First you must enable subtitles to understand this, while its playing hover over the arrow that points up and active the CC button on the right side.

In March  my wife and I decided to decorate our living room throw out some old furniture to freecycle,we aim to do it all in  one day which we have young children and what a nightmare it would be .. luckily for us  their grandparents offered to look after them which made everything easier for us.

That night after we had finish sanding and  painting and started to put TV cabinet together. Franck and Jo came round and asked us if we like to go for a few drinks.
We thought why not and seeing that we don’t have to get up early next day and only had to tidy up a few things before fetching the kids.

When we did go out I did not feel quite right and I put it down to tiredness but soon perked up as night went on
we went back to Jo and franks house had some late night snacks to be honest I wasn’t going to bother was happy to go home but being offered a mean bacon buttie was too tempting to resist.
I must admit I enjoyed myself and having a go on karaoke me and Franck did Eminem song Without Me ..how the hell Eminem  can sing so fast I don’t know but made everyone laugh as I know I cant sing.

so anyway we left and got home at 3 am.

I must have woken up about 4 am to be sick and it was black as anything ,thought to my self I did not drink Guinness, looking back I think it might be blood.

Still feeling tired I went back to bed.

Next day we did a few tidy up took some things to  rubbish dump, I drove cos I knew I wasn’t over the limit but wife drank loads more than me she looked a little hungover which to be expected.
after a late breakfast we drove to York to where our children stayed overnight at Caroline parents.
Sitting there looking a bit hungover Caroline suggested that I take the dog out for a walk and meet her and kids later in the park.
She said fresh air should do me good …
How can I be hungover when I only had 3 pints which was a puzzle so I put it down to going to bed late ,which has never been a problem before..

once I got on the field which is only 5 Min walk away suddenly things did not feel quite right.

I was confused to where I was and I couldn’t't see the dog saw which looks like white spots I kept looking round not knowing where I was so I got panicky I walked back but my legs felt funny as if I was skipping and then suddenly I started shaking fit like.
Second fit came stronger than the first.

I was still looking around everything seems small and so far way unable to move I shouted for help knowing that people are out walking dog etc..
then a 3rd fit came and this time I tried to control it by not shaking it was too strong it knocked me to the ground…
when I sort of came round I got mobile phone  out of my pocket although it makes sense to dial 999 but I wouldn’t be able to explain where I am  but my wife or my father in-law would know where I would be because its the same route where I always take the dog.
however looking at my mobile phone I was confused I did not know how to work it,use it a million times before but for some reason I could not understand how to use it.
I was  lying there unable to get up or use the phone … to my relief I saw push bike wheels pull up beside me a young lad asked if I was all right.

I was  scrabbling to get up and he helped me to my feet, I don’t remember much after that which I walked back to inlaws house how I walked across the main road without being knocked over.
What I do remember looking back and they were following me at a distance to make sure I got back safety, once I walked into inlaws house I think she could tell I didn’t look right so she called Caroline.
she came racing in and then took me to hospital I do remember crying in the car and confused to what has happened I thought I was going to die.
Once we got to hospital Caroline told them at reception what has happened and next thing I was in on a bed wired up.

I spent the next 2 days in hospital which I will write in next part.

I co run a mailing list with Tony Barlow and someone posted that the CO OP supermarket have named RNID charity of the year.

I checked out my local CO OP and happy to see that they don’t display any thing , although they only have at the till a collection box for the RNIB.
I was in Chester last weekend after visiting a co op there where I lived for years did not display it there  either,to which they must have a lot of deaf customers and not wanting to make us uncomfortable.
( there used to be a newsagent run by a Deaf BSL user 4 doors away which I will blog about later)

So did they not want to annoy their dear customers,I wouldn’t want to be reminded that I am deaf and they are supporting/helping me or or feel sorry for us when all we want to do is get on with our shopping  instead of them prancing about in their pyjamas or what ever fundraising  ideas they have.

