Thursday 19th Jan

This all started on the Thursday the 19th of January. I was in Thailand, Khao Lak to be precise, with Angie my partner.it was our first holiday sans our 3 kids for 5 years and we were having a great time. We decided to go on a boat trip for the day to the Similian Islands. This included some snorkelling which I sometimes enjoy doing. I've done a bit of scuba diving in the past so I understand how to equalise the pressure in your middle ear while descending etc. It was late morning and I was about to return to the boat when I saw a green sea turtle swimming lazily along the bottom, at a depth of around 20 feet. I swam down to take a closer look. The turtle didn't seem alarmed so I approached it and I gently touched it's back and then swam to the surface. As I climbed onto the boat I noticed my ears were ringing and the high frequency ranges of my hearing were reduced. This felt exactly like the sort of thing you might experience after a night of loud music at a gig. Over lunch I noticed that I was having trouble making out what was being said which was a shame as the guy I was attempting to talk to happen to be from switzerland and a former bass player who at one time played with the Bee Gees or The Brothers Gibb as they were known in the 60s. Later on the boat ride back to the mainland I listened to Blackfield's Welcome to my DNA and although I recall some hearing loss it was by no means as bad as it would get over the coming days.