A taxi driver once told me great story about an old man in his local bar. * <i>pushes light gently to provide suitable on-boat ambiance</i> *<p>'Gunner' McIntosh <i>(or similar: this was Glasgow, Scotland)</i> had been deaf since he operated a big anti-aircraft in the Second World War. He would sit in the corner of the bar and the regulars would have to shout at him to be understood.<p>According to the taxi driver, the night before giving me a lift, he had walked into his local bar and bellowed a greeting at the old man, as usual, and in response the old man had jumped out of his skin.<p>It transpired that earlier in the day, during a medical check-up, a doctor had discovered both his ears had been blocked by a massive build-up of earwax and behind that there was ancient cotton wool that had most-likely been placed there by a young Gunner McIntosh during the war.<p>Once removed, he said, he had the hearing of a healthy 21-year-old man.