Giving Out the Wrong Signals

I spent a few days in Herne Bay last week, ostentatiously it was a business trip but I was able to combine it with visiting my family.

I got to meet Sarah's (my niece, yep another, I have many very wonderful versions of nieces each one beautiful and unique!)new boyfriend Steve. He is a wonderful guy who loves Sarah to little pieces but he is profoundly deaf and has been since birth. To those of you who know our Miss chatterbox Sarah you might say 'well that's handy!'
Sarah is the kind of girl that you wind up and let go, she can talk for England, bless her cotton socks! Well, back to Steve, he is a very handsome lad with an elastic face due to having to use exagarated facial expressions while communicating, which he does by BSL signing. He would be great to have on your team in 'Give us a clue!' In fact when he gets very excited about getting a point across he stands up to sign so it is very much like a game of charades, he has a great sense of humour but he obviously does not understand irony or pick up on sarcasm.

Over the course of the evening I communicated well with him, apparently he could lip read me well and I had a crash course in signing over the course of the evening! All was well until the end of the evening when I had been discussing Sarah's forthcoming visit to Birmingham and the fact that she and Steve would stay with us in Coventry. I then decided to extend my invitation by signing to Steve and kindly offered for him to sleep with me!!!!....
Oh ... How quickly I then learned the sign for embarrassed!

Every-one had a good laugh and Sarah told us a story of another friend who when asked if she would stay for another glass of wine at their flat signed that she could not as she had to up early the next morning for sex! She meant work but the signs are similar.
Steve can occasionally hear certain sounds and often imitates them with embarrassing consequences as he does not realize he is being loud. He could easily hear Annette and I laugh and mimicked us relentlessly!
I think I must get a book re-BSL signing before they visit in April otherwise I may be offering services I don't intend.