Unaccustomed as I am to pretty much anything going well, I am fairly gobsmacked when the iBot charger that I found in America, bought, paid to be shipped, and eventually got through customs, is actually charging both batteries in my iBot as I type. 

Since my Carer a year ago broke the charging unit plug and started the demise of my iBot, it’s been a series of false starts and unbroken dawns. But now, suddenly there is real hope I think. Lester my self schooled Tech’y help  installed the new cells that I bought in America, about 6 months ago, but they just wouldn’t charge up. Was it the batteries, or the iBot wiring, or the charger at fault, or 2 ( or 3 ) out of those 3? 

Well tonight it looks like I’ll have a fully charged iBot, that may just work tomorrow ( or the day after) when I hopefully try it, having found someone to help me. 

I’m guardedly optimistic to be honest. It’s been charging away for about 4 hours which is amazingly promising. 

Blimey, fingers crossed. 

The day after my girlfriend asked ‘ so what colour did your hair used to be then…..?’ things are looking up. 

Tiger tiger burning bright
Who set Chester Zoo alight?

Work that into your blog, said my mate Rob.
There you go Rob.

Chester zoo caught fire and the cockroaches and frogs are no more. But all life is equal, right?

Well shut your eyes and she sounds like Lily Allen.  Open em and you see a white Beyoncé- all trouser suit, stilettos and waist length hair.  When did THAT happen? Does ‘ she look amazing ‘ or has she totally sold out…? Well that’s up to you isn’t it? Personally I felt she had lost all ‘ credibility and edge’ but maybe I’m an old romantic. Keith Allen (her Dad) would be turning in his grave, well he would be if he was dead, at her ‘ image remodelling ‘.  

So… for me LA Lily 4/10. 

Close my eyes and 8/10. 

Another one bites the cosmetic surgery dust. 

I have yet another puncture and I’m currently by myself miles from home. A fella used my pump to reinflate it but it went down straight away. As I’ve checked the bloody tyre and wheel again and again I’m sure it’s not anything in the wheel that’s doing it, which leaves me perhaps running over the same sharp bit somewhere again and again, somewhere near ( or in ) where I live. 

Mentally it’s not great for me to be in the situation I am, which I think is understandable- I’m lopsided and it doesn’t feel ever so safe. There’s absolutely sod all I can do about it except wait here and then continue my journey later on to eventually meet Wendy, who will at least have my wheelchair ramp car, so getting back is gonna be ok. 

We are meeting to see Lily Allen in Camden – let’s face it, I keep on keeping on, to make my life worthwhile, but I do find myself in fixes. Just now, for example, I’ve wheeled towards the lift from the Victoria line and there are 2 black ( Nigerian ? ) guys waiting for the lift ahead of me. One of them keeps grabbing both his bum cheeks. When the lift arrives, all 3 of us get in and then behind me a large black lady who appears to know the 2 guys. The one holding his arse looks very uncomfortable. 

When the door shuts, locking us all into a small metal box, the reason for his manner become apparent. From the overpowering smell, it would seem that he has shat his pants, and got the lift to limit how much he has to walk around til he finds a toilet? 

Possibly if I hadn’t got in the lift, maybe the lift itself would have become the toilet?

Who knows. As Lily Allen sings, no doubt later on….. Smile….. right?

Easier said than done when you are paralysed in a wheelchair with a flat tyre inside a small hot lift with a big black bloke who’s just shat his pants. 

It’s too bloody cold to go by road so it’s wheelchair Spazwagon time of the year for me. Wendy isn’t the greatest fan of driving in London but you can’t blame her for that. 

Anyway, you gotta do what you gotta do to get to places without freezing your tits off, so it was car to Kentish Town to see the brilliant Razorlight in a small venue. Those fellas have had so many hits and they played all of them last night. I don’t think Johnny Borrell ( lead singer )  is gay, but I’d say lots of the crowd were, so lots of camp dancing in evidence – amusing as it was to see. 

Great night in North London and The Forum staff are always so helpful. They do always recognise me, and that helps a fair bit I think in venues. 

9/10 for the band and 10/10 for the venue staff. 

I got a phone call at 8am this morning, and heard an unfamiliar voice, that of my youngest daughter. She said that she was at the airport and the plane to South Africa was leaving in 20 minutes. If I didn’t send her a picture of my passport pretty much immediately then she ( and then probably not her sister and mum and mother’s boyfriend ) wouldn’t be able to fly, as SA have a rule about kids entering the country without their parents’ consent ( it seems ).
I think that she thought there was a fair chance of me ‘ being awkward and making it not possible for them to go on holiday ‘ but of course that isn’t something I’d stoop to, despite ‘ the situation ‘.

Obviously I sent a picture of my passport, as soon as I’d told my Carer where to find it. I mean, seriously, what else was I going to do?!

I just want them to be happy, with or without me in their lives.

Had the situation been reversed…. we’ll let’s not go there I think.

Five or six punctures in a month. Every time it’s a showstopper for me. It’s not like I can jump off and push, or jump off to change the inner tube, so it’s always fairly complicated and I need another person to assist.

Yes, I’ve enquired after the new solid tyres with no tubes and no more punctures. Just waiting for a recommendation of which brand/fit is best for my ( unusual ) wheels. I have Loopwheels on my chair- they don’t have spokes, they have loops instead that give the wheelchair a bit of suspension…but they also have high rims … so I have to buy the right tyre. Ahhh the world of technical tyre fit – I’m ever controlled by that one these last 5 years, having wheels not legs.

Roll on no more punctures.

I’d like to thank my girlfriend, Wendy, for her unerring support in general and  yesterday in the Court. What a lovely lady she is.

And also to thank my parents for their strong moral encouragement and help, too.

X

I went on a course the other day. At the end everyone was asked to write down their name and then other details.

I glanced to my right to see the ( German ? ) lady next to me writing  Silke Busch…

Is it only me that thinks that is funny?! Is there a specific conditioner for that, I wonder?

As I await the judge ( 5 hours behind schedule and counting ) in my divorce hearing, I look at this photo of my great grandparents ….in a quest for a relaxed mind in this mental turmoil I go through. 

Mac and Nanny Elsie, here with my cousin Jason.

Nice hair Jase.