I think the deafness affects me more than I realise I think it makes me more tired. I loathe parties. I attend, smile and leave.

People keep asking me if I'll marry again. It's as if after you've had one car crash you want another.

One of the reasons I wanted to teach deaf children was because it made me very sad that they spoke so clumsily and that they moved with less grace that I knew was possible of deaf people.

I took some classes in sign language when I was in my early teens because I was told that I would be completely deaf very early. But I never really wanted to learn.

When I was young I used to smother myself with olive oil mixed with a dash of vinegar to keep the flies away and lay in the sunshine for hours on end. But we knew no better then. Now we know how stupid that was.

But as far as my work is concerned, I see no impediment, and various advantages, to being deaf.

I'm the one by the backdoor - I am not the one in the middle of the party.