Ear plugs and planes

A helpful friend once told me about ear plugs for air travel.  They are simply inserted into the ear and they supposedly help with acclimatising your ears to the varying levels of compression.  Sounds like a great idea - especially for the height challenged one.


So, I set myself the challenge of investigating further.  I found an article about them and apparently they are available for infants over 1 year of age - perfect.


I then head into the chemist and enquire of the apothecary of such a product.  He walks me to the stand of various ear things (I never knew you could get so many ear plugs for so many conditions!) and proudly shows me the very asked-for product.  He then proceeds to tell me with great alacrity how you simply pull up the ear and insert the said plug into the ear opening and then screw it until a firm seal is achieved.  As he pontificates, my eyes are getting wider at the thought of this mediaeval form of torture. 


I don't know about you but I was always told that nothing smaller than your elbow should ever go into your ear...