Through a cafe, dimly

I am becoming rather deaf. Actually, I am becoming very deaf. So much so that I am increasingly finding it difficult to engage in meaningful conversation with anyone. My brain, marvelous construction that it is, delivers guesses to me in a very convincing manner, but unfortunately it is increasingly betrayed by the ears connected to it. One of my earliest realizations of this emerging problem came some years ago when a student in my lecture group asked me how old the university was. In my usual over-detailed manner I launched into a complex discussion of the difficulty of giving a precise answer due to the differences between the dates of recognition as a higher education institution, the governmental permission to award degrees on behalf of a much older established university, then the granting of independent degree-awarding powers and eventually the formal recognition as an independent university. I had become aware, as I spoke, of developing frowns and then smirks on the faces of my young listeners, until a brief pause in my exposition allowed the questioner to say, in a firm and very loud voice, "The universe... How old is the universe?" Oh, a different and perhaps more difficult question entirely. Anyway, today, in one of the two Henry's coffee shops in Dundee, I realized that I was now observing people more sharply than listening to them, and that I was becoming increasingly adept at lip-reading. Thus I managed to learn, entirely by lip-reading, that one chap told the girl opposite him, "you do make me laugh;" an elderly lady told her companion, "they make a nice fruit scone;" and a rather attractive young waitress told a similarly young man, "I'll see you... mumble" (the last bit was too fast and fluid for me). At least I think that's what I learned from the moving lips, but of course I may have been as mistaken as when I became mixed up between our university and the universe. I should probably also be aware that some people might find it concerning that I am staring intently at their mouths, especially attractive young waitresses.