Deafness Ahoy

Just got back from the surgery where the nurse looked at my ears. She said she'd look at both just in case. She started with the left:

"Yeah, that ear's blocked."

Then she looked at the right. I smugly awaited her telling me it was fine.

"And...so is that one."

Oh. Well my hearing is fine in the right ear as far as I can tell, but apparently it's blocked so presumably I am operating in low volume mode or something. The only problem is they don't like to syringe unless the patient has been using Olive Oil eardrops for 7 days, so I've had to book another appointment to get them done and will just have to put up with no hearing for a while.

She offered me the opportunity to have just the left ear syringed, but I think I'd rather get them done at the same time to ensure I've got balanced hearing (strangely reminiscent of the car's brakes) and so that I don't have to take even more time off work.

The worry is that putting drops in does worsen the hearing in the ear, so I shall most likely have no hearing for the next week.

Oh god, I really can't be bothered to do any work today. I have no motivation what-so-ever. Being so damn hungry doesn't help, but I want to incorporate my lunch-break with going home to see the Doctor so that I don't have to buy lunch in the refectory.

Prediction #3

LoweyPredicts

Healthy...ish

Car seems much happier with a fully working, fully sealed water pump. I have to drive carefully for a while because the brakes need time to bed in. They will, apparently, feel spongy for some time and I have to allow double stopping distances for the first 50 miles of driving or so. They need gently breaking in, or should that be braking in? It's particularly important to drive sensibly for the first 50 miles because an emergency stop within that amount of time could rip the brakes clean off!

The tyre needed some more air in it this morning, but I was unsure if that was because it had been leaking or because it hadn't been fully inflated at the garage. When I collected the car it wasn't looking properly inflated. If it carries on going down I will just have to nip down to Kwik Fit and get a Kwik Fit fast-fitter to fit it quick. Hmmm, maybe I watched a few too many adverts when I used to watch TV.

When I was at the garage yesterday there was a rather mangled Subaru Impreza that had been recovered from the road between Clarach and Aberystwyth. The driver claimed that a car with Kenwood stickers and other logos on it had been trying to push him along faster and he had wanted nothing to do with it. Apparently the Kenwood car then sped off at the first opportunity and so the Subaru driver pulled in a little to let them past.

If you believe this story so far then you're doing better than I did, but it gets even more ludicrous. Apparently they moved over to the left a little too much and his wheels went into the mud on the side of the road. Being in a 4 wheel drive car he thought he would put his foot down to pull the car back out. Apparently the turbo then kicked in shooting him straight across the road and into a solid rock face before he even had a chance to take his foot off the accelerator. He claims he was doing 25-30 Mph. No way. That car was mangled, it had buckled in the middle. The front was smashed. None of the wheels would spin. They wouldn't turn. That car must have been doing upward of 45 Mph, and they were both lucky to walk away from it. It makes you realise just how dangerous driving is.

I'm off to the doctors at 3 to get my ear fixed, and it won't be a moment too soon either. Not only can I not hear, but now it's starting to hurt.

Last night I stumbled across this [excellent bit of flash - link removed] It was so splendid I even ended up saving it to my own userspace.

I've got another bit of flash that I shall link to when I get the chance which isn't office friendly but is completely and utterly hilarious. I'll probably post it tonight when I get back home.

Car Has Returned

The car is back safe and sound. It seems a lot happier. Apparently the water pump was completely fucked. I've also noticed that the car seems to idle a little bit better and doesn't shake violently like it used to when I cut the engine, which is presumably to do with the new timing belt.

Sadly Graham, the mechanic, had not been able to find anything wrong with the front-right wheel as such. His recommendation was "keep an eye on it, and if it starts going down again take it to Kwik-Fit". Hmm. Okay then. I have to drive carefully for the first 50-60 miles to allow the brakes to bed in. No sudden or hard braking.

I am thoroughly looking forward to being able to get in the car tomorrow and not have to worry about all the water in the expansion tank being on the floor.

