from a guest, I’m sure you’ll agree.

Then yesterday, I spent the afternoon in Heathrow Terminal 5 with First Ever Friend and Swiss Boy 2. They had a wait between flights from Switzerland and Canada so we had some lunch and caught up and wondered if I could contort myself enough to fit in First Ever Friend’s hand luggage.

I’m not feeling brilliant at the moment though, as I think my Crohn’s might be back. All weekend I felt exhausted and not fabulous – hence the nap on Saturday afternoon – and all the usual symptoms are back. It’s so frustrating as I had almost recently forgot that I have this condition.

It was kind of like how I forget I am deaf. Except this one is a whole lot more inconvenient and worrying that being deaf.

And in a way, that’s good, as it puts my deafness in perspective.

I think frame of mind is important when dealing with Crohn’s so I’m going to continue to this positive thinking in the hope that I can chase these symptoms away…

Here’s hoping, eh?

Having a Thankful Friday

Today is Thankful Friday and I am mostly thankful for the amazing support and brilliant comments I got on yesterday's blog post.

For all those concerned that I am not going to fight the gym and try to change this stupid requirement that says I need a doctor's note for my deafness, don't worry. I am just picking the timing of my battle wisely.

It is hard sometimes to know which battle to fight though – especially when it comes to discrimination. I mean, you can't fight every little thing, but how do you know which ones to go to town on?

When I was at school, I had a chemistry teacher who had the deaf awareness of a tea cosy. He'd mumble through his beard, walk around the classroom with his back to me and then have the audacity to shake a box of plastic molecules by my ear to wake me up when I fell asleep. Should I school him? I thought. And in the end I decided to let him get on with it and teach myself instead, as it wasn't as though me hearing him was going to make me any better at chemistry. And I certainly had no plans to take chemistry beyond the compulsory GCSE.

Anyway, enough about that.

I am also thankful that this weekend is looking quiet – although after last weekend, that might be famous last words. However, for now, there are no early mornings in the pipeline or anything other than catching up with the fabulous Friend Who Knows Big Words and First Ever Friend. I am catching up with the latter at the airport as she's got a stopover between Switzerland and Canada and I can't wait!

Have a good one everyone!
DGx

Fighting a losing battle?

Yesterday was a sad day for me, as it symbolised my surrender in a fight that quite simply was unwinnable at this moment in time.

Waiting for me on the doormat last night was a letter - and not just any old letter, but a letter from my audiologist informing my gym that despite being deaf, this does not make it any more likely that i will drop a dumbbell on my head any time soon.

And today, I will hand that letter in when I go for my induction.

However, this does not mean I have given up without a fight. It just means that I am not willing to risk being banned from the gym with just one month to go before Gym Buddy’s wedding. I will fight while exercising. And now I have the doctor’s note, I am actually quite tempted to drop a dumbbell on my head, just to prove that having a doctor’s note won’t actually prevent me from doing this.

Anyway, tonight I have a Legs Bums and Tums class, which is going to hurt, as my calf muscles still feel insanely sore from my Body Combat Class earlier in the week. But as the saying goes, there’s no gain without pain.

Harumph!

Let’s see what hurts the most tomorrow shall we…

My legs, bum, tum or head from dropping the dumbbell on it.

I shall let you know!

I'm counting my blessings with weeds!

Last night I couldn't sleep.

Despite being exhausted by my Body Combat class, of which I heard absolutely nothing of – but apparrently according to Web Whizz that didn't matter as our intructor spent the whole time flirting with her colleague – no sleep came to me.

Rather disturbingly during my Body Combat class, I could see my instructor flirting with her colleague, and when the mock sex moves starting occurring, I swear I threw up a little in my mouth.

So anyway, where was I? Ah yes, not being able to sleep. I watched a little TV, read a little of my new Katie Fforde book and eventually played Scrabble on my iPhone, thrashing the computer rather satisfactorily.

I then read my phone messages, to remind me about the amazing people in my life. Two messages in particular stood out. One said, ‘Count your garden by the flowers, never by the leaves that fall.’ And the other said, 'Hold your head up high and watch your back' and it was on this note that I finally closed my eyes and slept a truely dreamless sleep.

And today? My head is held high, and I'm watching my back, and if Nutty Neighbour ever did any gardening, I would count the flowers – but for now, I’m counting weeds!!!!

When email beats phone calls... kinda

So, on Friday, I decided that I was going to have a quiet and relaxing weekend.

Ha!

However, while I didn’t have that. I did have an exceptionally fun weekend – that has left me in need of another to recover.

On Saturday, I successfully got my car MOT’d and serviced. I was nervous as I organised the whole thing by email and was convinced in the absence of a proper conversation something would go wrong.

And it kinda did in that the person I emailed neglected to tell me that the service centre had moved 2 miles up the road. But once the car was there and I realised I was in the middle of nowhere, on an industrial estate with no where to go, I settled down for the three-hour wait and thoroughly enjoyed the rare opportunity to plough through the latest book I am reading.

And it was all fine. Everything passed and for another year, I don’t have to worry. Even more importantly, next year I know that I can just do it all by email again! Hurray!

Saturday night saw me having a wonderful time at London Aunt’s with great wine, great food and great company and Sunday saw me having a great hangover!

Teehee!

But the show had to go on and it was Miss K’s birthday festivities – held early as she’s jetting off to New York this week on holiday.

It was brilliant to celebrate with her and when I think what she’s achieved in the last year, it makes me very proud to know her. She’s quite something!

And now I’m at Monday again – and guess what I’ve got to look forward to?

An fabulous evening of Body Combat with Gym Buddy and Web Whizz.

After finding out from Gym Buddy the other week that the whole class revolves around an imaginary fight – I had missed all this due to not being able to hear the instructor – I will allow my imagination to run riot and plan to throw myself into the class with gusto.

Just gotta find my muse now…

No longer relying on the phone…

Today is Thankful Friday and I am mostly thankful for feeling so I inspired by the Superdrug competiton again. I've had a lot of fun completing this week’s challenge, and you can see the results by clicking copying this link into your browser http://superdrugloves.com/summerlooks/! And if you like it, don't forget to click on 5 stars!

I am also thankful for the fabulously quiet weekend I've got ahead of me. After a week of madness, I need to do very little. The most I will be doing is freaking out about the bill for getting my car MOT’d and serviced...

Ouchy!

However, I was very impressed that I was able to book the whole thing by email – a first for me. In the past, NikNak always rang up my mechanic to book my car in and spoke to him during the day about any issues with the MOT etc. It was amazing of her to do this for me, but I am very happy that this time around, because I have moved areas and have a new garage, I can do it independently.

It's slow progress but I am beginning to notice things I can now do for myself without relying on people to make calls for me. From booking theatre tickets and tables in restaurants to selling shares and sorting out health problems, gradually the provisions are in place to allow me to text or email. I feel so much more in control of my life.

In that area anyway!

Have a great weekend everyone…

Not watching The Silence

I despair of this weather! In spite of the fact I am wearing a fabulous new Bourjois bronzer sent to me by Superdrug as part of the Summer Blog competition I am once again taking part in, I DO NOT FEEL SUMMERY!

