Hearing: The Sense We Forget To Protect

Helen Keller once said:

Blindness cuts us off from things, but deafness cuts us off from people

 When thinking about our five senses, hearing is the one that we take for granted the most.  The sense that we don't get checked or protect enough.

If our vision becomes blurred, we go to the optician and get glasses.  Employers usually pay for free check ups to get our eyes tested if you work with computers.  Yet if you are for example an audio typist, the same checks are not in place.

If our sense of smell was to disappear, we would be off to the doctor.  Yet, when it comes to our hearing, we are much more complacent.

In the days of modern technology it is more important than ever that we protect our hearing. How many times have you been listening to music on your phone, turned the audio for your favourite song and had the high volume warning message come up?  How many times have you ignored it?  In my case, every time.

There are simple ways in which you can protect your hearing.  Generally, a noise level that could damage your hearing can be quantified by having to shout over others to be heard, you have ringing in your ears (after a concert for example) or you cannot hear what others are saying to you.

 Here are some easy ways in which you can protect your hearing:

Don't Ignore Ear Pain

Earache, as anyone who has ever had it knows, can be horrendous.  Worse, it can cause temporary hearing loss and if ignored, can have far reaching consequences.  If you work in a social environment like a club or a bar with sound system for example, it is wise get your hearing regularly checked.  For my locality, I use London Hearing 

Use Noise Cancelling Headphones

On your daily commute to work or even when you are going for a run, you want to drown out all other noises and distractions.  The temptation is to turn up your music to full to drown everyone else out.  Using noise cancelling headphones removes the distractions, whilst also allowing you to listen to music at a lower volume.  Guidelines saying we ought to limit the volume to 60% and for no more than an hour at a time.

 Give Your Ears a Break

Whether your job involves working with loud machinery, or perhaps you go to concerts or a noisy club every weekend, it is important that you give your ears a break to recover and rest.  Take breaks.  Remove yourself from the environment as often as you can and when possible, especially in a work environment, use ear protection.

How often do you think about protecting your hearing?

I've Had It, Just Vote!

So.  This is a ranting and yes, most probably patronising and frankly you may think "she is a bitch"post in parts, but honestly, I have fucking had it with some people.  (Yes there will be swearing too).

I have officially had enough with pussyfooting around non voters and the undecided.  It is election day tomorrow.  You have had since the 18th April to look at the information, decide between the parties; if you haven't decided by now, what the fuck have you been playing at?

Photo Credit

I am tired of being people's research assistant in comment sections.  I am frankly pissed off by this point of people saying that they aren't sure and want more information from people.  It is the eve of the election, what have you been doing?  

This is not just about bloody Brexit.  Yes, we are leaving. I voted remain but the two main political parties have agreed to go forward with it so I have to deal with it. This is about so much more than Brexit, if you bothered to look. 

I am sick of people reading things like the Daily Mail and deciding on their vote based on that.

Think I am biased against Daily Mail readers?  Well, yes, I have to admit, I am.  Just read the vitriol in the comments sections.  I am the Guardian reading lefty that they love to hate.  The difference being, I have done my bloody research!  I have read papers from every side of the argument, yes including the Daily Mail.  I have read the manifestos.  I have watched Question Time for months.  I have watched the questions and answers programmes to the leaders (not debates as Theresa May refuses to debate!!!).  I have gotten all the information I could, which has backed up my choice of whom to vote for.

To the people who have decided not to vote: 

Yes your vote will be a difference. 

Yes it does matter who you vote for. 

No they are not the same.

What I share below is unbiased fact of the main policies of the two main parties.  Yes unbiased.

TORY

Goodbye NHS. If the NHS goes private (as the Tories want and have investigated into), you will suffer. Get pregnant? Prepare to pay thousands.  Check out this link for more information. Free at point of access for the working only.  Elevated costs.  

Goodbye winter fuel and the triple lock on pensions. Goodbye free school meals for children which in some cases means they are losing their one hot meal a day.  Nurses are going to food banks.  I will just leave that bit there for you to ponder.

