What's made you grumpy today?

[The Picnic Wasp]

Not really making me grumpy as such, but just to continue the saga of my ear infection: a couple of days ago, Hotel California was played on Greatest Hits and the plucked 12-string guitar intro sounded very slightly out of tune, perhaps by a flat microtone.

Later, Fast Car's signature acoustic melody sounded similarly weird and disconcerting.

Since then I've noticed this on other songs and it seems to be that I'm hearing a certain frequency, or narrow frequency range, very slightly flat.

Turns out this may be a case of diplacusis, a condition and word I'd never, erm, heard of until I looked it up this week. And it's almost certainly caused by all the compacted ear wax I have currently, which I'm due to have removed in a couple of days, thank goodness.

You're having a bit of a rough time of it, Matt. Really annoying that it's interfering with your enjoyment of music too, so I hope it all clears up and is resolved soon. What causes a small perforation in the eardrum? Is it the infection or the physical wax presence? It all sounds pretty horrible. I had a sequence of viruses and bugs the first half of last year. Rubbish when that happens.

[Slim]

The first time I've ever experienced this. A plague of fruit flies in the kitchen. I'm guessing it all stems from a wizened old lime which had somehow rolled behind the microwave. The online advice is apple cider vinegar traps which to be fair are working to an extent but don't seem to be keeping up. I think this calls for a big bleach deep clean. Incidentally 500 ml of cider vinegar is £3.75 in Tesco and £1.65 in Aldi. What's going on?

i think you need to resort to chemical warfare. If you spray a thin mist of fly killer onto a windowsill or two that should clear them up. Only needs a tiny bit. A couple of squirts in the air now and then as well, when you see them flying around.

On a related note - I really envy species that can fly.

[pxr5]

^ Agreed, bleach is no good on flies etc. I had a load of flies/maggots in a bin one summer and I covered them with bleach - they just carried on wiggling about for ages (even escaping). I had an old can of Raid and a few squirts of that saw them all off pretty quickly.

[Fishy]

Pricks on trains who insist on listening to stuff without headphones.. cunts really

[Thenop]

Had 4 lipomas in my chest and sternum area, went to hospital to get them removed. They did 2, and decided I should come bakc in another 2 weeks. So I am sitting here stiched up with 2 holes in my chest. Harmless lumps, but they became annoying and big to the extent I wanted them gone.
I alwasy underestimate this stuff, my wife keeps telling me this and luckily she went with to drag me home afterwards.

Oh well, I'll live.

[Fishy]

Marrakesh airport.. it's your worst nightmare turned into reality.. fkn hell.  Someone has obviously adopted the  strategy of let's piss off the tourists as much as  possible

[Fishy]

Marrakesh airport.. it's your worst nightmare turned into reality.. fkn hell.  Someone has obviously adopted the  strategy of let's piss off the tourists as much as  possible

On the cuntiness scale out of 10 for airports this comes in about 47..

[Fishy]

Gene Hackman and his wife found dead at their home https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewkkkvkzn9o

Did the dog do it? Sad news..

[David L]

Gene Hackman and his wife found dead at their home https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cewkkkvkzn9o

Did the dog do it? Sad news..

Sounds as if it could've been what they both wanted. If so, I'd wager the poor dog didn't get a say.

[captainkurtz]

There were 2 other dogs still alive though...

[David L]

There were 2 other dogs still alive though...

The police have changed their minds, now being treated as suspicious 

[Matt2112]

How does Jeremy Vine get to chair daytime current affairs discussion programmes?  Sorry, but he's not only laughably ill-informed but seemingly thick as mince; is it performative or is he genuinely inept? (Yes, I'm WFH today).

[David L]

How does Jeremy Vine get to chair daytime current affairs discussion programmes?  Sorry, but he's not only laughably ill-informed but seemingly thick as mince; is it performative or is he genuinely inept? (Yes, I'm WFH today).

Grinds my f***kin' gears

[Matt2112]

Sad to see rioting in Syntagma Square in Athens where I visit annually.

One pleasing tiny kernel of the BBC's reporting is that the newscaster mentioned other disturbances in Greece's second largest city, Thessaloniki, and she correctly put the stress on the fourth syllable.

[Fishy]

Marrakesh airport.. it's your worst nightmare turned into reality.. fkn hell.  Someone has obviously adopted the  strategy of let's piss off the tourists as much as  possible

On the cuntiness scale out of 10 for airports this comes in about 47..

Returning home today.. departure thru this airport must rank as the worst.. won't be back.. shame as everything else has been pretty good.. crossing the road tho is a fkn nightmare