Cinema Access Saturday

On Saturday 13 February a group of about fifty from all walks of life gathered to protest the lack of accessible cinema sessions in Australia.
We gathered at the cinema complex in George St 'Events', formerly Hoyts.
They were joined in other cities across the country.

Here are some pics from the Sydney group [clicking the image to go the album and see larger ones]

From Blog Pics

Erskineville

I hear the train a'comin




- iP

Swimming at Victoria Park

Still splishing and a'splashing at Victoria Park.
Thought I'd better check Google Maps and hey presto - I can see something there in the slow lane. It could be me, if they've done an update recently.
Today back to ten laps swimming and 4 laps walking.

I figure the best time is about 8:30 AM - the pre-work swimmers have left for work and the mothers' clubbers, having despatched hubbie to the coalface, have yet to finish their lattes. And the filter has been on all night to dredge out yesterday's bandaids and other unmentionable artefacts. Ugh! Gives me an hour or so...

Subaru gone

My beautiful car TUZ442 has gone.
Over the past few years I have been unable to hear the clutch and had to replace the clutch about a year ago. I'm going to go for something smaller and automatic. Probably a Toyota Yaris or similar.

I had my green Subaru for about 9 years. It was the best car to drive in the wet and was great to/from Byron and around town too.

Goodbye - enjoy your new life, hopefully rust-free.

Trip to Byron Bay

13 February
We arrived in Woolgoolga mid afternoon and noticed that there were a lot of rainbow lorikeets around. At sunset there were 1000s of them. And there were some black cockatoos too. And my friends the butcher birds but not so many of them. And kookaburras eating pizza.

14 February
We drove to Byron along the coast - raining most of the way. Booked into the Byron cabin about 3pm. Byron town is overrun by Queenslanders. Must be a public holiday in QLD we think.
Later a butcher bird came by to see what was happening in our cabin...

15 February
We went to Uki in the morning for the 'market'
Later, in Byron, I went into the ocean for the first time since I have had hearing devices - and certainly the first time since I went 100% deaf. The sea bed was not flat and the currents were strong. I found it had to walk into the surf [balance].
At least we had sun after lots of rain over the weekend.

17 February
Another beach outing.
There was no rain, but cloud cover. Tried a different beach and was able to catch a wave!
Heard the butcher birds in the morning and during the day. Beautiful

18 February
Beautiful Tallow beach, too many currents to stand confidently in the water, but splashed around a bit. The roar of the surf was deafening until I took the external bit off. Met a friend for lunch in Mullumbimby. Nice town, nice old weatherboard houses. I hope suburbia doesn't invade too soon!

I give up here's some pics

Byron Trip 02 2009

On the way back

Tamworth - home of the bogan

You've read the blog now SEE THE MOVIE

Here it is
• you'll laugh
• you'll cry
Captioned for those of us with less than perfect hearing
Got something to say? let me know on the Make Contact Directly page

Pics from the Big Day

Entry to the Sydney Cochlear Implant Centre,
Broadway-musical-style

The before shot, awaiting cochlearisation. Me, not them


Looking over the Audiologist's shoulder, gettin' configured


Appliance installed, being configured still attached to the computer

The Moment of Switch-On - Hearing Monica speak
Father is flabbergasted and he can't even hear her!


Celebratory lunch at the Sydney Rowers'

Sculpture Adjacent to the Pacific

Recovery continues, thanx for asking.

We went on my first real outing on Friday.

Something called "Sculpture by the Sea" - I think "... Adjacent to the Pacific" sounds better. Anyway here's some pics, no particular order.

Loved the bubble off-shore - they should make it a permanent fixture

'ello 'ello, 'ere's a few birds

And the rest of the farmyard friends

The graceful wing never stopped moving, in a light breeze

Sea amenone, nemanone, creatures, in metal

Hardly anyone showed up, and somebody played Scrabble on the cliff

Animated movie explains the mechanism

Here is the movie from the Cochlear people.

It explains how the mechanism delivers sound to the brain.

[requires Flash and a fast connection]

Cochlear Ltd YouTube Channel - http://au.youtube.com/user/CochlearLtd

[captions included]

Cochlear Ltd Home page - Cochlear Ltd

Before and After Shots

Here is a shot of the rear of my right ear before the surgery. Hair cut especially short for the operation [sorry about the crap weather on Wednesday and Thursday - when I get a short haircut, the weather always turns nasty] 

Straight-on side shot - Nice and neat. I think it will come back to that, with a little bulge behind the ear, if others' experience is anything to go on.

Hi-ho, hi-ho it's off to the Op we go...

Let's see - got the booties, got the sack of gear in the pink bag. Very stylish.

Post-op. I woke up with this pillow attached to the side of me 'ead.

Bit out of it. Slept most of the next day.

Of course it's "the bed number of doom" but not of my choice.

Here's the aftermath. Not too bad a job. should tidy-up quite nicely and with a bit of hair you'll never notice it. There'll be a "hearing-aid" looking device there later, so you'll see that, although hair should cover that too.

Notice the purple dot on my ear-lobe - that means "This one, not the other one..."

Mascots

This blog has two mascots
They are



Chubbs
This longhaired tuxedo cat lives in Annandale Street Annandale. He sits on cars. Not just cars, but trucks, trailers and scooters if there's one handy.
He's been out there so long the fur has changed from lustrous black to almost sun-bleached blonde.
It's a different car every day and he's stretched out in a most luxurious way if he's warm enough.
He has an accomplice known as the DSH [domestic shorthair] tuxedo. Sometimes they sit on a car each - don't want to get too crowded!
On cloudy or rainy days poor Chubbs is inside watching TV.






The other Mascot is the Butcher Bird
[known locally as the Higgledy-Piggledy bird]

There has been at least one family of Butcher Birds living in the park near my place since 2002. It is one of the sounds of my locale that means "home". They have a very melodic song, the kind of thing you might mindlessly hum or whistle as you go about your daily business. They sing to each other - one calls and the other responds. Sometimes they'd respond to me [I think] if I could whistle closely enough to the their call. I've heard them all around Sydney and elsewhere and the songs are different for each group. Beautiful. I wouldn't mind hearing them again one day.

Australian Museum Birds in Backyards page
[© Photo: K Vang and W Dabrowka Australian Museum]
Wikipedia link