I have been a little run down and out of sorts of late. If my face were a map of Europe, I have a spot the size of Portugal on my chin. Not only is it unsightly and confidence eroding, it also HURTS. Troublesome as this is, it isn't anywhere near as annoying as my other big problem which is that I have gone almost completely deaf in one ear.
Now, my husband has been deaf in one ear since childhood and although most of the time, you wouldn't know it, in some situations he does struggle. He is currently in the process of consulting with experts in the field to see if there is any possibility of improving his hearing. There is a procedure that might help but it does involve having a metal stud drilled somewhere into the occipital ridge of his skull onto which a device can be fitted. I will definitely be blogging more about this - but at another time. The point for this story is not to go into the physiology and psychology of my husbands' 'disability' but to emphasise that I am suddenly a LOT more sympathetic to what it is like to suffer hearing loss and hopefully I will be a LOT more tolerant when he fails to hear me and I have to repeat myself.
I am not bothered so much by my struggle to hear what people are saying, it is more the discordant symphony of noises from inside my head that plagues me. Noises that I am usually blissfully unaware of. Swooshing noises. Creaking noises. High pitched whistling noises. A whole cacophony of unwanted noises. I also feel very uncomfortable talking because of the way my own voice sounds inside my head (not ideal when living with a hearing impaired husband who needs me to repeat myself!!). It is horribly isolating and extremely wearing.
Feeling how I am feeling, you can probably guess that the last thing I wanted to do was go on a Alphabet Date. However, given our complete failure to carry out a D Date and how that all impacted on the harmony of my life, I decided to throw caution to the wind and just do it anyway.
The E Date on offer involved Eating.
A new Indian restaurant has opened in our town. I'm not sure that the owners of this enterprise fully grasp the concept of 'Happy Hour' because they are offering Happy Hours every Thursday and Sunday from 5.30pm until 10pm. Whatever they choose to call their special offer, it was an enticing Glass of Wine or Beer, Papadoms, Any Starter, Any Main Course, Any Rice or Nan and Coffee for a fixed price of £11.95.
Eleven ninety five.
That worked for us as a E date!
The children were a complete pain to get to bed so we didn't leave until after 9.30pm but we were seated before 10pm to qualify for the Happy Hours deal.
The menu gave plenty of choice for vegetarians and I thoroughly enjoyed my Chot Photia starter (which was spicy chick peas served in 'puffy bread' garnished with very pretty salad).
For my main course I had Paneer Tikka Masala (as recommended to me by my sister) and it did not disappoint. To my meat deprived palette, the tandoori oven cooked chunks of paneer tasted like finest chicken breast. The rich sauce in which they were served was a delight to the eye as well as the taste buds.
Our conversation was maybe a little stilted with more than the average amount of 'say again?' 'pardon?' and 'what?' but we were able to laugh at ourselves and I had an Excellent Evening!
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