The whole let came to just under £200. All well, you only live once. I'll probably go back there if I need any more work doing on the car, Graham seemed like a nice bloke. Doesn't half talk though, the guy never shuts up in fact!

He showed me the brake disks he took off the car. The one that was scraping was completely wrecked. As he pointed out though, they were both on their way out anyway so it'd have not passed an MOT with them like that anyway, so it's not like I wrote off a perfectly good pair of brake disks.

So the car has been serviced, now I personally need to go for an MOT for Humans. Well, not an MOT, but I still can't hear out of my left ear. The only relief I get is when I put my music on my headphones and adjust the balance to 33% to the left. Then the music sounds balanced and I can even pretend that there is nothing wrong with my ear at all ... until I take the headphones off again and all sounds seem to be coming from my right again.

It's been an eye-opener having no hearing in my left ear though. Until you lose a sense you don't realise how central they are to your entire life. I've been without hearing in one ear and I know that it can be fixed by a doctor or nurse. What about the people who have no hearing in either ear and know it can't be fixed? What about blind people? Imagine losing your sense of taste or smell or touch... these things are all so central to us, how do we go about our lives if we lose them? We all take so much for granted when we're all very lucky. </Jerry Springer Moment>

Car Still Not Alive

I am told it will most likely be alive by around 5 and they will probably be able to give me a lift from Aber to Clarach to collect the car...all being well. They've been delayed because the water pump has only just arrived. Apparently. Personally I suspect that's just an excuse and they've really just been busy doing other stuff. All well, never mind.

Yet More Failed hacking Attempts

cpc1-heck1-5-0-cust143.hudd.cable.ntl.com (80.6.16.143) have been trying so hard to hack my email with .scr files, .exe files, .zip files which contain .scr files or .exe files ...

They've failed repeatedly yet still keep trying. Well they'll not be laughing when the email I sent to abuse@ntlworld.com, abuse@ntl.com and abuse@ntli.com is received.

Morons.

Oh Dear God

The car is at the Garage now. It's going to have to stay there overnight as they don't have the parts at the moment. I had to drive to Clarach rather slowly as I didn't want to have to brake hard. Well, actually I didn't want to brake at all but sometimes the situation does require it. Like when you want to stop for example.

When I got there he looked at the brakes. It needs new brake disks and pads on both wheels. The front right tyre has either a puncture or a leaking valve. All of this is going to cost enough to fix ... but then with the water leak on top of this it gets worse.

The pump is what was leaking...I was right. When a pump leaks it means it's time to replace the whole thing. To get to the pump the timing belt has to be removed, and when they remove the belt they always replace it, becuase they are not something to gamble with. If the timing belt goes then that's £800 of damage to the engine, it will crack the entire top half of the engine. That would be the car written off then.

So I need a new pump, timing belt, brake disks and pads and the tyre fixing, and all of this is going to cost £80 in labour with £115ish in parts. All in all the whole lot will likely cost me £200 just to make the car road worthy again.

:(

Car is fucked

It barely got me home :( I had to drive at 20mph most of the way, and often had to use the handbrake to stop the car...a far from ideal solution to the problem. As I was leaving the campus it was making nasty scraping sounds even after I had taken my foot off the brake.

Canada embarks on mass seal hunt

OK, this is old news now. But I've been wanting to write my own alternative solution up and make it available for all to see. And here it is!

Lowey's Alternative to Mass Seal Culling

Further Motoring Horror

I've just booked the car into a garage in Clarach. It is officially fu><0r3d. When I drove to work this morning the brakes were making the most god-awful noise. I hadn't realised when I was on the road yesterday because I couldn't hear it over the noise of the blowers/music/wind coming through the window. I emailed my Dad about it. He told me the same thing I already thought. I rang the garage. They told me the same thing I already thought. The brake pad has completely worn away and now it's metal on metal.

If I'm lucky the brake disk won't be screwed, but my guess is that it will be. I'm going to get this damn water leak fixed while I'm there, so I'll likely be looking in excess of £70 for the whole lot.

Damn car.

Robert McCloskey - Quote

Wot?