June 2020 – Accessible Adventures and Hedgehogs

The lockdown restrictions are gradually easing, although judging from the media some are taking the spirit of this much further than intended! Currently, the figures aren’t reflecting these liberal interpretations – lets hope is stays that way.

My uncle was discharged from hospital 2 weeks ago and went back to his temporary care home. I was chilled to the core, to hear that out of his block of 10 residents, he was the only survivor.

He’s unfortunately had to be readmitted again, hopefully he’ll be discharged any day soon.

Adventures

I was conscious that it was nearly 6 weeks since I’d been out in my car out (I’d got a battery discharge warning when it last started), so decided to head into the nearest town (very rare event!)!

Went to a local retail park – Robin Park (which is lovely and accessible) thinking I’d get some food from M&S for me, and food for Paddington from Pets at Home. One look at the queue outside M&S quickly changed my mind.

McDonalds had reopened the week before and it must be well over a year since I last went, so detoured to the drive through. I was in and out in 20 minutes and really enjoyed my meal.

This was the first time I’d ventured out of my village since lockdown, it was really odd to see people in public wearing masks, queuing at 2m intervals, it definitely brought home the new stark reality.

Martin Mere

I’d also heard that the local Wildlife & Wetlands Trust – Martin Mere, had reopened in a limited way, with a one way system and restriction of numbers and booked tickets.

It also looked good from an accessibility point of view, I had a lovely time looking around (if we discount me getting stuck in some mud and needing help!). It was also lovely to watch the sea otters who were feeling playful.

I was also conscious that I’d not shared a picture on social media of me in my wheelchair, this was generally because I didn’t want it just to be a picture of me in a wheelchair, as oppose to me being somewhere/doing something and the chair being incidental.

I saw these benches and thought it would make a good picture, I posted this on Instagram with the caption “public bench not required LOL”.

Life hacks

I’m always on the lookout for things that make life easier (aren’t we all?), on the left side of my chair there’s a small bag that clips on. Its made by a company called Ffora, they do the attachment which fastens to the chair, then you can get small bags and even better a cup holder that you can attach/detach as needed.

These are fantastic! I use the cup holder daily – trust me, manoeuvring a wheelchair while holding a hot drink can be challenging. I also put it to good use when I made my first trip to the village shop last week, buying a Watermelon Gin Slushy which was very delicious.

Sonic the Hedgehog

Sonic has been visiting on a regular basis, so I’ve set him up with his own Instagram page – https://www.instagram.com/sonic.thehedgehog31/?hl=en for anyone who is interested 🙂

Stay safe
Julia xxx