Category Archives: Personal

Postcard from North America – The worst and best of US

I’m writing this half way through a family break in the United States.

After good and bad experiences heading to Florida via Washington and heading home via Montreal on our last visit – well documented here – we opted to keep the flight costs down by travelling via Toronto this time.

fatUScop1The hop across the Atlantic with Air Canada was, we all agreed, the best long haul flight any of us had experienced with attentive cabin crew who kept us well fed and watered and excellent in-flight entertainment that made the seven plus hours literally fly by. Being able to link my new hearing aids directly to the audio output meant I could hear the three recently released movies I chose to watch very well – in fact probably the best I have ever heard such things as I was able to cut the cabin noise out virtually completely.

I had no problem hearing John McClane and his son swearing at the Russian mafia as they blasted their way across Moscow, leaving many vehicles written off in their wake, or Will Smith guiding his real life and fictional son across the hostile environment of an unfamiliar planet they had crash landed on – which is Earth 1000 years after we’ve irreparably damaged it and moved on, or indeed hearing Brad Pitt saving his wife and daughters and the rest of the human race from being over-run by the fastest moving zombies I have ever seen.

So having spent the best part of six hours watching heroic parenting and gaining expert guidance on how to save your offspring from all manner of nastiness this world might have to throw at them now and in the far future it was somewhat ironic when less than an hour after stepping off the flight I had to stand powerless with teeth gritted as a man much younger than myself treated my kids with rudeness and contempt.

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Imagining the World my children will inherit

This phrase has sat as the strapline to my blog since its inception back in 2008.

My baby girl has grown up

My baby girl has grown up

 

The first of my children was born in a different century, before the World changed.

The second was born early in the 21st Century after the catastrophic events of 9/11.

Compared to the generally impoverished and challenging upbringings my wife and I had, with her losing her father at the age of four and both my parents being badly disabled, my children have led a relatively charmed existence so far. It was always our goal as parents to give them the happiest childhoods possible and we will remain focused on that.

We have recently returned from a lovely relaxing family break at our faithful Spanish bolthole. The sun is shining for a change in the UK, the girls are busy preparing for the long holidays and my wife and I are encouraged by the progress of our respective small businesses, with signs that the economy is starting to recover a bit from the grind of the last few years. All things considered, life is good.

Then came an enormous slap round the face !!!

I read this book – 10 Billion by Stephen Emmott.

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Why my new hearing aids make me cry

This state of the ark hearing aid from 100 years ago weighed in at over 3 pounds

This ‘state of the ark’ hearing aid from 100 years ago weighed in at over 3 pounds

There’s an interesting TED driven debate here examining the emotional effect of music.  It’s powerful stuff but unfortunately when you have lost more than half your natural hearing it’s quite difficult to relate to some of the comment and sentiment.

As my hearing has continued to decline in recent years I have lost more and more music. Pieces of classical music that I enjoyed 5, 10, even 15 years ago have increasingly lost their attraction.  They become unrecognisable as more and more layers of the music drop away and don’t sound anything like you remember them.

There reaches a point where pumping the sound into your ears at higher and higher volume removes all the subtleness of the music and the type of basic digital hearing aid provided by the NHS does not provide the quality of sound to compensate, making even the heaviest music sound harsh and uncomfortable.

For me, the net result is my musical tastes have retreated to mainly punk and heavy rock that I enjoyed in my youth where quality and subtlety of sound makes very little difference to the end result.

This week I took delivery of a set of new hearing technology the price of which equates to a sparkling new 500cc motorbike – hmmm…. The aids themselves are so small and light they hardly tip the scales at a miniscule 2 grammes each. This is at least 4 times lighter than my old aids and when you wear these things 16 hours a day, every gramme makes a difference. In terms of quality difference I’d say the sound produced by these high-tech little units is at least a factor of 10 better than standard NHS issue.

What then, set the tears rolling down my cheeks? Thinking how much 4 grammes of equipment can cost? Thinking how else that money could be spent? Continue reading →

5 Gold Rings – 2012 in review

 

On the fifth day of Christmas 2012, here are some thoughts on the last year …

My enduring memory of these last twelve months will be Danny Boyle’s awe-inspiring creativity with the Olympic rings at the London 2012 opening ceremony.

From the way the idyllic countryside scene was transformed to depict the Industrial Revolution and the hot metal seemingly flowed to form gigantic glowing rings which were then raised above the stadium and fused together was one of the most amazing theatrical displays I have ever seen. It set the tone for what I will always remember as a wonderful golden period for the British people during a back-drop of financial depression and tough times. Continue reading →

12.12.12 – The First Twelve Months of Webwiser

Well, this is (almost) the last time in my life that there will be any more interesting date combinations – with perhaps the exception of 02.02.2020 and 30.03.30 – but none so good as 11.11.11, 10.11.12 and 12.12.12. (oops – forgot 11.12.13 when I first wrote this)

So here, at 12:12:12 on 12.12.12 is a quick summary of the first 12 months of Webwiser, the venture I launched on 11.11.11 … (with apologies to the Twelve days of Christmas)

In the first month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – some domain names for a small fee – www.webwiser.co.uk and www.webwiser.tv

In the second month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – a business plan and something to talk about at the Christmas party

In the third month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – sleepless nights and increasing anxiety

In the fourth month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – some glimmers of hope and some excellent opportunities

In the fifth month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – my first big contract and a real chance to make a difference to society

In the sixth month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – a busy schedule and many meetings around Hampshire county

In the seventh month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – two more clients and not much time to even take a pee

In the eighth month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – a big new site launch and even bigger development plan to oversee

In the ninth month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – another client and a return to web development for B2B

In the tenth month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – some very varied weeks and a well needed break by the sea

In the eleventh month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – a limited company incorporation number and a fellow director called Debbie

In the twelth month of Webwiser, the venture gave to me – a chance to rework the website and set a course for 2020!