In fact, I have broken out the winter boots and tights, as I just could not face getting soggy feet on the way to work this morning. So, while I was skipping through the puddles with my toasty dry feet, people were sloshing behind me in flip flops…

Anyway, if you haven’t been aware of the media interest in the latest thriller on the BBC, The Silence, you obviously need to read more papers. This four-part drama surrounding the aftermath of a girl witnessing a murder, who also happens to have had a cochlear implant and is dealing with the issues surround that as well as being intimidated by crooked cops (did I miss anything out?) has been slated and rated by pretty much everyone since it began on Monday.

And, honestly, I am not about to join them, because yesterday I did a very weird thing. I deleted it, unwatched, from my digibox hard drive.

I KNOW!!!!!!

I have no idea why I did this…

It may have been to do with the fact that I caught about 15 minutes of it yesterday – where the dad is running up the lane and the main character, Amelia, has just run off to Bristol on a bus. I sat there watching and then it hit me why I wasn’t enjoying it – everything was so out of focus! I mean, the girl was in focus but the entire background was out of focus. Now there may be some clever visual link between this and the isolation that Amelia feels from the outside world, but it made me feel motion sick and a little bit blind.

Did anyone else find this?

I lasted 15 minutes and then, in a fit of impulsiveness, deleted the whole lot. So now I can’t even make an informed decision on whether or not I like it!

Whoops!

Never mind, I thought, I can always watch it on iPlayer…

…except I can’t as for some reason, it’s not subtitled!

The irony of this makes me feel almost as sick as the out of focus camera work.

And that is all!

Dear Top Gear, your subtitles are RUBBISH!

Dear Top Gear,

Thank you, no really, THANK YOU for your consistency in cocking up the subtitles that accompany your show, series after series.

OK, so I know they’re not actually typed by Top Gear peeps – much as I’d love Jeremy Clarkson to subtitle his own show, but I think it's about time the Beeb had a word with the people who do, because they are rubbish.

I know this because last night, while watching a recording of Sunday's show, right in the middle of Baracello's interview, the subtitles jumped so far ahead that I found out his lap time practically before he'd crossed the finish line.

Arghhhh!

I turned the subtitles off, I turned them on, I restarted the programme, and I swore, but nothing worked, which was frustrating as it rendered the rest of the programme useless. I was just about to delete it, when I instead decided to let it run, and read a magazine while keeping one eye on the subtitles to see if they would eventually even out. And they did – but not until a whole section on a Muscle Car had passed, and an interview with Rupert Grint.

What gets me is how consistently terrible Top Gear’s subtitles are – there are enough blog posts here as evidence to this – and half the time I don’t even bother to comment as I know I won’t be able to type anything polite.

In fact, I can barely remember an episode where the subtitles didn't get stuffed up.

It's not good enough. It's not why I pay my TV licence.

Sort it out guys... preferably by next week, yeah?!

Yours stroppily
DG

my mishearing mishap

Hurrah! What a good weekend I had! I certainly didn't want it to end.

On Friday, I had an amazing picnic with NikNak in my local park – we gorged ourselves on every kind of picnic food imaginable and had a fabulous catch up.

Then, on Saturday, it was Gym Buddy's hen do!

We started out with a tasty tea at the Soho Hotel, went back to hers for Pimms and pizza and then headed back out to a bar called Circus.

There were about 10 people I had never met before, which was erm... all of them, and by the time we were in Circus Bar, the chance still hadn't arisen to tell any of them I couldn't hear...

While I seemed to be doing OK, I thought, during a quiet moment, I should check with Gym Buddy and let her know that if anyone commented on me being rude or doing something odd, she should let them know about my deafness.

She then started to laugh and said it had already happened!! Apparently, when we were all getting ready, one of her bridesmaids came to me and asked her to zip her up, which I did, before going back to my make-up. Except, she didn't ask me to zip her up, she asked me to unzip her...

*blush

This meant she had to go all the way downstairs to find someone else to do this for her, while wondering what the heck I had been playing at! Gym Buddy did tell her I couldn’t hear after that, but ironically, she didn’t hear her say this!

The poor girl must have thought I was mental – or just obtuse!

Once in Guanabara – a Brazilian club in Covent Garden, I also chickened out of talking to anyone full stop as the music was so loud, I could barely hear myself talk, let alone anyone else. But it was fabulous – especially the live drumming, as this was right in my frequency and I almost fell off the bench I was dancing on several times such was my enthusiasm!

And today? Well, I am one of those people the RNID tweet about regularly, who has damaged their hearing through loud music. Everything is muter than ever – the radio is a tinny hum and I’ve said pardon more times today than I’ve breathed!

Lesson learned – ear plugs will be at the ready next time.

Those, and some flat shoes – not sure what suffered more at the weekend, my feet or my ears!

Roll on the weekend!

Today is Thankful Friday, except I am not very thankful because last night I came into my kitchen to find it was raining, through the light fitting.

Eek!

To top it all off, it wasn't content with just leaking through a live electrical fitting, it also decided to come through in four other places - two of those in my bedroom.

Argh!

Not overjoyed by this but aware my neighbour was lending his flat to some friends, I went upstairs and told them about the leak. I really did try not to raise my voice and sound cross, but I was cross, so I may have failed slightly at that task.

Ho-hum...

So now I just have to hope my pleas of 'do not use the shower and please fix this leak' are adhered to on the hottest sweatiest day of the year, so I don't come home to find my ceiling down round about my ankles tonight!!

But on happier notes, I am muchly excited about the fun weekend I have ahead. NikNak is coming over for a picnc and gossip tonight and tomorrow is Gym Buddy's hen do! Whoop!

We went to the gym last night for a Legs Bums and Tums class with Web Whizz, and it was ace. Painful but excellent!

Naturally I didn't hear a word the instructor said, but I coped by copying others, which only worked if they were getting it right, which honestly was not very often!

Hopefully next week, it will all seem more familiar as I am trying not to cry with the pain as she puts us through the torturous routine – and I do this for fun don’t you know.

Lastly, I am thankful that I will also get to see Whiskey Cousin and her ma, Ha-ha-Aunt. They are coming up to watch a concert in town so I will meet them for a catch up beforehand and then go and join GBman and the Singing Swede for the football match that is the World Cup Final.

Family loyalties mean I am supporting Holland. This apparently is of no relevance to Paul the psychic Octopus who has selected Spain as the winner.

Bother!

But then, I heard that Mani the psychic parakeet has selected Holland…

So maybe there is some hope after all!

Have a great weekend everyone…

Watching the Jonas Miserables

On Tuesday night, I took Friend Who Knows Big Words to see Les Miserables for her 30th birthday and one the whole, it was brilliant.

Friend Who Knows Big Words is also a friend who reads big books and naturally she has read Les Miserables – unlike the entire rest of the audience – so was intrigued to see how true it was to the storyline. And it turns out, she was impressed – although at the interval she said that at this point, the book only had about 300 pages of the 1,500+ left to go and thought it was the end!