But knowing the RNID and how these so called charity operate they will put up posters at a more profitable places or where gullible people shop and donate.
Has anybody at the co op ask deaf people what they think of the RNID?

For all I can see  is a silly pr stunt to increase their own profits as well as RNID,s.
Lets take a look at the fund raising pack that’s been banded about .. you can down Fund Raiding Pack

Deaf and hard of hearing people are four times more likely to be unemployed than hearing people.
yes and how many work for the RNID? very little and none at senior levels, I would be interested to know how many work for the co op.

£50 Provides a basic toolkit for a Hear to Help volunteer to show new hearing aid users how to maintain and clean their hearing aid.
This is shown at the NHS hospitals  or in my case  at doctors surgery as I live rural  for free
also private hearing aids dispensers do this too and they want you to make the most of your hearing aids.

£100 To visit someone in their home and talk to them about making the most of their hearing aid and how to maintain it for themselves.
again this is shown free via NHS ,private dispeners

£250 To visit five people in their homes for a quick hearing aid check and a chat.
again at the NHS or local doctors surgery this will be shown,but with these volunteers visiting houses they would be sucking their family member on fundraising events selling raffle tickets to raise more money.

£500 To carry out thirty hearing aid maintenance tasks, such as battery changes, at community centre.

again this is done for free at hospital or doctors surgery and your local deaf club

and it goes on…

So it it really makes you think where the money really goes when the  CEO gets 10k a year running the RNID….
so when your next into the co op why not buy a nice choclate bar for your self  cos its more satifying than putting money  in the charity box.

Told my wife if for some reason it happned to me or I had some accident I dont want to spend my life like a vegetable ,hooked up some machine living on fluids from a bottle.
“If that ever ,ever happens to me ..just pull the plug ”

She got up unplugged mylaptop, took bottle of lager and tipped it down the sink.

Should learn to keep my big mouth shut.

DRIVING instructor Steve Swinton was furious when he heard a young deaf man had been refused lessons.
He set about learning the basics of British Sign Language but found the only course available was in a weekly mother and toddler’s group.
He said: “It caused a bit of a stir at first but I soon mixed and later I went on to attend an advanced course.”

Now the 54 year-old combines running his own Castle Hill School of Motoring with training would-be driving instructors and has been teaching hearing impaired learner drivers for 15 years.

The father of three reckons he is one of only 50 instructors out of 43,000 in Britain who use signing to teach deaf people to drive and says the skill has gained him extra business as news of his signing ability spread.

Now he wants to set up a course teaching BSL to other instructors and says learning sign language has helped his business over the years.
“Around 10 to 15 per cent of my learners are deaf or hearing impaired.
“I sit further forward turned towards the learner and use my hands instead of talking to tell the drivers what I want them to do and it works very well.
“They can see me signing in their peripheral vision and in some ways it works better than talking does.

“I would eventually like to set up a course for those instructors who want to learn BSL as it a very useful skill which can help their business.”
A former Breightmet High School pupil, Mr Swinton worked as a mechanical engineer but after being made redundant he decided to set up his own driving school.
“I wanted to work for myself and that way nobody could make me redundant and for me it has been a very good move.
“I knew there would more business avenues to explore than just teaching people the basic L-test and now I teach instructors and hearing impaired and deaf people.”

He is a top Grade 6 driving instructor, an advanced driving instructor and supervising examiner and is on the Official Register of Driving Instructor Trainers (Ordit).

A See Hear programme featuring Mr Swinton will be broadcast on BBC 2 on Wednesday January 28 at 1pm.

