I’m just in the door from a quick, turn-around trip to Cavan. Himself’s hearing aids were giving bother and he’s lost without them; it’s all vision and no sound, like the old tellies. He’s had a lot of different hearing aids over the years, each pair more sophisticated than the last... and more expensive to replace when they variously fall down between the slats or vanish down the dog’s gob. There was a set of them from America which he bought from a nephew who’s an audiologist in Chicago, and every time they needed tweaking he had to set up a video call to America from the niece’s house down the road. Not only that, but the nephew had insisted on him buying an Apple iPhone to pair the hearing aids with. I don’t have a techie bone in my body and I can just about manage my android phone and his android tablet for watching the mart. I have never come to terms with the Apple phones, with the result that when things go tits up for him there’s nothing I can do to help beyond offering him the loan of the sledgehammer out of the Caddy. Each time he presses a wrong button and alters the settings he has to wait for Peter F. to get home from work and then head down the hill for an adjustment session. Thankfully he eventually ditched the American aids (but not the phone) and now has ones from Specsavers so at least I can just fly him into Cavan for a quick tweak when needed. Always better to buy close to home for follow-up service and avoid doing business with family at all costs. That way when the shit hits the fan it’s not the family getting plastered
