Only a small thing but ...

These are hearing aid batteries, after many years of collecting them from the audiology clinic my Dad has discovered there are more than one type. He thinks the reason my mums hearing aids have been so problematic is they haven't had the right batteries in. If you have eye's of a hawk you may be able to see that one has a cross with four dots, the other actually has a cross and two dots.

I felt it was quite appropriate in this shot that the other one was vague and unreadable as my dad cant see the dots at all on any of them. No one has given them any thing written explaining which batteries work and i am starting to doubt myself whether these tiny dots have any significance at all.

So after a huge team effort today, while Dad took Owen to the Driving Range, I took my mum to the WI (Women's Institute). After rushing to get there, struggling to get the wheel chair into the back of the car, etc etc., we sat for nearly an hour without her being able to hear the speaker as we struggled with hearing aids and tried to get her "comunicator" to work. Eventually discovered the communicator worked it was just the batteries on her hearing aids had died on us and I hadnt taken any spares. mmmm new thing for the check list...

I can't express how frustrating it was to be doing pseudo sign language to my mum while half listening to a very boring speaker as we tried to get her hearing aids switched to the Loop setting so we could set up her "communicator".

I've come to the conclusion that before next meeting in a months time I need to come back here with her and practice with a wireless set up of my own (using my radio mike transmitters and receivers). I'm sure we can find a way round this it isnt rocket science after all.

I've calmed down a bit but I felt so cross and upset for her that after the effort she had made to get to the evening she only managed tohear what was going on after I had returned home to get some new batteries!