Sorry, could you say that again?

Once, when I was working, a parent asked for a meeting. He started off by telling me he had tinnitus, and "I might not be able to concentrate for long." I'd heard of this condition but had no idea what it meant, so his warning was useful. He lasted about 15 minutes and then asked to stop. I got us coffee and waited for him to say whether he wanted to go on. It was a difficult conversation in more ways than one.

I've had a cold since about 22 December. It has gone through all the stages: head cold with sneezing, sniffing and coughing. Then a chest infection and antibiotics to combat the chest infection. Then headaches and earache caused by the "congestion." Now I've got both postviral fatigue and - new to me - tinnitus caused by the bunged up ears and nose.

This must be a version of what that parent described. Let me tell you, it's a form of hell. I'm a visual/aural person but my eyesight isn't that good so for me hearing is crucial. Sometimes I need to lipread. I keep having to say to people: 'Sorry, what did you say?' and 'What was that?' and I am sick of it already.

Last Thursday A and I were doing a run for Glasgow libraries, delivering books to clients in Govan and Ibrox. I was driving. A had lost his hearing aid (for his right ear) somewhere at home and I was totally deaf on my left side from the 'congestion.'

You can picture the scene: I'm driving and A is on my left hand side. Neither of us can hear much at all. We couldn't even agree what our route should be. Or maybe we could but just couldn't hear each other to agree the route. I was ready to chuck it after about 30 minutes - and we had 3 hours ahead of us.

My grandfather was blind from WW1. He could tell the difference between light and dark but nothing else. He often said being deaf would be much worse. He made radios - cat's whiskers - from the 1920s on and loved the contact radio gave him with the outside world. I'm sure that's why I have listened to the BBC World Service and lots of European stations since I was in my teens.

My GP assures me the tinnitus will go after a few weeks. I hope that's true. Because Pop MacDonald was right. Loss of hearing is awful. Especially since it's not a visible  'handicap' and you have to keep on explaining to people what the problem is. At least the vision-impaired have a white stick. Maybe those of us who are deaf should have a label round our necks reading: "deaf - assume I can't hear you."