{"id":12061,"date":"2025-08-20T01:54:22","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T01:54:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/?p=12061"},"modified":"2025-08-20T01:54:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T01:54:22","slug":"a-sound-idea-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/20\/a-sound-idea-2\/","title":{"rendered":"A sound idea"},"content":{"rendered":"

I ended up too anxious to allow our smoke alarm free status to continue.<\/p>\n

Worrying about the worst case scenario is my standard modus operandi, so I definitely had visions of our house burning down and our insurance company refusing to pay out. \u201cLook!\u201d they would say to our grieving and impecunious offspring \u201cYour mother stated quite clearly in this post of August nth, that they were going to remove all the smoke alarms, consequences be damned. It would hardly be fair to our shareholders to pay out under such circumstances\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Luckily I had a better idea earlier this week: ear muffs. So, on Monday, I sought out an industrial protection shop. It turns out there\u2019s one on my usual commute , but not for much longer: they\u2019re moving out to the suburbs at the end of the month. It\u2019s a shame because it\u2019s a real Aladdin\u2019s cave in there, all sorts of fun gear, like a hardware store on steroids. Anyway, they supplied me with the correctly rated ear muffs, one pair each for me and Simon. So, we\u2019ll be putting the smoke alarms back up, and the next time we get a(n inevitable ) false alarm, we\u2019ll be able to put our hearing protection on and take all the time we like to sort out the problem.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Sorry? Did you say something? I couldn\u2019t hear you: I\u2019m wearing ear muffs.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the meantime, I\u2019m very pleased to have finished my short course of steroids. It made no appreciable difference to my tinnitus but I was starting to feel rather disturbed and manic by the end. My thinking has now settled down, and the tinnitus, probably following the exact same natural history as if I hadn\u2019t poisoned myself with supranormal levels of hormones, features now just the two arthropods calls: the nighttime chirping of crickets overlaying the summer sound of fields of cicadas droning in the sunshine. It remains jet engine loud, but it certainly could be worse.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Smoke alarms awaiting reinstallation (promise)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I ended up too anxious to allow our smoke alarm free status to continue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12061","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa8Ukf-38x","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4582,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2020\/04\/16\/domestic-adventures\/","url_meta":{"origin":12061,"position":0},"title":"Domestic adventures","author":"Interloper11","date":"April 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Our cooking success continues. Only one near death experience this week, not including my woefully overcooked pork chops on Monday. It was a fat fire. It happened on Tuesday, when the rat man was here. Presumably his respirator would have saved him if we\u2019d all succumbed to smoke inhalation, so\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1603,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2019\/02\/02\/naked-cycling\/","url_meta":{"origin":12061,"position":1},"title":"Naked cycling","author":"Interloper11","date":"February 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Well, not\u00a0completely\u00a0naked, but it was way too hot to wear anything that I could put my phone in. Simon had one of those arm band things that hold your phone, but you have to draw the line somewhere if you\u2019re going to keep your standards up, am I right?? So,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/86CE86B4-AF3F-4F75-8D28-E6DA439E289D-225x300.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12052,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/11\/bleeding-ears\/","url_meta":{"origin":12061,"position":2},"title":"Bleeding ears","author":"Interloper11","date":"August 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Woken from a dead sleep by an ongoing, piercing shriek. I leapt out of bed, dragging on my dressing gown and slippers in dismay and stumbling downstairs. I found Simon in the kitchen fiddling with the fire alarm on the ceiling. 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What they need is some Wellington style fresh air.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/accordingtokirsty.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/D834B9A1-DE00-4397-8243-B57A05DF61A2-300x225.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8086,"url":"https:\/\/accordingtokirsty.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/23\/ive-been-poorly-advised\/","url_meta":{"origin":12061,"position":5},"title":"I\u2019ve been poorly advised","author":"Interloper11","date":"July 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Had a surfeit of bananas the other day, but in my enfeebled state, I wasn\u2019t up to the commitment required to make a loaf of banana bread. Instead I thought I\u2019d try a comfort food I remember from childhood - baked bananas. 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