Fintan Ramblings

I went to Ikea Leeds yesterday to spend our wedding vouchers; as usual we palmed our other 2 kids off in a play barn full of child minders , so I and my wife can shop in peace along with baby Caleb.
Fortunately the kids weren’t in there long as children can only be in play barn for half an hour so we had to rush back to claim our children muttering “where did the time go?”

We got some food and carried on doing the rest of shopping we got loads of things till we came across a cot and on the ticket see staff
The counter was 10 people queuing up and 2 staff tapping away on computer and answering phones.
Wife said forget it we will pay for these and go because baby getting hungry.

I said just hand the baby over and I will queue up, I stood in the queue and of course baby started to cry with hunger and there I was shh shh him.
People in queue was getting stressed and the staff was unable to talk on phone due to loud wailing noise .
After about 1 minute they said would you like to come to front!! So I did and then got the baby’s dummy and stuck it in his mouth he was quiet when they were dealing with my queries.

So take a tip from me if you want to jump a queue bring a wailing baby,
To be honest if I was standing there more than 2 minutes I would have left the queue as I wouldn’t let him be hungry that long and we were literally minutes from the car for his feed.

Thought id do a vlog using my mobile camera seeing that everyone doing it theses days.

But I got shy so my son volunteered

I was very disappointed with the programme this week on Internet section

Probably the worst I have seen on See Hear and if this is the new See Hear then I am turning off.
So to think I have told everyone and their dogs about see hear and their comments makes me cringe

First of all See Hear did not explain what Social Networking is properly and it heavily focused on Bebo ( I thought the BBC not allowed to advertise).
72 year old guy who was interviewed said he was looking for lady friend, I think he should joined a dating agency and not Bebo as I am not sure if he knew what Bebo is?

And as for the DUK (Deaf UK) section, on national TV I was seen looking at the computer but not DUK I may add.
So the inaccurate reporting it said on Deaf-UK was it first social networking site
Deaf-UK is not a social networking site and secondly it’s not the first either
It’s just a name owned by Yahoo and its held on yahoo server.
So yes John set it up and it requires no effort at all…
It was popular when it first started when there was more than 1 moderator and having more than one moderator will ensure its not bias.
Was very popular in its time but sadly its not due to rise of other forums and social networking MSN etc.

It was said that it has over 2500 members and postings a day..
2500 postings a day? I knew it was heavily moderated so where are my other 2400 posts ?

I am not going to bore you how bad DUK is at the moment, you can find that out for yourself, but what annoys me is the inaccurate reporting and the BBC thinks it’s biggest deaf forum to which it isn’t.
Did they do their research properly? – I think no.
Do you really want the BBC to be endorsing a forum that encourages bullying?
Do you want to be in a forum where the moderator is paranoid and able to modify and delete/bounce message back to you if he doesn’t agree with you?
He asked me outside the BBC studios what I said on Camera, doesn’t that tell you he is paranoid? What was he afraid of? Of course my reply was watch the show.

And last of all the deaf couple who didn’t get internet access for 3 months well that happens to a lot of people regardless if they deaf or not but why was that shown? Does not make sense to me to “what happens if you lose all your Internet connection”…. Erm die of boredom?
So what are they trying to say are the incapable of getting it sorted out

And next week we will dedicate a half hour show to Miss Deaf-UK in this day and age do we really need to see this?

So what did my friends and family think of my 5 second acting debut
“Blink and you would have missed it”

“what is that shit? Are deaf people mentally incapable of doing things themselves”
“and now something new the internet” blimey the internet been going over 15 years!”
“I often wondered what dumb means and now I know”

See how I spent my Fathers Day, setting up a basket ball hoop stand also when that was done I set up the trampoline to bad its for ages up to 6

As you can see I was getting pissed off as the instructions were awful.

All my children been tested for deafness as soon as they are born.
Its amazing how they find out these days when they are few days old, although I have never seen it done because my wife knows how uneasy I feel  but she told me how its done.
Then they get tested at a later stage even though I know my children are all hearing hell the doctors will get an ear bashing from me if they ever suggested implants or what ever to “make them normal”

Born on 12th May 3:24pm weighing 7lb 3oz,we have named him Caleb.

We went to Whitby for the day (without the dog I may add). Whitby is a nice town and I have been there a few times. It has a famous son, Captain James Cook who was introduced to John and Henry Walker. The Walkers were prominent local ship-owners and Quakers, and were in the coal trade. Cook was taken on as a merchant navy apprentice in their small fleet of vessels plying coal along the English coast.
Climbed on board a ship called The Grand Turk
I am not into boats but the kids enjoyed themselves. Could not find out the history of the boat as you cannot relax with young children who may fall down hatches and the likes!

After that we spotted St Johns Ambulance, they were doing stuff to raise money. You had a choice of having a cut or bruise face make up. Euan didn’t want to have a go, Jared opted for a black eye and the make up was realistic. He was pleased with it.

He had fish and chips in a café and people kept looking and probably thinking that his black eye looks painful.
What’s funny about it that it looks if I had been hiding the damage when I said don’t forget your sunglasses.
Believe me if he has left any of his belongings our journey home would be hell.

