At the end of last summer I went to see the GP about my left ear: I wasn’t hearing very well out of it. The GP couldn’t see anything wrong, thanks to the bony protrusions lining my ear canal – the result, I understand, of regular cold water swimming as a child. I knew about those anyway; they don’t do much, apart from block the view.
But the GP was concerned enough to refer me to an ear clinic. I wasn’t worried, until I rang the clinic about my appointment and they told me there was a six-month waiting list, at which point I decided I was going deaf.