Regular readers will know that due to the fact that there wasn’t a subtitled performance until later on in the year, the lovely theatre peeps gave me a discount on the premium tickets so we could sit near enough that I could lipread a little, so there we were, three rows from the front, bang in the middle. And actually, while this was excellent for lipreading, I did get a bit of a crick in my neck after a while, as we were so close I was looking up a lot of the time.

What FWKBW and I hadn’t bargained on was there being a teenage heartthrob in the cast though – none other than erm… someone called Nick Jonas, who is apparently very famous and very popular with the ladies. I only know about him as one of my Superdrug mates, Holly, loves this Jonas and his brothers and wrote about them quite a lot last summer.

Anyway, this meant that over 50% of the audience was made up of teenage girls, all eager to get a glimpse of their idol – there was one at the front who spent the entire show gripping the orchestra pit barrier in anticipation, and when Mr Jonas made his first appearance on stage, the girl to our left, leapt out of seat and was on the cusp of screaming until she caught the daggered looks from FWKBW and me, and thought better of it.

So what of the performance? Well, having seen Les Mis quite a few times – people always seem to want to go with me, wonder if it’s the cheap tickets?! – it was good…

But it wasn’t excellent.

It’s not that I can fault Mr Jonas specifically, but I just didn’t find him very believable as the character of Marius – perhaps because I was aware that everyone around me was giving off lust hormones for Nick Jonas and not Marius so therefore it was hard to get into the swing of things.

But the important thing was, especially as it was her birthday present, was that FWKBW didn’t even know who Nick Jonas was, so she was blissfully engrossed in the story, filling me in on things in the book that weren’t mentioned or were just touched on briefly, and humouring my little cry when good old Valjean pegs it at the end.

But actually, it was the end that also had me crawling under my seat with embarrassment because by then the girl to our left could hardly contain herself and when Mr Jonas took to the stage to bow, she left her seat in one swift move and screamed at a frequency that thankfully I couldn’t hear. But what I could hear, through the wild applause was FWKBW declare loudly, ‘Oh my god, shoot her now!’ in reference to the mad screaming Jonas fan.

At this point I also kinda felt sorry for the other cast members, who let’s face it, do exactly the same job as Mr Jonas, only better, and none of them have girls hyperventilating over them on a nightly basis.

All-in-all, I think I’ve reached the conclusion, that should I go and see it again – and you can guarantee I will as one of my friends will want to go on the cheap – I will make sure there are absolutely NO celebrities in it.

Just hard-working West End stars…

Maybe that way, I will actually get to focus on the performance rather than try and block out the barrage of teenage hormones that will inevitable invade the auditorium.

Not hearing my gym class

So, I’m in a slightly happier mood today – although quite unable to move after going to a Body Combat class with Gym Buddy!

It was great fun though as well as being incredibly hard work.

At the end of the class Gym Buddy was talking about how weird it was imagining she was beating someone up.

‘Why were you doing that?’ I asked.

Anyway, it turns out the instructor spent the entire class yelling things like , 'Bring their head to your knee!' and 'Smash them with your fist!' and each section of the class was an imaginary fight with someone!

I honestly had no clue that all that was going on. It took all the visual ability I have to follow the moves, and I just thought how each move was tackling problem areas. So during a knee lift and back kick, I was thinking, 'Tight butt, shapely thighs', while poor Gym Buddy was thinking, 'Kill, kill, kill!'

For once, I was actually quite happy not to hear it!

Our next class is Legs Bums and Tums so hopefully I won't need my hearing too much for that because and as far as I know it's not Legs Bums and Tums Combat so we won't be beating up imaginary people in the process!

Oh, and this doesn't mean the gym has given up on the whole doctor's note debacle either! At the moment I am getting around it by just going to classes and not having an induction! MADNESS!

Who has more fun? Deaf, or hearing people?!

Today I woke up at grumpy o'clock!

Honestly, I'm not enjoying being deaf at the moment, which is silly because it's not like I have any other option is it?

As part of my work for Superdrug, I've been set the challenge of writing a blog about who has more fun, blondes or brunettes.

If I'm honest, much as I love writing for Superdrug, this challenge has not left me feeling inspired. I mean, aren't we each responsible for making our own fun? And what about ginger people?!

Such a shame I can't apply this attitude to how I am feeling right now.

For example, pondering the blonde/brunette question led me to ask one of my own: who has more fun? Deaf or hearing people?

No wait, let's get even more specific. Who has more fun? Deaf me, or the hearing people I know?

The sensible part of me, the same part that's willing me to enter into the spirit of the Superdrug challenge and just get on with it, is currently chiding the self-pitying part of me for being so ridiculous.

But let's look at the evidence…

I’m in a bar with a group of girly mates and a selection of guys come and chat to us. Soon my friends are all deep in conversation with their men while I am left frantically trying to stop the guy focussing on me from screaming down my broken ear.

When I've finally achieved this, he's lost interest because to my right there's a girl whose ear he can scream down.

So it's 15/Love to the hearing people.

Recently, I went out to dinner with a group of all couples – who were all absolutely lovely. The weather was amazing, so we sat in the garden. I tried to follow group conversation but in the darkness it was hard to lipread, so I inevitably started chatting to the guy on left of me, as hearing him was no problem. He was also very interesting and had some helpful advice for me regarding several ideas I have in the pipeline.

It was only when someone passed comment on the fact we'd been chatting for a long time that I realised that chatting to someone all night because they're the only person you can hear is not what other people see – this worried me. What had they seen? Had I upset anyone?

So it's 30/15 to the hearing people.

Then there's the minefield that is telephone calls. Regardless of what people say, this is still the way to build relationships, catch up and erm… have fun.

40/15

Add to this an advantage point of being more attractive to potential employers and not needing a doctor's note to join a gym (the DDA holds no fear to some) and there's only one more move to win the game...

So what's the winning serve?

I think that’s the fact that I'm sat here feeling sorry for myself.

You see, while I'm doing that, hearing people are having more fun, and quite a few deaf people probably are, too.

What I’ve got to do is utilise what I've learnt, rather than beat myself up during the painful learning process.

I've got to accept I will never meet guys in bars – but then I don't know many meaningful relationships that have begun in one. I now know not to monopolise the company of one person just because I can hear them, as other people judge, and I've got to accept that life isn't always fun.

Life is a challenge. Guess I'd better get on with current Superdrug one then.

Wish me luck!

My Ross-from-Friends moment

Today is Thankful Friday.

I am thankful that my experimental peanut butter and honey chicken stir-fry didn’t poison Gym Buddy last night when she came for dinner, and that we are both alive and well at work today in spite of me entering a bus lane facing the wrong way when I was driving her home last night. At least she no longer fears death after that particular car journey!

I am also thankful that I have a relatively quiet weekend ahead – it’s London Aunt’s wedding anniversary on Sunday, so we’re going for lunch for that, and I am meeting Friend Who Knows Big Words for a lunchtime gossip on Saturday. But apart from that I will just be doing as much exercise as I can.

The reason for this is I have become a little rounded at the edges of late.

After the slimming effects of a nasty bout of Crohn’s last year, I have managed to regain all the weight I lost and add a little bit more for good measure, and it’s had a disastrous effect on the fitting of my clothes!