Whitbys skyline is dominated by the ruins of St. Hilda’s Abbey, high on Whitby’s East Cliff. Spreading below Whitby, a maze of alleyways and narrow streets run down to the busy quayside. From the old town of Whitby, 199 steps lead up to the parish church of St. Mary, whose churchyard on Whitby’s East Cliff gave Bram Stoker the inspiration to write his world famous book, Dracula.

Thought it would take a while to get up there with young kids but it didn’t because I promised them ice cream once we get to the top.
Even though it was a warm day Whitby was quiet foggy and visiting the churchyard and abbey gave it an eerie effect. Followed by a foghorn every 5 minutes to warn ships that there are rocks nearby.

You could see for miles but due fog we did not see much and on the way down we used the hill instead of the steps visited some shops and then headed home

My friend Scott came to visit us for the weekend, on Friday 13^th and we decided to visit the White Horse.

It is a huge figure cut into the hillside of Sutton Bank overlooking the village of Kilburn on the edge of the North York Moors.
We did the usual what every tourist did took photos and stuff and climbed the steps to top we watched a few gliders jump from the top.
We must have been there half an hour at the top (making sure I’m holding on to my kids who are 5 and 3).
Scott was talking to me then I noticed Milo the dog was missing.

When we got near the edge we could see the dog trying to climb back up. The more he tried to climb, the further down he went. He got to about 12ft and stopped.
Now you hear stories about people being rescued on mountains and the dogs managed to climb up so I didn’t try and rescue the dog.

I text my wife to call mountain rescue or the gliders club, she rang back to say mountain rescue on way .
I took the kids back down to car park and waited for them to arrive.
Scott went back to spot were the dog was waiting for the rescue to arrive.

Scott texted me to say that the dog been found (he spotted a couple carrying Milo)
He was fine when I spoke to the couple who found him, they were out walking with their dogs, she said that someone climbed down and rescued the dog. I suspect it was her husband as she was from the Blue Cross UK. Animal Welfare Charity.

Nevertheless I took the dog straight to car and went straight home because I didn’t want any more drama after that.

Guess who was a big wuss!

Took my kids on the big wheel in York on Sunday at the York Railway Muesem.
http://www.york-wheel.metaltype.co.uk/
My wife had an excuse not to go on as she is pregnant.
After 3 rounds ( it wasn’t busy and gods knows how many more) I pressed the yellow intercom button and said the kids want to get off..
My wife could hear the kids in the back ground “no I don’t “

Reading another Deaf blog titled ‘You never had it so good with the BBC’ http://www.sterry.me.uk and I agree with him 100%.
I tend to watch films on BBC channels not ones with adverts like ITV channel 4 and 5

Ok, its years before they put a film from a cinema to TV screen, for example, James Bond. That is released in cinemas now so probably will be on BBC in about 2010 I guess.
Worst of all ITV and other advert channels may show these films before BBC and BBC might not bother showing them if it has been screened on a rival channel.

As a deaf person I am not able to watch films in a cinema, as they don’t show subtitles. I do know there are subtitled films in London but I live 100 miles away.

Another option is to wait until its released on DVD but some English films (not Hollywood blockbusters) don’t carry subtitles.
Next option is to wait until its comes on sky TV and see if it gets subtitled but you have to subscribe to sky TV monthly and to be honest a lot of films on there are not likely to be the films I would watch.

So why am I not happy if a film gets put on for example ITV. I know it’s annoying when in middle of film the advert comes on and it ruins the viewing experience. And most people I know tend to record these films and fast-forward through the adverts.
But its worst for us relying on subtitles as when adverts come on and then back to a film they seem to forget to turn subtitle back on and worst of all when they’ve realised that has happen they fast forward the subtitle to catch up with the film. Watching the subtitles flashing fast spoils the film.
Another time watching a film subtitle about 10 minutes slow always through the film or worst stop showing the subtitle all together half way through the film. That happened on BBC and sky movies so ITV and advertising channels are not the only guilty party on that one.

So, I tend to watch less TV, as growing up in the 70’s all my friends were discussing Hong Kong Phooey and Scooby Doo remember them?
Of course ceefax wasn’t around then and all I watched was old black and white programs, non talking ones like Laurel and Hardy, Harold Lloyd and King Kong.
The 80’s came and you could get ceefax but you had to pay extra for ceefax TV it was about £100. I remember seeing 2 identical TV’s (in Currys I think) and 1 was £100 pound more than the other and when I asked the salesman ‘why different prices’ 1 TV has ceefax built in. Of course my stepfather went for the cheapest option.
One day I popped into my grandparent’s house they lived near my school and I was forever reading stuff on their ceefax. I thought it was marvellous that I could keep up with news and today’s events as opposed to yesterday’s news when buying newspapers. Granddad said you will like this and he pressed 888 on ceefax and subtitles appeared. I was amazed. There I was enjoying TV together with my grandparents (we were watching Coronation St. and I felt part of it.)
Still at home by the time I left school, my parents bought another TV set and and of course all TV’s included ceefax. Around that time I didn’t watch much TV. I was working and going out spending money on beer doing what most 20 year olds do.

Fast forward to today married with kids I have a sky digital TV just to watch free to air programmes and have it set to have subtitles on all the time. 9 out of 10 programmes I see carry subtitles. Now I spend most of my time on Internet and watch less TV. The funny thing is my wife and kids are used to having every thing subtitled and leave it on even when I am not there.