Month: July 2012

“For Your Perusal”

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“For Your Perusal” Interesting word peruse. Almost as though you are looking for something, searching diligently in the text you are reading. Perhaps something complicated that requires your full concentration. It’s almost too much to think about this early in the morning! Though I did see a BBC documentary once that said the best “thinking” times […]

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Anyone for coffee?

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A time to rest…

This week has certainly been quieter. I can’t even remember what Monday was as it feels so long ago. Tuesday also passed quietly. I was unable to go horse-riding, as the main person who is teaching me was on holiday. It was good to rest as I knew the remainder of this week would be busy. I guess for once I’ve been fairly successful in pacing myself, as I am encouraged to do in order to reduce my levels of fatigue.

More trying times

Wednesday was another story however as I had to trek into town to collect my new glasses. Given what had happened last week, I was somewhat dreading it. However, I am relieved to say it passed without much incident. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the rest of the day. I had my Electric Wheelchair with me which severely limited the the number of places I could meet a lovely friend for coffee. We ended up at one of the branches of a major chain. I’m fairly sure the disabled access for this building was added on later, rather than being purpose built which meant access was via the fire door. The staff had left this open, so far so good. We managed to find a table I could use, Jo found us, and we settled in for a good catch up. Two coffees later, I needed to make use of the facilities. I’d remembered from previous visits that these were upstairs but knew there was a lift. I’d forgotten how small said lift was though. If my chair was a millimetre longer I wouldn’t have fitted into it. I lifted my feet so as they didn’t scrape the side of the lift but fortunately there were no injures, and later I left the building unscathed. It brought back memories of a lift I used at Stirling Uni years ago which I and my friends christened ‘scary orange.’ It was a tiny, noisy platform lift which often broke down and we all hated it so much we mentioned it at disability access meetings. People were queuing up to say it wasn’t them who’d put the lift in, and no one would take responsibility for replacing it. I hope it’s not still in existence!

On Thursday, I needed a break to recover. Between Twitter and Facebook I asked people to vote on what I should do with my afternoon; bake a cake or head to the gym! The answer to unamimous, cake won! These days it is much easier to delegate and supervise… deciding when the mixture had been beaten enough, and when it was ready to go in the tin. I was rather impressed with the results! The contained I needed to store the cake in was miles above my head. I hadn’t remembered that till I was on my own. I tried climbing on a chair to retrieve it to no avail, much to my night carers disgust. She got the container with help from the mop handle and safely stored it away for Saturday.

Good Chaos!

Friday morning was rather chaotic, but definately good chaos. I have writing about the decking out of the flat here. Along with my friend Bryony, my friend Emma was also visiting with a young charge. As with the cake making, I whizzed about supervising another friend who was filling the UFO with medication, making sure everyone had drinks and London 2012 cakes! The morning was so much fun, the best in ages. It is so lovely to have those normal times with friends. It makes such a difference. Friday afternoon was back to normal with yet another appointment, however this one was fine. I have more changes to make to my ever expanding list of medication, but hopefully will have less pain at the end of the experiment.

Saturday morning, and a friend I haven’t seen in years arrived with her baby daughter for hours of chat, tea and cake, and more chaos. It’s always lovely when you can pick up where you left off as those we’d seen each other recently, rather than only keeping in touch over facebook, as we had done. I guess the jury is out as to whether online or offline friendships are the most beneficial. Have read, and written a couple of different posts, and am still thinking about it. Was great to see my friend and meet her lovely daughter. These visits make my week. If it wasn’t for loyal friends my social life would be so much more limited. I spent the rest of the day finishing my latest post for The Bible Bible Project. Not sure yet when it’ll be published.

 

Today has been one of those days when I found it difficult to be motivated, arriving late for church. I had managed a decent quiet time this morning, and am greatful that semons appear online later in the week. It helps make up for not concentrating this morning. Have spent the rest of the day catching up with coverage of the Olympics and writing. Is lovely to feel so peaceful and am hoping this will be a good start to the week. Definitely time for coffee tho…!

London 2012 (sort of…!)

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I may not have tickets for the Olympic Games, but I am fortunate enough to be watching it from the comfort of my front room, and tweeting along with half of Britain as it is played out on the TV and in the rolling commentary on Twitter. It makes me feel like I am watching the ceremony with company. My flat is bedecked in a Team GB flag, bunting, and balloons, and I have the boom-sticks, the foam hand, and a flag to wave! What is the point in spending all that money? Everyone who came through the door since I decorated the flat has asked that, but it was heaps of fun, and a welcome distraction from the minutiae of everyday life. Plus, a god excuse to spend time with the lovely Bryony. Thank you to her, and my friend Emma for their help in decorating the flat, and to Bryony for being photographer for the morning! Let the Games begin!

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What do you write, when it’s already been written?