The other night, while walking home from work, I stopped off to use a public loo. I was hot from the walking and as I tried to pull my jeans up, I had a Ross from Friends moment. You know the scene where he wears leather pants on a date and can’t get them back up in the bathroom?

Well that was me. Stuck in a central London toilet wondering how the heck to get my jeans up in the confines of a small cubical.

In the end I did a kind of Hips Don’t Lie move and the jeans were up – but it was a moment I do not want to repeat…

*blush

So, yes, a weekend of exercise for me it is then.

And, if you see me running around the park with my egg timer this weekend, be sure to stop and say hellooooooo!

Re-evaluating deaf awareness

Yay! Almost the weekend!

So, the private view was great fun last night, and only one person asked about my love life! Perhaps they've come to realize there's no longer anything to tell!!

Anyway, last night, as I was dozing in bed, I caught the late-night repeat of the BBC2 programme Are You Having A Laugh: TV and Disability.

All about how disabled people had been displayed on TV over the years, it included input from both disabled and non-disabled people and, although a little clichéd at times, it really did make me realise that, even though things are far from perfect now, they're a hell of a lot better than they were.

But perhaps what I gleaned from the programme was the importance of tolerance, from both sides. As the award-winning producer of The Office, Ash Atalla said, ‘When people ask me to step over here or take a walk with them, I don't make a big deal of it as that would make me the idiot.’*

And then someone who was perhaps Dom Joly or at least looked like Dom Joly (the subtitles covered his name so I don't know exactly who he was) said something along the lines of, ‘If only disabled people are allowed to make jokes about disabilities, then they shouldn't be allowed to make jokes about us "normals".’

Teehee!

But anyway, as I was saying, what I am learning this week, especially as it's Deaf Awareness Week – and not all the writing on the internet about it is good, I should point out – is the importance of tolerance on both sides of the fence.

No one is ever going to get it completely right. The dos and don'ts of interacting with anyone, whether they're deaf, blind, in a wheelchair, have any kind of disability or are just a ‘normal’ should never be assumed as the only way to do something.

In addition to their disability, that person might be painfully shy and dislike eye contact, or one-to-one interaction, or having allowances made for them.

And no matter how many guidelines are drawn up, we're never going to get it just right for everyone.

So perhaps what's more important is to raise awareness of this. So people are less afraid of causing offence when they chat to a deaf person or of helping a blind person struggling to cross the road. After all, at least they could be bothered to make the effort.

I’m certainly going to give this tolerance a go next time someone actually makes an effort with my deafness, no matter how annoying it is. Because if I react negatively to their help of tapping me on the shoulder, turning the TV up even though this is actually painful for me, or speaking so slowly I’ve forgotten what they were talking about by the time they finish their sentence, they may be afraid to do that for the next deaf person they meet, and that might be just the help that deaf person needs.

Don't get me wrong though, that doesn't mean I'm not going to make my needs known, and I've always done that within my social group. But is there really any point in schooling a complete stranger who you might never meet again when all we're really talking about is personal preference?

It’s all amazing food for thought, really. And no matter what bad – or good – press there is on Deaf Awareness Week right now, if it’s got me thinking I should be more tolerant and less gung-ho when people get it wrong, then that can only be a good thing!


*I think this is what he said but the subtitles were gone before I could grab a pen!

Subtitled Innocent Smoothies!

Tonight, I am going to a private art and photography view organised by London Aunt.

I've been going along to support her for several years now and it's usually a great night. It's a great time to catch up with her friends as well and every time I see them, they ask me about my man situation. And every year so far, I've had some great gossip or at least something for them. Except this year... unless I can get a date in the next 8 hours that is!!!!

But actually, don’t they say galleries are the best place to meet people?!

Anyway, I'm a regular visit to the Innocent drinks website, and a fan of the smoothies, too, I like the witty banter that takes place on the site, so when I went on recently and found that the AGM Q&A was all video uploads I was quite disappointed. So I wrote and asked them politely for a transcript. And yesterday, slap bang in the middle of
Deaf Awareness Week, the link to the transcript of this PLUS another interview regarding the sale of a percentage of Innocent to Coca Cola was sent to me.

Hurrah!

And it was a great read – so a big thank you to the person who typed all that up!

I wish the same could be said for subtitled movies on iTunes though! The other day I searched specifically for these and I'm pretty certain there were just 4! One of which had a bizarre title of Angus, Thongs & Perfect Snogging... Or something along those lines!

So I'm going to write to iTunes/apple/anybody today and remind them that it is Deaf Awareness
week and ask them to fix this!

Hopefully they'll be nice, like Innocent, and do this...

…hopefully!

Hearing aid jewellery?

Yesterday evening, after coming home from meeting Fab Friend and Flo for a post-climbing drink, I reached under the front seat of my car and my neck seized up on one side.

At the time it was like that urgent cramp you get in your calf sometimes, and I tried to stretch my neck the other way but it hurt... a lot.

And this morning it was no better – so much so that I've put off uploading my blog until now. I feel like a ragdoll whose neck has come unstitched on one side.

I can't look right, tilt my head right or look up without a seering pain, and I don't like it...

*sniff

Not being able to move my head to the right is also going to make lipreading very difficult – my boss sits on my right.

Luckily however, I have s swivel chair so I can always swivel my whole body when she speaks to me.

Anyway, don't know how I missed this news story, but according to Flo, who read it in The Metro, you can now buy jewellery for your hearing aid moulds – or at least you will be able to soon.

A partially deaf audiologist Kate Cross has created, with the help of a jewellery designer the ‘Hearings’ collection – ornate pieces designed to look pretty and mask the fact you’re wearing a hearing aid.

Both Fab Friend and I were intrigued by this, so this morning I got Googling, but not much is on the internet about it, except the original Metro story here.

I’m not utterly convinced I’d want daisies on my hearing aid ear pieces, but then I’ve never been worried about the stigma of wearing them, what really bothers me about my hearing aids is that they don’t really help me.

Would a designer accessory on them make me want to wear them any more? Probably not, but it’s still a quirky innovative idea that I’m looking forward to finding more about.

Guess we’d all better watch this space!

Supporting Deaf Awareness Week

Deafinitely Girly’s usual spiel is interrupted today with an advert for Deaf Awareness Week!

People are so judgemental, right?

From what you’re wearing, to the colour, cut and style of your hair. From your interests in life, hobbies to choice of partner and the way you behave.

But so many of the above are personal choices – you choose your haircut, what you wear, what things you like to do and who you go out with. But imagine being judged on something you couldn’t change – something that you yourself struggled with on many occasions…

…your disability.

To be on the receiving end of this kind of judgement can be soul destroying. It’s a battle you can’t win. And, while there are certainly some judgemental people out there, all too often the reason the person judging you is behaving that way is simply because they’re not aware about your disability, or how to deal with it.

That’s why, when the RNID asked me to support Deaf Awareness Week simply by writing about it, I was more than happy to. From my own personal journey as a deaf person to watching Ma struggle with losing her hearing, I can honestly say that a little bit of deaf awareness goes a long way.

