It’s been three days since I became deaf in my left ear. The antibiotic ear drops that I’ve been squirting away with have done nothing to open-up my inflamed ear canal which developed shortly after scuba diving in Zanzibar. Squiffy is seriously bored of having to repeat herself all the time and I am still in a lot of discomfort.

We’ve decided to hold-off travelling to Moshi town (at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro) until my ear has recovered. One of the hospitals in Dar Es Salaam had an Ear, Nose & Throat Doctor on-site for the day, so we paid him a visit. Going to hospital is seldom fun in the UK, foreign hospitals are generally even less so. We couldn’t stop giggling at the device the doctor used to look inside my ear: It’s difficult to see in the picture because of the dark background, but mounted in-front of the magnifying lense is a miniture torch, somewhat akin to a mini Mag-Lite.

After hoovering my ear a bit, he prescribed me more of the pain-killers that I’m already taking and switched me from antibiotic ear drops to oral tablets instead. I’m due to see him in three days time for a further hoovering and the final fix. Here’s hoping.