Eyebeemania

This is really to check if everything is getting cross-posted to the various platforms that I have set up

This time tomorrow, I could be under the knife. I will certainly be in hospital in any case.

I’ve had this annoying cough for some years now. Lingering coughs should be investigated, of course, and it was.

I had a CT scan, which revealed extra growth around my thyroid. Then I was sent to the Royal Marsden for a PET scan to determine if I had anything malignant, and after a worrying wait, the result was negative.

It seems I have thyroid nodules, which apparently many people over 50 get. Most people aren’t even aware of them, but mine have grown inwards, pressing on my oesophagus and windpipe. This causes me to cough when I sit down after walking, and also after eating.

It doesn’t appear to be getting any worse, but it’s not getting any better, and it can be quite embarrassing when in public. Coughing my guts up for ten minutes in a restaurant, or on public transport, certainly gets disapproving looks and people moving away from me on the bus or train, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hopefully, the operation to remove these nodules will cure the coughing, which can be quite tiring for me at times, even when on my own.

There are risks, of course. One is that my voice could be affected, and the worst-case scenario is that I could lose my voice altogether. Some would welcome that, methinks.

Today, I can eat and drink normally. I can even have water and black coffee as late as 6 am tomorrow, and it’s fortunate for me that I drink my coffee black these days!

Hopefully, the postoperative recovery won’t be too painful or take too long, and I’ll be back in the swing of things soon.

Perhaps I’ll take up singing if this cough is finally dispelled.

What’s that? You’d rather I lose my voice altogether?

I shouldn’t be surprised, really, having spent most of my life in this part of the world, but it certainly been a temperature up and down yo-yo these past few days. Monday was a fairly cold start, and yesterday morning we started out at 48°F, and this morning we woke up to 32, so we are quite sure where we are with the temperature.

It’s a pleasant enough day looking out there through the window. The sun is shining. It’s a blue, cloudless sky, and it looks like a perfect day to go out until you stick your nose out the door, and then it’s like walking into the freezer.

eyebee.substack.com/p/peacefu…

I’m drinking coffee now. The coffee is hot and the weather is cold here. I love coffee and pretend it wakes me up or keeps me awake, but it does neither really!

There’s some French named storm, that’s come in from the Atlantic, and it’s causing high winds in some places, snow in others, and here, it’s just squally rain, and wind gusts. It just makes being outside unpleasant.

Today’s 41°F at 3.30 am felt almost warm compared to the 22° that greeted me yesterday.

Alarm went off at 03:29 and it’s 22°F outside. I can’t wait until summertime.

Christmas and New Year is done. My Birthday, on 3rd January is past too, so that’s that for another year! Now, I’m looking forward to spring, warmer weather, and a break from work.

I’m up at 3.30 am all week. I was dreading it this morning, but I got up OK, and at the time of writing this - 9.45 am - I don’t feel too tired. I always say that I’ll have a nap when I get home - I finish at 1.15 pm. I rarely do though.

Right now I’m having a coffee break!

Actually I don’t really bother about it that much. Post much everyone I know is broke and/or boozed out by now anyway.

Not sure what I’ll get up to today yet. We shall see.

Happy New Year. I quite like this time on New Year’s Day morning. It’s quiet everywhere. The party revellers and the pissheads from last night are still either asleep or nursing hangovers. I had a couple of small glasses of wine before midnight, and that was it, so I’m clear-headed this morning.

Aside from aircraft landing at Heathrow, it’s very quiet outside, and I can hear the birds singing. It’s a cold morning, much too cold for my liking, but at least it’s a dry, sunny, blue-sky day.

I might go out for a walk later, take a few photos. I have a break from the salt mine until Monday, which is always a good thing. First, though, it’s time to enjoy another mug of coffee.

Of course this is worldwide and we all live in different time zones but here in London England we are now in 2026. It is a few minutes past midnight and we’ve started the New Year.

We stayed at home. I finished work at 9 pm and went home at dinner. Had some cheese and wine and watched the London fireworks on the TV now it’s time to go to sleep although the neighbourhood currently sounds like a war zone with fireworks going off everywhere!

It just remains for me to say a happy New Year to all of you wherever in the world you may be.

My wife and I have come to the decision that I will come home after I finish work this evening at 9pm, and stay home. Whether we stay up until midnight is another thing entirely!

It is quite literally freezing out there this morning. 31°F. Blue sky and sunny when I look out of my front room window. I can pretend it’s summer. Hopefully, we’ll have a good one this coming year. I can’t wait for winter to go away.

Another day at work, but it’s the second best bit.

That’s when I get a break and get coffee and cake!

The best bit? Well, that’s when I get to go home of course.

Anyway,it’s pretty quiet today, and as we go into the evening it will get quieter. It normally does. Not sure about tomorrow though, as that’s New Year’s Eve. WE shall see then.

I have always enjoyed headphone listening, though until recently most of my home listening has been via speakers. It’s quite a solitary thing listening through cans, although it is more immersive, of course.

When I sit down and listen to music, I want to be immersed. I’m not talking about background music, while I am doing something else, but JUST listening to music.

I’ve tried IEMs. I have a set of AirPods Pro 2. They’re pretty decent, but I’m not comfortable walking about with them as they tend to fall out, and it’s super easy to lose them.

I got my first good pair of headphones about thirty years ago, when I got some Sennheiser HD25s. They were about £250 back then - around 1995.

A couple of years ago, I bought a pair of Apple AirPods Max. They’re pretty good, and the Active Noise Cancelling is superb. The best I’ve heard. Thing is, they’re Bluetooth, so they’re not lossless.

Having upgraded the hifi and invested in a Home Cinema system, I wanted to get some wired headphones. Firstly, I got a pair of AKG 701s. Pretty good, but perhaps a little bright.

Next came the HifiMan Ananda Nanos. These are currently my go-to headphones when listening at home. I am really pleased with the audio, plenty of bass for me, with a good midrange and treble that’s clear but not too bright or sibilant.

I wanted something for mobile use, and I found a decent budget pair - JBL 720BTs. They have an option for wired use, though, and after a short while with the Apple DAC Dongle, I got a Fiio KA13 DAC, which is a definite improvement.

For Christmas this year, though, I was given a pair of Fiio FT1s. I wanted these as they’re a closed-back headphone, which is, of course, necessary when out in public.