I mentioned in a previous post that the rugby club were, unforgivably in my opinion, holding a rugby match last Thursday. This meant that there was no quiz. Which begs the question – what can you possibly do on a Thursday evening when there’s no quiz?
Well, in our particular case we went to Aberdare. Aberdare
is a reasonably sized town and about forty minutes’ drive from Port Talbot, but
more importantly it’s where my middle daughter Zara lives with her partner
Matt. There’s no reason why you should, but you might possibly recall a post a
couple of months ago about going there and playing as a ringer in the quiz at
her local. Zara and Matt had been away in Essex, so I thought we were all going
round to see her because they came back on Thursday. Nope. Now, I have no doubt
this is all due to my lack of attention or my dreadful hearing, but I didn’t
know that the point of it was to take three of my grandchildren to the
Christmas parade.
I wouldn’t have made a fuss if I had known. But the fact is
that the older I get, the less and less I like this sort of thing and the
crowds that they generate. And the noise.
My hearing has noticeably deteriorated over the last
fifteen years or more. If a pupil at the back answers or asks a question in
class I have to go and stand right by them to have a chance of understanding
them. Okay. Now, in the last few weeks, since the half term holiday, my mood
has taken a bit of a dive. Oddly it stared during the holiday. I was an 8 week
half term before that, and though I say it myself I think that I’d coped very
well. I was tired, yes, but not noticeably down. I put this down to medication
and the fact that I am planning to retire from teaching in July. OK. Now,
Lisbon has been on my bucket list since before lockdown, but while I was there
it was just like I wasn’t there. I didn’t feel happy. I didn’t feel sad. I didn’t
feel anything really. I was just going through the motions. Since coming back
my mood has got a bit worse. I’ve felt a familiar sese of dread driving into
school. Normally when I feel that I manage to get it under control before
morning break. But there’s been a couple of times I haven’t.
Now, getting back to the point, along with the deterioration
in my mood there’s been the tinnitus. I’ve always had tinnitus for as long as I
can remember. It’s like someone going ‘eeeeeeeeeee’ in my ears, but I’ve only
really noticed it at odd moments. But in the last few weeks it has become so ‘loud’
inside my head that it’s really hard to zone out of it. By the last lesson of
the day it’s unbearable. So, if all else fails, go to the Doctor. He’s upped my
medication and referred me to the audiologist. Hopefully I’ll get seen before
Christmas. But I’m not holding my breath.
So coming back to Thursday, as it was I was knackered after
a day’s work, a contributory factor being that I’d only driven to Aberdare and
back the day before to feed Tommy (that’s Zara’s cat, not her partner).
Nonetheless, I behaved myself as well as I could for as long as I could.
Thankfully the parade was mercifully short – one fire engine, two marching
bands, and er. . . well there wasn’t a lot more, let’s put it that way. We went
into the covered market, to look at a shop which has the exquisite good taste
to sell my pictures and prints. The plan was that we would stop at a McDonalds
on the way home, but by about quarter past 8 my battery was flat. My ears were
ringing, and all I wanted was to go home. My third daughter wanted to take my
youngest grandson straight home to bed and I gratefully volunteered. I was so
tired when I’d dropped them off that I went straight home to bed without any
supper, and serve me right.
So it turns out that there are worse things than a
Christmas themed quiz after all.
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