Where's it gone?

Something weird has happened to my hearing…

It’s always done it actually but recently it’s been happening more frequently. Every so often it becomes muted – it’s as though the bottom has fallen out of my ears, or my hearing has fallen down the stairs and suddenly everything is much quieter. Imagine the pressure change you get in an aeroplane when it’s coming in to land – that’s what it’s like.

When this happens, I don’t normally panic as it more often than not only lasts a short while before going back to what I know as noisy.

So anyway, last Thursday my world got quieter. I was walking back from the printer to my desk when it suddenly dipped, causing me to momentarily lose my balance. But here’s the annoying thing – it doesn’t seem to have come back.

So now, my TV is on a louder volume than it used to be, my car radio is, too. And the other night, at Friend-Who-Knows-Big-Word’s house, I actually hadn’t realised that there was music was playing.

It’s very annoying.

And then, this morning, sandwiched between the misty window of the bus and a giant man, it did it again. Can you believe it? Twice in one week?

It really does feel like a pressure change, or like I got water in my ears when swimming, so my automatic reflex was to give the side of my head a jolly good whack…

All very well and good if you have the space to do this – but I didn’t – so I ended up whacking the giant man, elbowing him in the ribs and hitting my head with such force that I head-butted the misty window and everyone looked.

Ah, it really is great to be me.