Stephen P. Swinton A.D.I. Dip D.I. Cert F.Ed.
Diamond Advanced Instructor/Supervising Examiner.
www.aditraining123.co.uk
Driving and Deafness Forum Moderator.
www.Deaf247.co.uk

He used to have this Dalek Easter egg and when you press the button of the box it says exterminate exterminate
of course the egg was eaten and he threw away the box but kept the plastic device.
so one night I was going to bed making sure I don’t make any noise so I don’t wake the wife or the baby up.
Soon as my head hit the pillow I was suddenly made to sit up right,with wife lifting my head up and her hand flinging about find her way round the pillow.
Thought she was off her head so I switched the light on.
“Are you off your head or what?”
Daleks Daleks came her reply

What Daleks?

The bloody thing that keeps on saying exterminate exterminate.
I put my hand in found the object that my son jokingly put in my pillow and turned it off.

I must admit I find her signing sexy don’t you think?

Clicking on picture gives you a bigger picture with more detail.

This is the desktop I see when I first switch the computer on

On top left is a facebook feeds

words next to Jack Nicholson is quote of the day which changes daily.

I don’t need to tell you what a calendar and a clock does do I ?

As you see here I am reading my gmail using Mutt which is the best mail client in

my opinion. N stand for new mail and D is to delete which I always delete anything from

RNID

Top left is my facebook feeds which Mathew is taking the piss. I upgraded Ubuntu to Hardy Heron and for some reason colours got set to 256  instead of 16.million which of course I had fixed.

In this picture I am viewing my RSS feeds using Newsbeuter

After i highlighted and pressed enter to read post using newsbeuter in this case

I am reading the GOD blog.

Reading See Hear forum this way  as I find  the forum in ghastly colour

I will post more later on , as Newsbeuter and Mutt deserve a post of its own

Its reads out rss feed, news plays your pod cast and your favourite radio station and email not useful for a deaf person, but my family are all hearing so I see some uses.
You can talk to other nabaztag users via its belly button (yes really!)
One had a radio key tag, which sends me an email when wife and kids are at home, I can see this being useful for letting her know that I am working late.
And sending some silly messages to the kids

Another gadget that does something similar called Tux Droid,

Me being a Linux guy, you can have access to the code and modify it anyway you like.

The only thing that puts me off it has no radio key fob.. Although I wouldn’t be surprised if they are working on this.

Besides all that, this thing looks evil when its eyes light up while it talks!

I doubt kids would like it to read them bedtime stories!

So the next device I came across, which I am more likely to buy (have to convince the wife) is the Chumby.

Looks like a glorified alarm clock but it does much more than nabaztag and tux droid does:

• Reads your news feed, such as bbc news and blogs
• Reads what TonyB twittered about on twitter
• Look at flickr pictures like digital photo frame
• It can be a radio alarm clock and listen to radio shows around the world

Check your Ebay and read Ceefax the list is endless

The down side is they don’t ship overseas so I will have to ask my friend nicely if she could bring it over.

Ben who is a member of Deaf-uk-chat posted a message about a device that may interest us;

Alert me

A new British start-up has a cool package where you can fit various
sensors, including a doorbell , and it will alert you via SMS (and email if you like)
http://www.alertme.com/

A bit pricey but its more for home security than for geeky fun stuff the only thing that puts me off is the £11.75 a month for using the alert me service.

How ever if they brought it down to £5 a month I would definitely use it.

Looking at the forum they are open to new ideas they have temperature control monitor very handy if you want reduce your energy consumption.

Perhaps if we all go to the forum http://forum.alertme.com/index.php

We could suggest some ideas. What I would like is some doorbell sensor so it can alert us to who is at the door with a web cam.

Possibly a web cam that switches on when the sensor is triggered. Or vibrations alert to let us know what’s triggered the alarm with a built in smoke detector.

The alertme would be so cool and useful not like the ones some of us have which looks cumbersome and designed in the 70’s, and having separate devices for different things when alert me could be an all in one box solution.

Edit Lorenzo the owner of this Vlog contacted me to say there is a English version to which I have replaced.. ignore the 10 sec advert which is out of our control.

I reckon I could be a serous contender if I had been invited see this link scarborough hospital