mostly david ephgrave

Tonight’s Mostly Comedy was stupidly good - insanely stupidly good - but at the same time it was a little terrifying, as I spent the whole show in a metaphorical vacuum, barely able to hear a thing. I should explain: for the last week or so, my right ear has been purely ornamental, due to a mix of a low-level infection and an unnecessarily large wax quota. This actually started when I was in Edinburgh, when every so often I’d feel like I was in an aeroplane waiting for my ear to pop; usually it would clear eventually; that was until the last week, when it’s actually closed shop…and has done nothing of use since except hold up my sunglasses. I went to the doctors on Monday, who gave me some ear drops to help clear things up, but sadly these haven’t quite kicked in yet; consequently I spent tonight feeling like I was using in-ear monitors, as all I could hear was my own voice uncomfortably close and nothing else. I did a set at the top of the...

I’ve been deaf in my right ear all day today, thanks to some kind of Eustachian tube shenanigans, either caused by a low-level infection or just a build-up of earwax (lovely image) and it’s really been getting me down. I had similar problems off and on towards the end of my time in Edinburgh, which I took just to be illustrative of me being run down. I’d fully intended to see the doctor when I got home, only to find it had seemed to clear up - until today that is, when I’ve spent the whole day feeling like I’m underwater; it’s disorientating and irritating in equal measure, and may result in me buying an ear trumpet (which is the best kind of brass instrument). I’ve had a long history or ear problems, from suffering terribly painful infections as a child resulting in me having grommets fitted, to being hit with labyrinthitis in 2010: a condition that has never really gone. I’m not thinking for a moment this instance will be anything as bad as the t...