A few weeks ago (apologies for the delay!),
some lovely friends and I ventured to Newcastle to see another lovely friend. I
had my misgivings about the trip. Not about my companions, but the implications
of my companions having to look after me. I didn’t want to impose upon their
free movement, as I have my limitations. My worries were 100% unfounded. My
wonderful friends took care of me, and they never seemed put out by it. They
set up my wheelchair when needed with no fuss, working as a seamless team. To
say I really appreciated it is a massive understatement!
Now the initial ‘disabled’ stuff is out of
the way, I can finally talk about the trip! 4 and some hours seems like quite a
lot when you’re stuck in a car. This was not the case with this lot! We kept
each other entertained throughout with singing, jokes and more sweets than
Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. There was also much chatting and just general
silliness (no doubt fuelled by the sugar).
Once we arrived we threw ourselves upon our
northern based friend with gusto (I may have held back a bit. Falling and
spilling blood when you visit someone for the first time is rather rude). We
enjoyed a cheeky game of Ring of Fire (very much harking back to my Uni days!),
then went out for a lovely dinner. Once again, my worries about logistics were
unfounded. The next day we ventured to the Baltic Museum to soak up some
culture before we left. As with the Baths at Bath, I was very impressed with
their wheelchair accessibility. No part of the gallery was unavailable to us.
It was time to leave. With great sadness we
left our friend to enjoy another 4 ½ hour car ride. Fuelled by even more sugar,
we enjoyed our own renditions of songs with our own lyrics. My personal
favourite was our version of The Proclaimers’ ‘I’m Gonna Be’. But instead of
500 miles it was 500 sneks (don’t ask).
What I have taken away from this is that
when you have good friends, you aren’t the burden you believe you are. Friends see
the person first, then the wheelchair/walking stick 2nd (or even
further back than that). Don’t be put off by logistics. Planning is indeed
everything, but don’t let this scare you.
