Holiday

I'm once again dancing around the house 'la-laing' to Madonna's Holiday, as I don't know the actual words, because once again I am on holiday...

...just for one more day.

This long weekend oop norf at The Rents has been a wonderful chance to relax and catch up with family. Yesterday, I went further oop norf to see Gma and Nottnum Uncle. He's an actor you know, and is going to be in a pantomime at Christmas - hopefully with a subtitled version so I can go along and know when to scream, 'It's behind you!' or 'Oh no it isn't!'

I used to love pantomimes as a kid. I always wanted to be in one in fact. So one day, when we went to see one when I was about 6 years old, I managed to do just that. We were sat quite far back, in the middle of a looo-ooong row of seats and I was enthralled by Lionel Blair, who was the star of the show.

Just imagine my excitement when he announced that he wanted people up on stage. I jumped up and down, hand in the air, willing to be noticed. And then, when that didn't work, I clambered over every single person in my way until I got to the stage.

*blush

Pre-discovery of hearing loss, I really was quite a plucky kid it would seem.

And so, I chatted away to him on stage, I told him that Big Bro was in the audience and gave him a wave, I told him all about Ma and Pa, and gave them a wave, too, and he gave me lots of sweeties and chivvied me off the stage, probably wondering if I was ever going to shut up.

That was, I think, the highlight of my 6-year-old life! I ate all my sweets in the excitement of it all and promptly threw up in a charity collection bucket. But I didn't care, as I got to be on stage and dance with Lionel Blair.

Oh how things change!

Nowadays, I'm happier away from the limelight - at least visually! Sure, I love writing Deafinitely Girly and still seem to regularly, but accidentally, make a spectacle of myself. But luckily, I don't feel the need to clamber over people to get on stage anymore.

But it is weird, I can almost pinpoint when I lost that desire to the time when I lost most of my hearing. Before that, when I was about 8, Big Bro and I decided to sneak downstairs one Sunday morning and enter a radio show where you had to guess what an object was by the clues they give you. I was rubbish at that game, but I just wanted to get on air so I could tell jokes, talk about my teachers and have a nice chat with Lucy the DJ.

Then one day, the phone rang, it was radio Wild West um... Country and they spoke to Ma. They told her how much they loved Big Bro and I calling in EVERY Sunday and would it be possible for us to come in and co-present a Christmas cookery show.

*Gulp

So, after a telling off for using the phone without asking, off we went to be on the radio. And I loved it!

I often wonder what on earth I would have been like if I hadn't lost my hearing. Would I still be clambering over people to get on stage? Would I be fame-hungry and ambitious to be a Hollywood movie star? Would you see me auditioning for XFactor and Britain's Got Talent?

If the answer's yes, then I think I'm the most glad I've ever been about being deaf!

Right now, I think I'm quite happy for Deafinitely Girly to grab the limelight. It seems to suit her more than me.