As a kid, I was very bull-in-a-china-shop about my deafness – I told people in a ‘Don’t care’ way and often liked the shock factor it caused. I thrived on being the only deaf person in the village and if I’m honest, I don’t think I even knew what ‘deaf awareness’ was.

But then came the realisation that not everyone was so accepting. My teacher made me stand in the corner of the classroom for not wearing my hearing aids and then spoke to me without letting me face her to prove that I couldn’t hear.

At a charity evening one day, I missed my number being called out in a tombola and the man on the microphone asked if I was stupid or something. When I told him I was deaf, he replied, ‘Oh, so you must be stupid then.’

And stupid I may well be, sometimes, but it wasn’t his judgement to make.

So if you do just one thing today, make sure its peruse the RNID’s website – particularly the section on Deaf Awareness Week. There you’ll find simple communication dos and don’ts, with my favourite being up there:

Do repeat yourself. Or rephrase until you're understood.

I can honestly tell you, there’s nothing worse than someone giving up on what they’re trying to say to you! It makes you feel very, very small!

For me, being deaf aware is as much about the little things in life as the big – and it’s also about recognising that everyone has different needs and what works for one person doesn’t work for another. I actually find being tapped on the shoulder makes me jump out of my seat at work and prefer to have my desk tapped.

I know I’ve got lots to learn this Deaf Awareness Week, and maybe you have, too. So why not make a big change with something little and support Deaf Awareness Week.

Oh and one more thing – I can't report back on the T-loop system in my car as when I put my hearing aids in on Friday, I discovered they had no batteries in them. See, I really have still got lots to learn!

*blush!

Hearing in my car!

Woohoo it's Friday! Almost the weekend! Two whole days of fun!

Thankful Friday wise, I am thankful for the weather, the weather and the erm... weather!

I love the sunshine!

This weekend I am taking London Cousins 1 and 2 on a road trip to see The Rents. London Aunt is going on a girly weekend away so I offered to look after them.

I love London Cousins 1 and 2 and, at 10 and 8 years old, it's amazing watching how they're growing up and what interests they have and how much they seem to know about everything – way more than I did at that age.

I mean, there I was pondering over what music to play in my car when London Cousin 1 piped up, 'Can we have Capital radio on?' – apparently it plays her favourite music.

As a result, when I was out last night, I tuned my radio into Capital – which at volume 48 on my car stereo isn’t actually that bad, so it's all ready this evening to pick them up.

I am a bit nervous about the journey because I know I won't hear anything they say to me. I should be able to lipread London Cousin 2 in my rear-view mirror if I have to, but I have warned them both that I won't be able to chat to them on the journey up there.

I think I feel sadder about this than they do to be honest. Rather randomly, not hearing in cars is one of the main things that bugs me about my deafness – coming in a close second to not hearing guys talking in my ears in clubs. They always find someone who’s easier to talk to rather than get to grips with letting me lipread them – but that’s a whole other bugbear.

So anyway, after pondering about the not-hearing-in-the-car issue on the bus this morning, I suddenly remembered my portable T-loop system. OK so this doesn't work for me most of the time but what if I rig it up so that if London cousins 1 or 2 want to speak to me, they just grab the microphone part and talk directly down that, so I'll get their voices much louder than the usually are.

This has made me very excited and the T-loop is charging as I type this.

I'll let you know if it worked in Monday's blog.

The off-side rule according to girls

Yesterday, when England were playing football and tumbleweed was blowing through the deserted office, I had the offside rule explained to me by a girl, and here’s how it went:

Imagine you are in Primark, queuing in single file. The girl in front of you doesn’t have her purse and, to your dismay you realise you don’t have yours either. A solution is that your friend towards the back of the queue is offering to throw her purse to you. You can’t queue jump until the purse has been thrown to you, but once the purse has been thrown you can quickly dodge the lass in front then confront the girl on the desk.

And, it seems, when you take condiment bottles out of the equation – the favoured bloke’s way of explaining the off-side rule – I can understand it better!

What’s most amazing about all this, is that this is yet another blog about football – anyone would think I liked this sport or something!

Anyway, I seem to have lost my writing mojo recently – perhaps it’s the World Cup consuming my brain, or perhaps I am just not feeling very inspired. I seem to have writer’s block.

And unfortunately, the only cure I know for this is to write naked with an unlit cigarette in your mouth – something I was taught by my writing tutor at university. I’ve tried it often and it really does work – although perhaps not on the packed London bus that I am travelling on this morning.

So instead, I will leave you with perhaps my finest moment during this World Cup so far…

There I was, sitting in the pub for the first match against USA surrounded by enthusiastic, emotional boys. Halfway through I turned and asked the guy next to me if the goalies were Dutch as they were wearing orange…

Ho-hum!

'Bogus' subtitles!

This morning after a news bulletin on BBC breakfast about the BP oil disaster a single word was displayed on the TV screen - bogus! As it followed a sentence about BP hoping to stop the leak by August, I couldn't help wondering if maybe the subtitler knew something we didn't, and as a result, deaf people nationwide now know that the BBC subtitler, electronic or otherwise, thinks BP's claims are bogus...

Well isn't that just food for thought!

What gets me though is the order of the news stories at the moment – everywhere, not just on the BBC. The headlines go: football, football, football; oop Budget doom and gloom; oop oil spill; oop soldiers dying in Afghanistan… now tell me – isn’t there something wrong with that order?

Now, I'm not a football lover, I never have been. And while that doesn't mean I don't recognise the importance of the World Cup for football lovers, I am still left struggling to comprehend just why this takes precedence over important news that’s actually affecting the world!

And so far what I've managed to grasp from my football-orientated friends about the World Cup, is that they'd all quite like to change their nationality to Portuguese...

Anyway, tomorrow is THE match apparently, so it's probably not a good time to try and achieve any work – I’ve even heard some companies are closing up early, and in the ones that aren’t, the Internet connections are going to crash due to the high levels of live screening and oh crap... I've managed to write an entire blog about football.

Maybe it is headline news after all!!

Reading along to Calendar Girls

Wow, what an utterly brilliant weekend I had!

So much so, that I didn't want to leave, which resulted in my not getting back to London until gone 10pm last night.

I was in the Wild West erm... Country visiting Jenny M, who's a hotshot theatre director don't you know.

Summer, with it's deluge of open-air plays, and unfortunately rain, is her busiest time, so I thought I'd squeeze in a quick visit before she became too caught up in cider, musketeers and Canterbury tales!!

We also decided last minute to go and watch Calendar Girls, which was showing at a theatre nearby. It wasn't captioned, so I was a bit worried about hearing any of it, but we had amazing seats six rows from the front so was a little bit hopeful might get something, so we took the plunge and bought the tickets.

But then I came to my senses and remembered I was deaf! Deaf! Unable to hear!

And so instead I asked Jenny M to use her excellent contacts and see if she could get me a script to read along to.

She wasn't hopeful as apparently, theatre scripts are closely-guarded things and no one likes to part with theirs – and I remember The Girl That Can't Help Knit saying something similar, too.

