Bloody hell.
Will it ever stop raining?
Of course I live on the edge of the river, me.
There are boats parked up all over.
But the rain?
I’ve just seen animals going onto one boat, in pairs.

Odd. Is it a sign, I wonder?

I’m supposed to be going to Richmond, to the theatre. My wheelchair isn’t amphibious though.

A massive thank you to Leigh n Bev for inviting me to Leigh’s birthday party.. at their lovely house.. it was great to go.
The ibot is far better in crowds than a weeny height wheelchair is… just more complicated getting there in one!
Trains…

But it went pretty smoothly, as far as railways go and GG and I had a lovely time.

Happy ( big ) birthday, Leigh.
And lovely to see all of your family from Wales, that stretch allllll the way back to my childhood and beyond..( as your mum was in the same junior school class as my own father ). And that was bloody ages ago!

Plus all your family ( descendants ) that now live in England…
Leaving Wales seems to have been a thing… 🤷

And RIP Alan, my father in law of 25 years..very, very sorry to see you go. 😰

I went to the theatre last night.
Jeez, tubes can be tricky when busy.
It’s not the trains, it’s the people on them and the small percentage of people who seem capable of THINKING.

A family got on. Mum, Dad, 3 kids. A suitcase and a pram.
They wedged the pram behind me, and the suitcase in front of me. Immediately I felt totally hemmed in. That’ll be because I was.
The dad was in front of me, with the suitcase. I kept looking at him, my expression one of being a guy in a wheelchair trapped in a train carriage by a family with a suitcase and a pram.
He didn’t pick up on my expression

I had to say – do you think I have any chance of getting out without ramming you or the pram?
Surprised look on Dad face. Clearly had ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA that I wasn’t able to just move sideways..

I came back the 10 miles on the road.
Give me the roads and the traffic any time.
Yes I’ll almost certainly come to a squashy end but I’m ok with that.

I’ve been regularly visiting my one time father in law in hospital these last 5 weeks, initially after what was deemed a ‘ seizure’. Later it was labelled as a mini stroke He’s had several since, as well as sepsis as a consequence of an advanced UTI.
Hospitals catheterise people very readily, and then fail to ensure absolute hygiene and hydration protocols are followed. As sure as eggs is eggs, UTI’s follow. The UTI’s go undiagnosed for far too long, by which time they have wreaked havoc to the patient’s body and mind. I of all people understand the errors hospitals make, what they don’t do, which in the elderly ultimately kills the patient.

Each time I’ve gone I’ve seen him slip further away from him being as he was – a switched on, alert and educated man. He”s gone from recognising and talking to me, to hardly seeming to understand he has a visitor.

Today he was far further along the road to leaving us altogether.
It is hard seeing him so close to the end.
I don’t know if he could hear me talking to him, let alone understanding my words.
Sadly I don’t expect him to recover, just instead to slip away.

Very distressing.

And on this day 11 years ago I walked onto a plane heading to France. That was the last plane I walked onto.

Saw me lovely old Mucker, Charlie Horse’s Arse Perkins the other day. He’s lived in Hong Pong for forever. He was my housemate in Uni and the Best Man at my wedding. He organised unspeakable things at my Stag Night. .. happy memories ( mostly! 😂).
Thanks CP for the visit!

Also I’ve been visiting my one time father in law in hospital ( talking about ex relatives ). Having had a stroke of some ‘ variety’ my ex FIL isn’t at his best atm. Not particularly aware that he’s even in hospital ( he thinks he’s in a restaurant most of the time ) it makes for interesting conversation. He’s a fine man that I’ll always be indebted to, and I dearly hope that better days are ahead.
❤️

Great to see my school chums the other day.
Bloody hell, it’s a flipping long time since we were in school together.

But Mike Jenkins, Stu Metcalfe and Jeff Thomas are all still great lads.

I’m proud to call them all my friends.

