Itchy Ears

Haha, not really, I'm just giving this blog an ear-ish connection because although it does say above 'this may or may not descend...', I have until now kept it to all things CI. But I have been birling my brains about 'the washing' all this morning (guilt, no doubt) and it got me wondering... am I the only one with the problem?

I actually know the answer right off as (naming no names) I know for sure that it's something others fight to ignore and struggle to keep ahead of. I know there are others around with huge piles of clean laundry not yet folded, or worse, ironed... and put away! But I just don't remember it always having been such a nightmare. I swear the stuff breeds and multiplies when I'm not looking!

I have a little picture hanging above my usually redundant ironing-board. It reads ''Sort - today. Wash - tomorrow. Fold - sometime. Iron - HAHA' I printed it out specially when I saw it online somewhere and it makes me smile every time I see it (which after all isn't so regularly, it being above the ironing-board).

I know folks (again, no names ;) ) that don't even have an ironing-board and just plain refuse to do it. It's not like they immediately fold and/or hang either! And yet they (not saying, so don't ask) still look smashing and not at all crumpled. I just don't get it. I do still need to iron, even if I don't do it all that often (where to hang the bloody stuff is a nightmare as it is) and tend to belong to the school of when-I'm-going-somewhere-and-need-that-top.

The washing part is of course a doddle... although after 45 years of doing my own washing I still manage to dye everything pink at regular intervals. First: separate, Caroline! And I do, but then something red that has been washed five times already all of a sudden leeches out and we're wearing pink pants for the duration. But ok, separate, but ach, not enough whites this time around, I'll just shove these lightly coloured ones in... wrong again... pink pants again!

I don't hang the wash out any more... the washing machine is two flights up and lugging it all up and down every time... nawnaw, feck that. So we've used the dryer except for woollies for a long time now and it's getting so I use it for the woolies too now and then... ach well.

When first married, we lived near the same steamie my mum had gone to. It was a bit out of favour by then but still got a fair crowd of washer wummin... so me too. I loved it! I remember having been put in the nursery upstairs while mum washed, but no more than once (mum must have found some other solution for me). Such a great solution though! It's such a shame the steamies closed. Big deep sinks and scrubbing boards, loads of hot water, a boiler for doing your whites, giant clothes-horses you drew out of the wall and hung your wash - sheets and towels, the lot - to dry in the hot air blown through them (none of your tumbling) and big roller presses to get the sheets and duvet covers done in a jiffy. Plus lots of chatty women to help you fold and show you the ropes if you were new.

We moved house after a wee while and I then went regularly to one in Leith together with a pal, but it was 'modernised' and they had tumbler dryers. Just not the same. And by then we had a twin-tub... I did love my twin-tub but you had to do the work too and couldn't just leave it like we do now.

About this pile of clean laundry then. The three or four loads of fluffy, tumble-dried detritus of our wardrobes and shelves. The giant pile that deters all-comers that may or may not be looking for that particular t-shirt. I suppose I'm lucky in that I at least have somewhere for it all that's not immediately 'in yer face'. But the other side of that coin is... I can very easily and conveniently, and regularly do, 'forget' about it. I'm great at that!

I just don't remember it being like this when the kids were small... maybe I kept ahead of things better then? Dirty washing is easily hidden, just cram that hamper (and keep the lid on!) and you're golden. Of course it eventually needs to be tackled (sorted, yeahyeah), and shifted, but at a pinch, your bedroom can still look neat enough even with a load needing done. But this clean laundry pile... what do folks do with it?

Well that's also a bit of a rhetorical question because I know the answer to that one too.  You're either just like me - lucky enough to have a hidey-hole/extra room for it - or you're just like the others I know (ahem) who have it in bags behind that cupboard or piled onto that bedroom chair or (also) scattered where they threw it on collecting it from the drier - usually the bedroom floor.

I've actually spoken with people who like folding and love ironing and cannot get my head around that at all. I personally find it mind-numbing and soul destroying. It should be banned. I propose an all-out EU-wide ban. You folding and ironing lovers out there need to be protected, it's for your own good. I might just start an on-line petition, see how many sigs it gets eh?

So anyway, enough blethers for today, I'm away to do my washing.

Med-El and Van Gogh

Not that those two are a proper pair, but I was recently at Med-El's Care Center in Nieuwegein (by Utrecht) and also at the (offices of) the Van Gogh Museum. Both were interesting so I'll write a bit about them.

In my mind's eye, I had thought that Med-El's Care Center (hate spelling it like that but it's how they do it) would just be a small shop, like a HA shop. Instead it comprised a number of offices and reception rooms on the ground floor of a large building, very accessible from the snel-tram stop. It was their 'open day' and there was to be a presentation by someone from Comfort Audio about 'solo apparatuur' and that seemed handy to me as I do already have wireless mics from them that I had been using at Tai Chi lessons (to great advantage) but couldn't seem to connect them to the computer. They're been around for years as I used them in the office a hundred years ago when I had an employer so really I just thought they are out of date but useful enough. I've been stuck with just the Oticon (HA) streamer on just one ear since I got the CI so had questions aplenty.