But by some miracle, the crew had several non-closely guarded scripts and, as a result were happy to give me one to follow.

And what a difference it made!

OK, so it meant I was looking down more than up most of the time but without it, I would have been asleep in my seat within 10 minutes as a result of the exaggerated Northern accents.

To be fair though, it was still fabulous, funny and all in all, a bit of a tearjerker, with a recognisable, in a don’t-I-know-you-from-somewhere way, cast, including Madge from Neighbours, Inspector Monroe from The Bill, somebody's wife from Only Fools and Horses, Charlie Dimmock from Ground Force and Dennis Waterman's daughter!

And when wandering around backstage afterwards, bumping into them, they all seemed rather lovely, too.

It did get me thinking though, I wonder if other deaf people would be happy to read along to a personal script in the event of subtitles not being available – I know I would always jump at the chance. And if they were, would the theatre companies consider having a couple of scripts spare that, on request could be loaned out with a deposit for the evening?

It would be amazing if this could happen. I could go to the theatre every night, instead of whenever Stagetext is there.

Don't get me wrong though, Stagetext is still royalty to me, but after finding out just how much time and energy goes into Stagetext’s attendances at performances, I'm not surprised it isn't able to do more.

So isn't this a lovely back-up plan?

What do you think?

Just a dream… phew!

Before I go info Thankful Friday, I just have to get the hideous nightmare I had last night off my chest. It was so horrible that it actually woke me up as I sat bolt upright in bed with fear.

So there I was on my way to work and the traffic was terrible. I got out to walk the rest of the way, Ma was with me, when all of a sudden we noticed people watching the skyline. London was on fire. What's more, the sky resembled a Space Invaders video game, with rockets, spaceships and planes left right and centre crashing out of the sky.

In my dream, I got out my iPhone and hit Sky News, where it said that London was under attack. Ma and I were running for cover in the park as debris scattered all around us.

And then, as it was a dream, I was magically somehow at work, London was still on fire and Gym Buddy was the only other person in the office.

Suddenly ash started to fall in vast quantities and the room went black as it coated the office windows.

And that is where I woke up. Completely freaked out, praying it really was a dream and not some weird parallel universe.

So this means I have been awake since 6am, which isn't making me very thankful on this Thankful Friday. But what I am thankful about, is that last night really was just a dream, and this morning on my bus to work, London was as it should be – dirty, smelly, clogged up with traffic but utterly fabulous all the same!

Missing Fab Friend

Sun shining? Tick

DG wearing a coat? Tick!

I know! Ridiculous huh? I'm surrounded by people in vest tops and cotton skirts and I'm sat here in jeans and a coat and scarf – albeit a lightweight one!

I quite simply just don't get hot – except in direct sunlight, but usually, before I get too hot, I will have passed out from sunstroke instead.

Rarely is there a day when I don't leave the house without at least three layers on! One ex-boyfriend even likened my outfits to a game of pass the parcel!

*blush

I wonder if it's actually that I am afraid of being cold – something maybe to do with being stuck in a car on a mountain in the snow as a child maybe – and therefore I do everything in my power not to be.

I mean take yesterday for example, it was warm in the sun, but there was a bitter wind. Whenever the wind blew, I kept thinking, ‘Oh, I wish I had my down jacket on’ – when it was 21 degrees – whereas the rest of the population was probably thinking, ‘oh, a cool refreshing breeze – how fabulous!’

Anyway, today is the day before the weekend nearly begins, which can only be a good thing. It is also the day before Fab Friend's birthday.

Happy Early Birthday Fab Friend!

I'm missing Fab Friend a lot. But so long as she is happy in the Wild West erm... Country with Country Boy 2, then I am happy, too!

And on that note, I must email her to check how her search for Country Boy 3 is going...

Teehee!

Subtitled SATC2 – finally!!!!!!!

Last night, with Fab Friend's permission to go without her due to geographical differences, I went to see Sex & The City 2 with subtitles with Friend Who Knows Big Words.

I was very excited, and FWKBW did a noble job of putting up with me bounding along on the way there like an excitable puppy, buying every snack known to man, and getting impatient through the non-subtitled trailers.

You see, the cinema for me is such a rare experience, that I like to do everything related to it. The too-much food that you eat anyway, the drink on the side, etc etc – it's all part of my night out.

So anyway, we sat down in our prime seats and the night began – loudly. During the trailers I turned to FWKBW and asked her if the cinema was usually this loud.

She shook her head and then started laughing at me! 'Maybe you should tell them you’re deaf and that the movie is too loud!' she said chuckling at the prospect.

And the idea of that made me giggle. But it also made me wonder whether they do turn up subtitled films louder with the view that people with a hearing loss might be watching them.

At last night’s screening, I think I was in a deaf minority – most people seemed to need the subtitles because they were foreign, and the girls next to us didn’t even seem to know they were at a subtitled showing until the movie began and the subtitles came up!

Their looks of horror were hilarious.

And what of the long-awaited second Sex & The City? Well, I loved it – apart from the scene in the market where Samantha goes berserk over her Birkin. That had me hiding behind my snacks and wishing the ground would open up and swallow her.

My only gripe? Well, that we don’t get to enjoy all those storylines over an entire series anymore…

I’d have loved to see the nanny storyline developed and Miranda’s work situation explored but with the constraints of a 2-and-a-bit hour-long movie, that was always going to be hard.

For all the SATC sceptics out there who’ve chosen to slate the movie, if you hate it that much why bother to go in the first place? I mean, I hate Star Wars, so if a new movie came out, I just wouldn’t bother to go and see it – simple! And I certainly wouldn’t slate it on those grounds, which is what many of the critics seem to be doing.

SATC doesn’t promise to carry an important message, it doesn’t promise to change your life, it doesn’t promise much except to continue updating SATC fans everywhere on the lives of the four women we came to know and love when it was on TV. If you’re one of those women, they you will probably take the cringesome moments of the movie with a pinch of salt.

If you’re not, then go and see something else, unless you’re deaf of course, and nothing else is subtitled that night!

Good erm... vibrations!

Phew, Monday was manic...

So no blog from me!

I hate it when I don't get to blog on the bus in the morning, but yesterday morning, I spent the entire journey deleting 400 emails from my Hotmail account after my iPhone died, had to be restored and then failed to sync properly...

Harumph!

Anyway, this week, I am back to running properly again. I’ve regained the spring in my step – turns out the trick is to go to bed at 10.30 and also some new batteries in my vibrating alarm clock.

Recently, it just hasn’t been doing the wake-up thing as well as it used to. I mean, sure, it’s been shiggling me awake gently but not the full-on erm… earth-moving (no rude thoughts please) vibrations I normally get.

So this morning at 6am, it went off. I flew out of bed thinking the end of the world was coming, before remembering that I had in fact replaced the batteries of my alarm clock, and this meant I had time to go running. What’s more, the adrenaline from the alarm clock episode propelled me around my usual route faster as well.

So this weekend, I am catching up with Jenny M. I haven’t seen her for absolutely ages and so we’re planning lots of fun things, including a trip to the theatre to watch Calendar Girls. It’s not subtitled but I am going to watch the movie to refresh my memory and I am also going to wear my hearing aids and rent one of those audio things from the box office on my way in.

