The frown on my face

I've always been plagued by facial expressions that do not necessarily reflect my feelings according to my surroundings. That's a difficult sentence, but it basically means that my thoughts are usually a million miles away from the conversation I am surrounded by and my expression is with my thoughts. And so often I am accused of looking cross or irritated or even just not smiling enough, but that is not the case. Of course, there are times when I do reveal a clear reaction to my surroundings, as we are all entitled to do, but in general I am not one who spends much time being angry or unhappy.
There are two other reasons for looking vaguely disinterested or frowning, and impaired eyesight is an ever-present cause - nothing is ever entirely in focus and concentration is required, particularly when trying to read a menu or follow the ball on a televised tennis match. This causes narrowing of the eyes and pursing of the lips, but it helps bring back some focus!
The third reason is my current state of semi-deafness caused by glue ear. This has left me on the outside looking in for a month now, and shows little sign of improvement. Being unable to hear most of the conversation around me and none of  the background noise has left me in a bubble of isolation that is difficult to deal with, as many of my interests lie in listening to what others have to say. I have searched without success for an old-fashioned ear trumpet! I am unable to hear when the washing machine and dishwasher are running, or whether a pot is boiling on the stove, and yesterday I left the wellpoint running for an hour as I couldn't hear the pump.
So what I am trying to say is, don't feel offended if I don't look happy to see you. I'm just trying to (a) see if it's you, (b) hear what you are saying and (c) remember if I turned off the stove.
Perhaps botox is the answer. A frozen face will deal with many a misunderstanding!

Taken after my first hike in the mountains. Too tired for an expression.