First we had the obligatory cuppa and a biscuit and chatting about things (and I finally met someone else wearing a Rondo!) then we ('bout 10-12 of us) were given the totally relaxed, no pressure, spiel about all things Comfort Audio. We were given the latest model to try out during the presentation but I couldn't hear anything via the one I had so that was a bit worrisome. I wouldn't want to  (eventually) upgrade if I'm not going to be able to hear via it. As per, upon return home, it transpired that the volume just needed adjusting :)

So that was embarrassing! AND it turns out I had the necessary cable for my 'Stratego' to laptop all along! In the pile I took with me too :) So, while it IS still a bit of a rigmarol as I now have two things around my neck when using Skype or listening to music, whatever, via the laptop... the streamer for the HA, the Comfort Contego for the CI... the sound is so much improved I can live with it :) It's not exactly spontaneous but that too, I can live with. For now anyway.

Thanks to Mel-El staff for the lovely reception. One girl I met turned out to be the very one I'd emailed back and forth about the WaterWear so we were like old pals already. Nice friendly folks, as was the gentleman from Comfort, whom I think I'd met before too. It gets all very incestuous among CI clubs and you do end up meeting the same folks (of course) and seeing the same faces. My biggest problem is, I'm totally useless at names, and to be honest, faces aren't great either. I'm usually inwardly saying 'I KNOW this person... don't I... or do I?' Caroline from Med-El, believe me when I say that it was mostly due to our similar names that I remembered you hahaha.
Anyway, all worth the 'effort' to pay a visit.

The thing with the van Gogh (vG) was, an email posting around - 'looking for folks to take part' in a survey, especially formulated for the museum in Amsterdam to better accommodate HoH and deaf visitors. Having been a fan of Vincent since my late teens, I signed up immediately and was given a date and time to come and take part. It was held in their offices on the Stadhouderskade in Amsterdam, so not actually at the museum. I never knew there was such a place. Really lovely offices, with modern furniture upholstered in material covered in van Gogh's paintings. So cool! And display cabinets full of stuff probably to be found in the museum's shop, so all things vG :)

There were only three of us, one of four groups 'interviewed' on different dates and times. I was showing off my Rondo with my vG stickers, which of course went down well, given the situation. The interviewer was a lovely (deaf) person hired by the vG to do a scientific survey of the needs of the deaf and HoH visitors to their museum. Very commendable, no?

We all know about ramps and disabled access, but being deaf is also a (hidden) disability that would be much less of a hindrance if public buildings (at the LEAST) took a bit of notice and provided cover. Much like the cover being given during the interview as there was a sign interpreter and a subtitle typing interpreter with a big and small screen (for just us three! amazing!). No real idea any more of what I said, or whether I contributed anything of any use to anyone, but we were richly rewarded for our 'trouble'. Fares refunded, two free entrance tickets to the vG and a gift coupon for €15! Above and beyond really, but I didn't say no :)

Public places are supposed to provide (in NL at least) audio loops when required. These are more often than not, inoperable, when requested IF they're even present. Batteries dead, not switched on, or switched on but not loud enough). I found out that it's not just me that is disappointed by the lack of provision (it's LAW after all) and that it's too often the case that we (the deaf and HoH) are not thought of at all. The fact that the vG is actively pursuing said problem is pretty damned cool IMO. Audio loops are of course no use to the deaf so the theater here using computer tablets with simultaneous sub-titles is also to be hugely commended. There are loads of little things that needn't even be expensive to implement that would have us deafies attending more museums and theatres (at least, potentially). Even just a normal film! I'm lucky in that I automatically have (Dutch) subtitles to English films in the cinema here. But the normal Dutch film is no use to me (or your bonafide Dutch person) as it's not sub-titled. Logical enough I suppose - but they could maybe have separate cinemas for that, like they do (here) with 'original English version' and 'Dutch speaking version'. There are ways and means.

I did discover, from the subtitling interpreter, although I did kinda know it already, that we (HoH/deaf) are covered to hire in one of their ilk for any occasion... office conference, school situations, even a party if that's what you want, and it includes museum visits too! Bloomin' fantastic really. Personally I'd be a bit reluctant unless it was a really big occasion and I didn't want to miss anything said, but the interpreter assured us that we should just ignore their presence. Easier said than done but they're even working on a mobile bit of apparatus so they can lug their keyboard around too. Sort of like what the cigarette girl at the cinema used to have in front of her :)  Having just placed that link I now know they're called STTR's  in English :) formally known as court reporters. Aha!

One of these days I might just call upon one of them. It's a cool thing to see actually and because of course not everyone (including me) reads sign language, they are a terrific service. I would never be able to follow things in larger groups without one of them, despite my fabby CI and really appreciate them being arranged at all CI folks' gatherings. Funnily enough, the utility is not nearly widely enough used and they always look for ways to promote their hiring. They should perhaps be careful what they wish for because if word really does get out, there will be a run on them and a corresponding lack of qualified individuals :)

So once more, my CI got me out and about and doin' my bit too.