And thanks to Gina G for being my assistant van driver.
It’s actually quite scary driving.
Im regularly out there in the 3 lane traffic at all hours in my triride at 30 mph, but driving a van is more scary?
It’s probably the fear of being locked inside the bloody thing and being unable to get out.
It’s not that straightforward to actually get in or out. There are about 10 steps in the process of each and they all have to be in the right order.
Anyway, we drove to a country pub the other day, and yesterday to Hampton Court and took a picnic.
Then we got totally pissed on in a downpour.
Anyway, 2 drives.

I’ll go out by myself before long and hope for the best. It’s a big bloody vehicle. Far bigger than anything I drove pre injury, and back then I had full body capacity.

We had almost run out of diesel and stopped at a petrol station. Then GG couldn’t find the petrol cap and I had no idea. Then a Kim Kardashian look a like, who said she flew helicopters (?!) came to our rescue… but she couldn’t find it either. Of course, I can’t jump out to join the search party- I’m just stuck inside – anyway then a taxi driver came along and he knew where it was ( hidden behind an invisible flap ). What’s that all about?

I thanked Kim K, marvelling at her big lips/ boobs/ bum in a ‘ wow,you look kinda strange ‘ way.
But she was ever so nice with it.

Give me a non surgically altered woman any day.

And my little chum, KMcSq, took me to see Romeo and Juliet.
K was like a catholic nun when I met her 4 years ago. Now she’s the most prolific online dater in Britain.

Well the tickets were all sold out, or going for about £500 each.. so she very cannily asked me if I wanted to see it. …

Ta dah! Much cheaper if you pose as the carer of a person in a wheelchair! She’s not daft, is she?

It starred the fella that’s Spider-Man in the latest film. There were lots of screaming girls outside the theatre. I did think they were there for me at first.
But no.
It was for Spidey.

It was another Flay. Half play half film.
Actors acting in front of a cinema screen. Thats 3 plays in a row like that. Not sure it’s proper theatre tbh.
The play was good, not great. All in true Shakespearian lingo.
They all died in the end, again.

They should change the ending.

There are a few 500 year old jokes in the play.
I mean it’s hardly a comedy.
But you always get a handful of pretentious people who loudly guffaw at the odd very obscure joke, purely to proclaim how clever they understand the ‘ funny ‘ bits.

Bell Ends.

It’s been a bit of a weekend.
My friend Suzy volunteered to help me with my terrace/ garden, so I got us tickets to the Chelsea Flower Show.
There’s posh.

We went for the ‘ evening ticket’ (5.30-8.30 ) but then at leaving time… well we didn’t leave, and no one asked us to.

So then we just went into the ‘ party ‘ that they now have there as a late night option.
A civilised day out became a bit of a sesh… well the unplanned ones are the best ones, right?

I’d gone in my ibot wheelchair ( best for crowds as I’m not lost in the sea of people all standing up ) … though it makes travelling far slower than in my Triride.

Suz was kind enough to make sure I got home safe… but that turned into her sitting on my lap for 2 miles – of course a very amusing sight for other road users.
Once again I’m sure i’ll ( along with Suz ) be in at least one TikTok video.
It goes at 7.2 mph, which is a lot faster than walking speed, and Suz wasn’t complaining about her lift home. Well not that I can remember any way.
Along the way/ day she acquired a straw hat ( which I seemed to be wearing most of the time).
I’ve no idea whether that blew off at some point.

THEN the next day, feeling like shite, I headed into town to get to the theatre. Again in the ibot because the theatre website said the lift was pretty small. The ibot is far smaller than my Tri.
Well bugger me, the lift was bloody TINY. The staff member had to get in with me as well. SHE may as well have been sitting on my lap as well, it was so squeezed. Literally I had to scrape my way in, and scrape reverse my way out…. Perfect conditions for my hungover state.
But Sheila and I had a good time! I had to employ Hair of the Dog tactics to get through the evening.
It wasn’t aided in the slightest by the District Line being shut. I therefore had to do all sorts to get into town. Trains and ramps and changes of train – all the stuff I love ( not ).

Today I’m feeling rough.