Security of this country is not properly staffed or funded.  The police warned Theresa May two years ago that she was sacrificing the country's security by getting rid of 20,000 police officers.  She called it scaremongering.  We have had three terrorist attacks this year in this country with proof in each that the attackers were reporting many times to security services but lack of resources meant that the reports were not properly looked into,  Theresa May has been Home Secretary/Prime Minister for SEVEN YEARS.

LABOUR

Free education including university tuition meaning more people who want to get a university education but could not afford it, will be able to. 

The NHS  will be properly funded.

More police. 

Big business taxed properly. 

Read the manifestos or if you can't be arsed, listen to the bloody news. 

I have had enough with this "I don't know/don't care" attitude. It fucking matters. People are dying under austerity cuts.  Dying cancer patients are having their benefits removed.  Look at the info, make up your mind, get off your backside and VOTE.

Watch this NHS pediatrician sob at the reality of the NHS and tell me it is not your responsibility to fucking vote. Sod "your country needs you to vote".  YOU need to vote for yourself.

RANT OVER. Now go, vote.

You Will Not Defeat Us

On Monday night I was playing around on Twitter and then suddenly, my heart dropped.  A potential explosion at the Manchester Arena.

I followed the story for about an hour.  At that point, there was no real information coming out. Trying to piece together conspiracy theories, people saying that it was just a speaker that exploded, others saying that nothing had happened at all.

By 11.30pm all I knew was that something had definately happened, but not what.  I woke at 7.30am to hear the worst news imaginable.  A terrorist had detonated a nail bomb, killing, maiming and injuring dozens of people.  Children. 

I cried as I watched Olivia Campbell's mother on the television pleading for news of her daughter.  I sobbed when I heard of her death.  Every story I read makes me cry.  I think of the wounded in hospital, with terrifyingly bad injuries and wonder how their families are getting through it.

But why am I telling you this?  You know what happened.  You have felt and are feeling exactly the same feelings. We have all been glued to the news, to Twitter and people's stories about what happened for the past two days.  I won't talk further about what that man did.  It was monstrous. How you can specifically target children and their parents and subject them to what happened is something I can and will never fathom.

What I want to talk about today is how this country comes together in the worst of times.  We become the best of ourselves in times of adversity and conflict.

Police and ambulance crews dashing to scene, without regard for their own lives or whether any more explosions could happen.  Every level of staff member from receptionists to surgeons upon hearing the news running to their hospitals to help.  To save people.  Taxi drivers turning their meters off to ferry anyone home who needed it.  Droves of people offering their homes, food, and blood.  Anything that they could do to help.

When we are divided we are weaker.  Be it politics, referendums or people trying to drive us apart.  When we are strong is when it matters.  The Olympics.  The clean up campaign arranged on Twitter after the London riots.  Now.  

CharleyHasted on Twitter sums us up pretty well.

British Stages of response to a terrorist attack:
-Shock
-Sadness
-Anger
-Kindness
-Mocking terrorists

I found in delight the #BritishThreatLevels hashtag on Twitter today.  When I saw it initially, my heart again sank.  I knew that the threat level had been changed to critical.  My heart rose when I saw hundreds of people, and gaining by the hour, saying that they were not afraid of terrorists.

We are afraid of tea running out, of people on the bus actually talking to us; someone who doesn't fancy "a cheeky Nandos"; 1 centimeter of snow; the incorrect use of their, there, and they're.  We are not afraid of you.

So terrorists, listen to us.  You will NEVER defeat us.  You will NEVER knock us down because we will ALWAYS get back up.  Even when the EDL turned up in Manchester today, they were thwarted by Mancunians who would not dealt with their hatred.  Not today.  Not ever.  

You will NEVER turn us against each other because at its heart, this country is one.  Name one other country who has, two days after an attack, fought against terror with talk of tea and sarcasm.  

We are STRONG. You are COWARDS. We stand together with every country that you have attacked, whether the media bother to mention them or not.

I sometimes wonder why we are called Great Britain.  Today I remembered.