Once upon a time there was a beautiful forest each day the wind would blow though the forest and create the most delightful sound. The squirrels, birds and bees, in fact all the creatures in the forest chirped and whistled and buzzed in harmony with the forest. Then one day a wood chip company turned up and cut down almost all the trees, all the animals moved away and from then on there was just quiet except for the buzzing of the last few bees.

What’s this got to do with industrial deafness and holidays……

Inside your ear there is a forest of hair cells which behave much like a forest, when noise enters the ear they sway in the breeze. In the ear this movement creates an impulse that is transmitted to the brain and we “hear”.  Exposure to loud noise over a long period of time is the equivalent to having a wood chip company in your ear, loud noise destroys the trees and pretty soon you have a few sticks of wood left and the odd bee making a buzzing noise (sometimes they are more like cicadas). The bad news is these trees in your ear NEVER grow back which is why over you’re lifetime your hearing will deteriorate and if you live long enough or expose yourself to enough noise you WILL go deaf. The good news is for the price of a small car you can get little amplifiers and speakers mounted each side of your head which, in a way, half fix the problem. These are called hearing aids. A hundred years ago the partial cure involved the theft of some unsuspecting tuba players instrument and mounting it to a trolley to move it around.

As a long time sufferer of industrial deafness I could go on for ages about this so lets just say when you ask me, “Would you like a cup of tea”,  I’m likely to say “could I get a pup and see……What!”.

Franks Knees? Oh simple…..we are at CANFRANC which is near the French boarder in the PYRENEES.

One of MANY villages

By the way, be sure to look after the forests.