I endured an unpleasant experience lately, which unfortunately coincided with the farewell of GT. The plan was to meet at The Cleveland, progress to dinner then venture to the city. The Cleveland part of the evening worked well.

Have you ever seen "Sneakers"? There is one scene where the main character (Bishop?) is abducted, placed in the boot of a car. Later he is able to determine where he was taken, using his memory of the sounds. He recalls a section of the journey where there are regular gaps in the roadway, figures he was crossing a bridge. The relevant part is when he describes passing a 'cocktail party'. Turns out it was a gaggle of geese. Well with all the conversation in the restaurant all I could hear was a lot of geese. I can lip read to an extent, but basically conversation for me was nearly impossible. The earplugs I use only filter sound above and below the range of the human voice. I was acutely reminded of what I can expect with deafness. The foray into the city had the same result. I certainly wasn't my jovial self.

I have anticipated a trip to Melbourne since Christmas. One function of the trip is to visit a hearing specialist, purportedly very good. There has been conversation about turning my single channel mono hearing into twin channel mono hearing. I am not keen, how will I sleep? However, if something can be done about the tinitus, I will be ecstatic.

When I first watched "Immortal Beloved" there was an understandable level of empathy. Knowing the joy of creating music and the difficulty of losing hearing are both intimately familiar. I know the film is not an accurate account, but it is a moving story and Beethoven's music is my favourite. I managed to find the film on DVD the other day. Just the reminder of Ludwig's music sent multiple shivers down my spine. Next viewing after Melbourne?

Other events in Melbourne include Schubert's Octet, an exhibition opening and inspecting a racetrack in Werribee. Eclectic is my life.