I’ve never found them helpful before, but there’s always a first time.

Now all I’ve got to do is find some hearing-aid batteries in my kitchen drawer that aren’t out of date, so my hearing aids actually work… I’ve also got to find my hearing aids.

Um… time for a trip to the audiology clinic I think!

Les Miserables again! Whoop

Hurrah, today is Thankful Friday and I'm thankful that true colours have been revealed this week.

You know when you're on the fence about something, unsure, but you can't put your fingers on what the problem is? Well, now I can! And I'm taking steps to eradicate the negative energy from my life!

Er… anyway, onto more sane topics, I am also thankful that I have a fun weekend planned, starting with seeing Miss K tonight, who I haven't seen for ages.

I will also be seeing The Singing Swede, Gingerbread Man and Friend Who Knows Big Words at some point, too.

And speaking of Friend Who Knows Big Words, I finally booked her 30th birthday present yesterday.

Turns out, she's always wanted to see Les Miserables, one of my favourite musicals, but with no subtitled performance until later in the year, and FWKBW's penchant for travel, I wanted to book it pronto.

So I emailed the box office, explained my deafness and would it be possible to get seats nearer the front to I could lipread and a lovely lady replied that ‘Yes, I could, and that I could have these premium seats for just £20 each!’

Amazing!

It's this kind of thing that makes me realise there are people on your side. People who realise that we do need seats near the front of things but can't afford premium rates – especially if there aren’t many subtitled showings.

It never fails to give me a big grin on my face when something lovely like this happens.

What amazing discounts and deals have you found for deaf people?

Let’s spread the word here!

Too deaf for the gym?!

Hurray! Last night we won the pub quiz!

We came joint first with another team and lost on the tie-break question. But I was actually happier with my runner-up prize of a pint glass than I would have been with the free wine.

Anyway, people who follow me on Twitter will know that yesterday I joined a gym with Gym Buddy.

Since our last gym got shut down to make way for the still-non-existent Crossrail, we haven't exactly been gym buddies so we were thrilled at the prospect of this happening again.

On the back of the registration form was a health questionnaire and when it asked if I was deaf or hard of hearing, I naturally ticked the box.

I also checked whether they offered any discounts for deaf people. They did not, which I didn't mind about, but it's always worth asking.

Anyway on returning to work, I had an email from the gym asking me to provide a doctor's note regarding my deafness.

Erm...

So I wrote back and reminded them that deafness is not a physical disability and that I have never even spoken to my current GP about it.

They replied that they needed confirmation from my doctor that as a deaf person it was safe for me to exercise.

I felt annoyed, mildly insulted, and completely inconvenienced, as this means asking one of my friends to call my doctor to request a note, as funnily enough I can't do this myself.

Intrigued as to whether any other deaf people had been asked to do this, I announced the situation on Twitter and the support I got was amazing, proving that I wasn't being difficult about the whole thing and the gym really is being out of order.

So cross was I that I emailed the Equality and Human Rights Commission about it and I’m really hoping I get a reply, as otherwise I can't see any other solution than to ask a GP who doesn't know anything about my hearing to declare me safe to exercise.

I mean last time I saw any GP about my deafness was to ask for a referral so I could get on the list for my local audiology clinic.

The first thing he said was, ‘Now let's just check it's not caused by wax in your ears.’

I was 24! I'd already been deaf for 24 years, eight of them severely...

If wax was the problem, don't you think someone else would have worked that out before.

Oooh, I am just so mad about this whole thing. About the fact that people are so ignorant they think deafness makes it dangerous to exercise.

I can tell you what will make it dangerous for me to exercise at that gym, and that will be my high blood pressure caused by the rage they have sparked within me.

Maybe I should get a doctor's note for that too!

A mishearing mishap

Well, this morning I had a fun time getting to work. It was pouring with rain and there was a busload of people at my bus stop with no bus. Literally masses of them.

When public transport stuffs up in London, it really makes you aware of the volume of people who travel in rush hour in the city every day. I mean that's not even taking into account the people on the tube.

Once on the bus, we passed bus stop after bus stop of people all clamouring to squeeze themselves onto the teeniest last available space. It was not great. After a while, my bus driver gave up and just sailed passed the crowd-riddled stops, which actually meant I got to work earlier than usual!

Yay!

So, last night I had a great climb with Flo, who in spite of demonic hay fever came all the way to meet me and climbed brilliantly.

I however, seemed to have left my technique at the door! Seriously, at one point, as I was perched on a ledge in a position resembling that of a can-canning crab, I wondered if I had actually been climbing before!

Flo was great about my sanity lapse and made me redo routes I'd previously stuffed up, to remind me to do what I was meant to do, rather than scrabble up with the elegance of a drunken mountain goat.

Anyway, this morning, after arriving at work early, I got into the lift with two other people. As I was first in, it was my job to press the buttons and I asked them their floors:

Three and Six.

At level three, the doors opened and the woman in the lift said, ‘This isn’t my floor, I asked for two!’ before stomping out and muttering something about walking back down to the second floor.

‘I’m deaf!’ I wanted to scream, but she didn’t give me the chance. So I had an excruciating elevator ride, glowing red right to the tips of my ears, with the guy who was going to the sixth floor. He was probably wondering if he was in the lift with a primitive life form. And if he’d seen me in action at the climbing wall last night, he’d probably have been right!

Meeting Speak Up Librarian!!!!!

After a week off, I'm hoping it won't be too difficult to kickstart my brain into action today. It was smart enough to hit snooze on my alarm clock a bunch of times this morning so hopefully, it'll be smart enough to do what it's paid to do.

Anyway, my lovely week with The Rents went very well – from the ballet at Covent Garden to walks in the sunshine –I think we all had a good time. And, after they left to go home yesterday, I went into town to meet an American in London – a fellow deaf blogger called Speak Up Librarian.

We met last year through our blogs and when she mentioned she was coming on holiday to London with her son, The Chatterbox, I jumped at the chance to meet her.

And it was lovely. We had dinner, chatted about our writing, and she told me about some of the other deaf bloggers she had met up with since she arrived.

I was sad to say goodbye too, especially as she lives so far away, but the great thing is that by reading each other's blogs, we'll know what the other one is up to until the next time we're in the same city.

Anyway, this blog is up somewhat later than usual today because I went on a lunchtime run with my colleague The Triathlete at lunchtime. Honestly, I was dreading it, as my running has somewhat fallen by the wayside recently. But honestly – I loved it!

Four miles later and I felt invigorated and swept out my Monday Grump. Hurray!

We’re going to make a regular thing of it, along with The Lawyer and have vowed to spur each other on.

It’s nice to have my interest in running renewed – just in time for summer to try and shift some of my double-figure figure back into single figures again!

Bring it on!

Making things better for my deaf Ma

Coming home last night in the pouring rain, late, after a brilliant night out with Gym Buddy, I found out that my garden gate is the main route of neighbourhood snails on their evening strolls. And I discovered this because, as I put my hand on the gate to open it, two came off into my palm, while another hit my shoe.

