The Listening Project

Yesterday afternoon 'The Fella' and I travelled into Ipswich to meet up with a twitter buddy who works for BBC Radio Suffolk - a bit different to our usual Sunday routine! We were to be part of a really exciting project being run by local BBC radio stations, Radio Four and The British Library....*excited face*

I had heard of The Listening Project through listening to snippets of some of the conversations featured on Radio 4 and thought it sounded so interesting that I was very excited to be asked if I would like to 'have a conversation' which would be kept at The British Library for future generations to have access to. Who to choose to speak to? I have a couple of friends who are also 'Radio Four Bores' and one in particular would be great to talk to but she lives too far away...the conversation needs to be half an hour-ish and it's supposed to be an opportunity to talk about things you may not have had the time or chance to do so before...choosing a suitable conversation partner is harder than you would think! 

I wanted the conversation to mean something, to be of use to people and not just a soundbite of the times we are living through - I wanted people to know how it feels to have an invisible disease, the obstacles sufferers have to overcome and how a thoughtless remark or comment can be very upsetting and that we don't 'just have arthritis' like old people have....hmmmm!

'The Fella' was less enthusiastic about being recorded talking to me...for a week he put forward more suitable (in HIS opinion!) candidates but eventually I wore him down and he agreed to do it...which just goes to show what a brilliant man he is!

We talked about a LOT of different stuff (not just our creaky bones!) but it was noticeable just how much both our lives are affected by Rheumatoid Arthritis - almost everything we do has it lurking in the background and believe me *it* makes sure we know it's there! The other thing I noticed was how incredibly strong and brave a person suffering from an incurable, chronic condition has to be and how much I admire 'The Fella' for doing this without fuss for 20 years, he has a 16 year head start on me!

We also laughed, we laughed a lot!

Couldn't have done it with anyone else really...

Nic x