David's blog

I've been getting used to my new smart glasses, which I've had for a few days now. I took them out today, and they seem to have what they call "hallucinations." The first one sent me on a wild goose chase about a mobile phone—it claimed there was a phone on the ground near my fence, but there wasn’t. These glasses, as I mentioned, have been embraced by the visually impaired community. I heard about a man in Texas who has retired his expensive, probably cumbersome and hassle-ridden CCTV system, and now just uses the Meta Ray-Ban glasses to read his letters. It seems liberating and opens the door to other possibilities these glasses might offer in the future. It's amazing to hear these have changed some people's lives for the better under purely by accident Hopefully they will improve again as time goes by and make it possible for visually impaired people to participate in things in society which they may be closed out of now by ignorance or whatever I have been...

 I use to taekwondo but gave it up when I moved back here I was hoping club would get opened round here but it never happened, I miss that club and the taekwondo made some good friends and I think sometimes that I was stupid moving back here. Taekwondo a korean martial art. I enjoyed the philosphy regarding it and justdoing the patterns they were good exercise. The martial art is about using your whole body to generate power when blocking or attacking  I do have a book on the subject and there are now videos on the subject too but its not the same as having an instructor there to teach you I use to do it about twice a week and would like to do it again but its not possible as there is not club locally and it does not seem that there ever will be I guess, I can practise what I did learn though I don't have the space but I guess I can incorpotrate the movements into a fitness regime and when there is space I guess I can practise them then, it might be good stress management...

Today was another episode with the bus ticket machine as I decided to go and do some shopping.  On the way down I managed to hear the bus beep but not see it as the sun was too bright though it is nice to have the sun out these days a change from the dreay rain we usually have round here. Catching the bus back I saw the light go off on the bus thing and heard it too I guess it depends on the bus that is being used in relation to how much success I have this has developed into a bit of a game now. I have started to listen to Mike Brace's second book I read the first one and it was amusing especially the episodes where his blindness has got him into awkward situations due to his sight loss.   In this book he comes over a bit full of himself confidence is good but this is just too much of being full of oneself it is quite amusing at times though and I guess I will carry on with it as its quite easy to follow. The tinnitus I suffer with is really vile today and is hard ...

I had a chat with someone this morning who is blind and he was talking about how difficult the new 10 pound notes can be to manage they are a lot more springy and slippery than the old ones and they are apparently pretty simillar to receipts and it can be tempting to throw them away.  So I guess if you want free money you had better stand behind a blind person and wait for the handour which has a good chance of coming your way.  I guess the best thing is to avoid money and just use cards I guess which is what I do.  I was listening to program on radio 4 about how the banks have made it a lot more diffcult for blind people to access their bank accounts online now they use to fine apparently but they have changed now. The only problem I get with bank related stuff is reading the screen of the cash machine the writing can is small and can dissappear in a the middle of all the other rubbish that's on the screen so I just have to hit and hope sometimes a lot of them are ok t...

The weather has turned nasty again today the short lived summer has gone again and we are back to the default setting of wind and rain which is the normal weather for here.  I have broken another laptop due to my impatience with computers which raises its ugly head now and again and then ends up costing me money.  It was already broken from a time before this morning was the last straw I guess as it was not working and due to me having broken the screen a while a go I could not see to repair it at all.  I have this one laptop now which I use for making music with but I will need another one for the other things I do on the internet I listened to a podcast the other day an young man was being interviewed about what its like to be visually impaired, in the interview he began to go on about the bullying he had or was still suffering the people who were interviewing seemed to be ignoring the issue which I thought was a bit off.  I emailed them about this the interviewe...

There are a few people on facebook trying to organise a reunion for the college which I was at in the 1980s the Royal National College for the Blind as far as I can see it is not going to be held in the college which I think is a shame but it will be nice to see people I have not seen for a long time.  It only feels like yesterday when I was there well I guess it was as I have been there 3 times in my life really I like going back there as it the place where I spent my happiest times had plenty to do and was looked after and had young lady to keep me company well it was to argue with really as it was quite a volatile relationship we had.  The last I hear about here she had had an accident maybe I will find out more if I go to the reunion.  It not going to be a cheap weekend and travelling to Hereford takes a while I will need to get some accommodation for two nights not worth the bother just for one night I guess.  The event is being held in pub in Hereford which I h...