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It’s only a day since my first post, and here I am writing another,  largely because I’m unsure what to write for my next #digidisciple post. I’m panicking instead of praying… perhaps that’s my first mistake! I often feel other people have said the things I want to say before, and I’m scared of looking like I’ve written exactly the same things. I guess it’s partly a lack of confidence. It’s also part of the reason why I put off starting a blog for so long. I do the same things, week in week out, and in general see the same people. Also people tend to visit me, as I don’t always have the energy to go out and meet people. A lack of variation means I lack inspiration, as well. How do you be semi-housebound and still write interesting things? I’m in awe of people who manage to do that! I’m going to have to spend the next couple of hours on the hunt for something. Any suggestions are welcome too! 🙂

I may be sat… but I’m all that

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Thanks to lovely Julie for coming up with the name of my blog… “I may be sat… but I’m all that! It looks a bit clumsy in the blog address so I haven’t added it for now… till I talk to one of my blogging friends! I love that every single person who’s heard it has giggled.  I picked a tricky week to start my blog as it may well take hours to finish it!

This was the week that…

Somehow, you just have to pick somewhere and start… and somehow this week started badly. I’ve had glasses since I was 11 so had thought getting an eye test would be simple, and always forget I have one of those faces. I need thick lenses but small frames. I finally found frames that I liked that suited me… but that was the end of the story. I have written them an email to ‘explain my experience’ rather than complain, as a family member put it, but haven’t sent it yet. The staff were uber polite as always, almost to a fault. I should have known we were off to a bad start when one of the staff asked my PA if I could get out of my chair. If it wasn’t for my PA potentially doing herself an injury moving my little chair in tight spaces between the testing equipment we would have been stuck. I’d love to see what would have happened if I’d turned up in my electric wheelchair!

The next thing they asked my PA was “can she walk”!!  I’m one for keeping my head down sometimes and doing whatever I need to just to keep the peace. My PA wasn’t having any of that so we waited for the one room that was wheelchair accessible. I wasn’t asked or told any of this when I made the original appointment. The actual eye test with the optician went fine. Trying on glasses was another story though, as the girl who was helping me trying on glasses complained about having to hold a hand-held mirror so I could see the glasses, being too short-sighted to see them in the fixed mirror. Another two staff came over to help, so in the end I found some glasses that fit… that was the enough for my PA who went off for a cigarette while I filled in the paper work. The best customer service was when she wasn’t there! That says it all. The staff obviously found it hard to cope with me, my chair, or my PA. The irony is I couldn’t have got to the appointment and got through the tests without my PA so they only got the sale with her help! They need Disability Awareness Training and they need it now! This one incident shows why my blog has the perfect title!

I’m supposed to pace all my activities so I can still have a life, but have adequate rest at the same time… I’ve never managed it yet. On Tuesday, there was the second of their workshops supposed to help me and others like to me to manage the crippling tiredness better, but it felt like a lecture. My PA, this time was largely  ignored, and only used for one part of the group at the end… another frustrating day. The people who organised the training didn’t even bother to learn Julie’s name when they’d encouraged me to bring her along in the first place. Yet again I didn’t handle this well as I didn’t say anything. Another email to write once the workshops are over to ‘explain my experience’! We went straight from one appointment to the next, but fortunately this one went more smoothly.

By the middle of the week I was exhausted and in need of encouragement. I tweeted that I needed some cheerleaders and my friends didn’t disappoint. I forgot that my Twitter feed and my Facebook page are linked so this appeared on my Facebook page too. By the time I realised, one friend had already written some tips to help me get more motivated and help me get started on things and Bryony had already posted a cheer! too late to delete the post now! Actually this was my favourite part of the week. I love my friends to bits and they were there when I needed them. I’ve blogged elsewhere about the usefulness of social media when you are semi-housebound but this still took me by surprise.

The rest of the week was somewhat uneventful. My weekly horse-riding lesson in the sunshine was a welcome break from my wheelchair, and worth the pain! Followed by an appointment with volunteers from re:map to help design some me-friendly equipment. This is a work in progress but should be worth it eventually. After the week I’ve had I’ve had a welcome couple of days rest. Having not  paced the rest of my week I’ve collapsed in a heap. I still have much learn about how to manage things.

I still made it to church today despite how I felt. Peter preached on 1 Philippians from verse 19 to the end of the chapter, the verse that talks about “To live is Christ, but to die is gain”. As ever there was a huge challenge from the passage and from Peter’s preaching. I will post the link to his sermon once it’s up on the website.  Was lovely to have lunch with people and get know some newer friends better. I spent the afternoon asleep recovering, known as ‘payback’ fatigue, but it’s always worth it.

This week is set to be quieter. Just as well… have to come up with my next #digidisciple post, amongst other things! Wish me luck… or do the praying thing, if that’s your thing! 🙂