Now, if there's one thing I hate, even more than the subtitles breaking during Top Gear – which is quite something, it's snails.

Indeed, until last night, I'm not sure I'd even touched one in all my life. And now, I had two, in my hand.

It was after midnight and I was conscious that screaming wasn't the wisest of options, so instead, I flailed about wildly, sending my two snails into orbit and sensing some crunching between my jigging feet.

Worse still was the fact that I then had to get up the garden path, which, now my eyes had adjusted to the darkness, resembled the snail equivilent of the M25 in rush hour. And I was probably about to cause the most almighty pile up.

I finally made it inside and washed my hands twice, but even now, just thinking about the whole episode causes my left hand to spasm involuntarily .

But it got me thinking about fears and how bizarre they can be. I mean, let's face it, unless I ate them raw - putting myself at risk of lungworm - there was very little harm those poor snails could have done to me, and yet they had me more panicked than a cat on a hot tin roof.

In contrast, once home and sat on my sofa with a humungous cup of restorative tea – wild life I live – a huge spider popped out from under my TV cabinet and this didn't phase me one bit. And I'm reckoning spiders probably bump off a whole lot more people than snails do on an annual basis.

Anyway, on another note, my Ma is coming to stay for some her half term today. She's going to help me with some DIY and we're going to watch London Cousin 2 play in her tennis tournament. I can't wait.

I'm also going to look at booking my Ma onto some lipreading courses to help her with her deafness.

While Ma going deaf has been tough for her, it has a bizarre experience for me. I have found myself at a loss how to advise her. And it was then I realized how lucky I was to go deaf younger.

I learnt the skill of lipreading automatically, I have an amazing support network of friends ready to make important calls for me, and it's second nature for me to let people know I can't hear.

For Ma, it's not second nature. She can't lipread and she's still expected to make the same phonecalls she always has. And the difference too? She's has 50 years of hearing. I had 6, maybe 7 at a push, so I don't really known what I am missing.

There has to be a way to make this better for my Ma, the same way she tried to find ways to make it better me all those years ago.

So I'm going to find it…

Sex & The City 2 with captions? HA!

Today is Thankful Friday, and aside from the fact that I've chosen to wear a dress that does a Marilyn in even the tiniest gust of wind, I have lots to be thankful for!

Most importantly, and excitedly, I am in the running to be a Superdrug Summer Insider again, after being invited to fight for my title.

Eek!

Am very happy about this, but nervous, too. After being sent a wonderful collection of goodies by the peeps at Superdrug, I put my first blog up yesterday, which you can see here at Superdrugloves.com.

Apparently, there's some Facebook thing on each post where you can ‘like’ my post, and the people with the most 'likes' go through to the Summer Insider 2010 competition.

So if you like my post, be sure to click on the thumbs up picture at the top, please!

Anyway, I got the listings for subtitles for Sex & The City 2 yesterday and I definitely wasn't thankful about them. In London, there are a pitiful amount of evening showings and only 13 cinemas in the whole of the London area in total showing it with subtitles.

Of these, only six are even vaguely convenient for me and of these 1 has an evening showing – and because I HAVE A LIFE, I am not free on this day. I could go to Electric Cinema in Notting Hill at 10am on Tuesday 1 June – except, no wait! I have a mortgage to pay and holiday days that need to be used for holidays not watching a movie that everyone else can see in their free time.

I don't understand!! Are deaf people not supposed to work or something? Is there some Government initiative that gives us the right to take paid time off to attend subtitled cinema screenings?

Well, to my knowledge, the answer is no. So I'd love to know what these cinemas are playing at.

My early readers will know that when the first movie came out, Fab Friend and I had to wait quite a few weeks for subtitles, but at least there was an evening showing. Ah that was great – we met for cocktails and half sobbed, half laughed our way through the entire thing!

I'd so love to do that again with Fab Friend – but it's not looking likely with the current listings.
*sniff

But I can't think about it too much or I'll get so mad I'll combust, and that wouldn't be a very good thing to happen on Thankful Friday.

So I'm going to take action. And at lunchtime I'm going to write to all the cinemas who are showing subtitled SATC 2 and ask them to explain why they don't think we deserve equal treatment.

I'm guessing, maybe a little cynically that money will be a factor here, but I'm not stopping until I get some answers.

I'll keep you posted!

My deafness wishlist

This morning on the bus to work, I saw a friend of mine who works for O2. He’s a great guy and always listens to my O2 rants with patience and helpful suggestions. So it was fab to let him know about my recent success with contacting O2 via the press office team on Twitter.

We chatted about technology for a while and this eventually turned into useful apps for my iPhone in terms of my deafness and other things I’d like to make life easier in my Hard-of-Hearing World.

When we were talking though, my mind went quite blank, but now I’ve had a chance to think a little bit more about it, it’s made me resolve to start compiling my Deafness Wishlist – things I want changed or services I’d like to see.

I mean I know I write about them often, but perhaps if I put them all in one place, it’ll make it easier when I bump into VIPs on the bus…

So here we go:

1. Subtitles at all cinemas for more than just one movie, at one time, once a week.
2. Accessibility email addresses for all major companies so we don’t have to call.
3. Email or online booking in all doctors’ surgeries and dentists.
4. Deaf plates for bicycles – they have these in Holland and I have one, although English drivers won’t have a clue what it means.
5. Subtitled announcements in train and tube stations.
6. All tube trains to have subtitled announcements so when stuck in a tunnel, we know what’s going on – the District line already has this.
7. Subtitled options on all movies and TV shows on iTunes.
8. Subtitled on the iPhone BBC iPlayer app.
9. Prettier vibrating alarm clocks.
10. An iPhone app that converts speech to text live – so if you’re in a meeting or at a non-subtitled, play it translates it for you.
11. An internet provider that gives deaf people a discount for their internet even if they don’t take a phone line.
12. All extras on DVDs to be subtitled.
13. Better live subtitles from the BBC. Am sick of reading ‘Urine for a nice sunny day’ when the weather forecast begins.
14. An app that links my iPhone to the unhearable things in my flat – such as the fire alarm, cooker alarm, door alarm, so it’s all in one useful place.
15. Birds that tweet lower! OK, this is one for Mother Nature, but I’d love to hear a robin sing just once.
16. Deaf-aware quiz masters in pubs. Admittedly I am normally very lucky with this, but when they’re bad, they’re very, very bad.
17. Subtitled exercise DVDs! Would love, love, love this as it’s quite hard to lipread someone when you’re bobbing about on the spot.
18. Ways to alter the pitch of the warning noises in my car.
19. More subtitled comedy shows – I know the Soho Theatre did one recently, but I want to be able to see any comedian and for some tech-savvy person to work out a way to subtitle them efficiently.
20. Deaf-friendly store alarms – am sick of setting them off and being pursued down the street by security, completely unaware I’ve done anything!

And that’s just the beginning. Please add you own at the end of this list, or let me know if you know something I don’t, and let’s see how many get ticked off by the end of this year. If just one or two could be achieved, I reckon I could live without a tenor-voiced robin – for now, anyway!!