At 4:30 am...

...this morning, my brain had a surprise for me.

I had set my pillow vibrating alarm for 8am because I had a very long day ahead. So I wanted some sleep.

But my brain had other ideas. (By the way, at night I take my cochlear processor off while I sleep. I have no input of external sound whatsoever). This morning it had a whopping surprise for me. I woke to the sound of the dawn chorus of birds at 4:30 am. This confused me greatly because I knew my processor was in its dry heat box for the night. There could be no possible way I could hear the dawn chorus. But as I lay there, now fully awake, I am 'listening' to the dawn chorus. It wouldn't go away. Give brain it's due, it didn't play anything on repeat, it was birdsong that went on forever..,

In the end I had to get up and put my cochlear processor on and turn the sound on.

The 'birdsong' stopped.

So I ended up far too early.

This is my pic for today for my challenge to myself of a pic every day in 2017.

I am very tired now. It is 9:30. It has been a very long day. One of those kinds of days where people expect me to use a telephone even though I explain I am profoundly deaf and cannot hear on the phone. It would take me too long to explain. It basically I felt I was in a Brian Rix farce. I needed to cancel some direct debits, but had to go to two different places where I was told to use the telephone.

Cue me explaining again that I cannot. Give the counter staff their due, they did their very best to help me by telephoning for me. But their admin were another ball game, refusing to process this request via their counter staff.

One admin said I had to talk to him on the phone and answer questions, even though the counter staff had just moments earlier cleared it with their accessibility department to act on my behalf. No amount of explanation by the counter staff to the admin guy that this was an impossibility.

I could see the funny side of all this so I said I would talk to the admin guy in the phone.

Hello hello, I said, anybody there. I cannnot hear you, you are going to have to speak louder. Then I went on, I think we have lost the guy there is total silence on this phone. I said quite a bit more on the phone. Then I handed the phone back to the counter staff, who were creased with laughter at this point, as was I.

But that still wasn't the end of it. Admin still hadn't got the hint. And so this went on. Counter staff man had his head in his hands at one point. And I ended up with the phone which there is no way I can hear. By this time it is a three way thing. Counter staff man tells me admin has asked me a question on the phone. I don't understand the question. So counter staff man explains and what reply the admin guy wants. Then apparently another question is asked, and this went on.

The young assistant to counter guy man has obviously never had such an entertaining morning.

Eventually my request to cancel the direct debit with admin appears to have been successful. I would say half my morning has gone by now.

Counter guy man tells me to come in anytime I have a problem or need something to do the business I have with that shop and he will always help me.

[This is my artist's perception of sounds as they are now after being drastically changed after the remapping of my cochlear processor. I am readjusting to the different sounds, which are actually vastly different, as it is now suggested I was never mapped properly in the first place which is why I have struggled the last few years.]