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Or let him buy you a pint, and then suddenly see someone you really Must speak to at the other side of the room, and sod off.
Turned out OK in the end: the pub was a Craft Beer Co. place so the ale was acceptable, and I had some good conversations
Returning to the hotel, I decided to pop down to the restaurant to get some dinner, rather than going to the chippy round the corner.
It's the second time I've been down to that restaurant of an evening, and I strongly suspect they don't get many customers; maybe a few for the bar, but there's a good pub just next door and loads more just a minute or two away, so a basement Premier Inn bar isn't exactly the best local choice for a drink. Last time, I went early evening and was the only person dining; this time, there was a table of four just finishing but once they were gone, I was alone again.
Also, what kind of restaurant can't rustle up a ribeye steak, as listed on the menu, at 9PM on a Saturday night during which they've probably only had four customers?
And if I've asked for a ribeye steak and you've interrupted me right there to consult with the "chef" and returned with the verdict "ribeye's orf", don't then suggest I might fancy a burger instead. If I fancied a burger, I wouldn't ask for the most expensive steak on the rather limited menu
Anyway, I finally settled for a gammon steak with pineapple and fried egg and chips, as they were willing to make that
As I was leaving, I saw a small group sat in the bar area who clearly weren't the kind of people who'd check Google Maps before hitting the -1 button in the hotel lift.
I think that's the right decision. If you do get cornered by the boring sod, just turn off the hearing aid an order another pint.
These hearing aids nestle deep within the ear so the only way to turn them off is to take them out and open the battery compartment, which is a fairly obvious manoeuvre
Though as I said to the audiologist, I've adapted well to the various noises in my life but have had almost no experience of talking to people face-to-face since I got them; one of the perils of being on the bench and living alone. The longest non-phone conversation I've had since getting them has been with the woman in the Chinese last Saturday
But I was able to converse in the rather noisy pub, and also in the slightly quieter area where we moved outside, and could hear people I would have struggled to hear before.
I think the remaining difficulty I have isn't to do with struggling to hear, but with being out of practice at following conversations in noisy environments - I hear what's said perfectly well, but my brain says "Nah, you won't have caught that" and throws it away rather than forwarding it for comprehension
This also ties in with the way I've started asking people to repeat things, then realising I heard what they said and replying to it as they start to do so, which is hugely annoying to both parties
The audiologist actually said "You should go down the pub and talk to people there" so I think I'll treat that as medical advice and do as I'm told next week
Now on to Law & Order: SVU. The credits always make me wonder if Ice T feels like a bit of a dick still using that name at his age, but unable to do anything about it as his real name is a pub quiz answer
Though that could be because it's so early - the weather app just says "partly cloudy", though it also insisted everything was fine last night even as I was walking through a light shower
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