Category: Daily Living
hey :)
now it is pouring cats and dogs here, but that however made me think about something that i'd love to ask about:
Often when i walk outside wearing rainclothes, and if i use the hood, i feel like the picture of the sound gets distordet, both by the water hitting the hood and other objects around me, pluss that the sound of cars and such becomes more ... undesicive.
does anyone have any good tips and tricks in such conditions?
- Ranveig -
All I would say to you is for you to go out and play in rain, go outside when the clouds is out, when it's windy and so on so you could prepare yourself for when you really would need it. That's how I've learned to do it. When it's cloudy I learned how the cars sound and so on.
Hope I made since.
I never wear a hat or hood out, for this reason. If you can, carry an umbrella, this might be less distracting. I use a cane, and when it's raining, I use it even more carefully. I think practice is key though. If I can, I avoid walking in the rain, I hate it. It messes up hair and makeup.
Personally I've always found the sound of rain on an umbrella just as distracting and distorting as rain on the hood of a raincoat. Of course it did mean I got unnecessarily wet whenever I left my house in Portland but if it was a choice between that and getting where I was going relatively safely and trying to hear over the rain on my umbrella and possibly missing that extremely quiet car (even before the Prius they had some dangerously quiet non hybrid cars), the choice for me was obvious.
I never use the hood if I can help it for that readon. It messes up the sound and makes everything look darker as well, seeing as the hoods on most of my coats go all the way down. If you haven't got a load of stuff to carry, you could take an umbrella. Mind you, most of the ones here end up being blown inside out half way down the road. Stupid things.
i'm too mean to melt and too dull to rust. Therefore I go hood or hatless and don't worry about it. Rain is just liquid sunshine. We do dry off eventually. I'd rather be wet and alive then dry and the alternative.
I personally never go out without a hood or hat when it's raining, unless it's a light summer rain which I adore. I know my body well enough to know that doing so is only inviting trouble and I'll be sneezing within no time. Then again, I almost never travel alone. Still, I haven't had the problem that you guys described with simple hoods on rain coats. I do, however, have it with winter hats/hoods and have even turned back on trips during mobility lessons because it was too difficult for me to hear with them on and taking them off in the wind and snow would probably mean pneumonia. I think that carrying an umbrella ontop of having to use a cane would be fine if I wasn't carrying anything else. But when it becomes a juggling routine, it seems a bit ridiculous.
I concur with most. In the event you really do need a cap wear something like a ball cap or similar as the sound picture (I like the way you said that) is less distorted.
Unless you're BLW1978, my teenage daughter / nieces, or similar and wouldn't be seen out in a ball cap! <grin>
All that aside, I think the most horrific distortion I ever experienced was going out in the rain in Florida. To be fair it was not only a monsoon but a tropical storm - forty to fifty mile per hour winds.
My wife had thrown all the lawn furniture into the pool, which was smart, but the table went in upside down. It also, being heavy, slid down over the drain. So when the pump came on the suction held the table fast and blocked the drain from working properly. All I was thinking about was another expense of bearings, belts, and a rather unscientific experiment on my part to see if I could tell what the trouble was if the ting burned out.
So, out into the storm I went in a pair of gym shorts, and dived into the pool to pull the table from the 8-foot end into the shallow water. As I came up I heard my wife calling "What are you doing!" While the subsequent "talk" didn't sound like something I'd look forward to, I was glad I heard her call when I got out. All that rain, and the wind blowing around in so many directions, made the sound so messed up I was literally lost in my own backyard. The door from which I'd exited was a near fifteen-degree angle from the deep end so I had just lowered my head and taken my chances, run, then once the feet find the edge, jump. However, here I was at the other end, out of breath and relatively far from the door. In the best of conditions, unsticking a waterlogged table from a madly sucking drain, then dragging it to the shallow end in one breath is a feat only a navy seal could do without incident. The rest of us come up wheezing no matter how in shape you think you are.
But anyway, all that wind, all that sheets of rain coming down, and I have to say I really felt blind. I was quite literally groping with my feet towards my wife's voice; she had already commenced the talk ...
I don't wear a hood or carry an umbrella when I'm walking in the rain on my own. End of story. Of course, as soon as I'm standing and waiting, on goes the hood, but like Turricane said, it's better to be alive and wet than dry and dead, or hurt. Of course, strong wind is definitely an obsticle for me. I already have issues walking in a straight line, and wind certainly doesn't help that. It's not too bad when I can shoreline, but when I'm walking in an open space, or even worse, crossing the street, I really have to concentrate on the cars.
Just deal with it! I live and I do it, if neceesary I shout out to someone sited and I take an arm. It's too easy nothing to fuss about.
Again Friendly Philosophical Rachel go join the NFB because your aditute stinks kid Yes I called you a Kid so deal with it.
FPR, I understand what you mean, but sometimes it is not always possible to go and yell for sighted assistance, not to mention unbecoming....
VOJ, I totally see what you mean about distortion. I don't worry about it so much while on sidewalks, though in my area the puddles can be awful! Cars on roads are another matter, though, And with or without a hood I find the rain does distort where the cars are coming from, whether it is raining at the time or if there are huge puddles on the road.
CM
Thanks starfly. I hate attitudes like that as well and your's was the perfect comeback.
I agree. And about forty mile an hour winds were just about what we had on the day I had my home interview with Guide Dogs for the Blind. It's one thing to do that when you can shoreline but quite another when you're trying to cross a street. And I agree with those who responded to post ten. Maybe you can "just deal with it" as you said but it's not as easy for the rest of us. And if you happen to be out at a time when there aren't any other people around (believe it or not that does actually happen sometimes), yelling won't do you any good. And I agree it's rather unbecoming.
Actually Tiffanitsa I more then just dished her adatute back to her, by now Miss Rachael knows I put her on ignore, she so needs a reality check I will leave it to someone who kows her outside of this community.
Probably a good idea. She sounds to me like one of those blind people who expects things on a silver platter. Maybe I'm completely and totally wrong about that but that's the feeling I've gotten based on most of her posts.