I wrote to the Brentford FC Disabled Assoc about my experience with the aforementioned post.
Five days on and I haven’t had a reply.

What is it with disabled people?
Useless fuc***s!

(That really made me laugh, writing that mind.
😂)

Here’s an example of how ‘ complicated’ wheelchair life is.
I’ve been a season ticket holder at Brentford Football Club for 3 years. As such I get all the emails/ offers etc.
Ever since the start of Euros 2024 I’ve had emails advertising the club showing the England games at the stadium.
For the final tonight it’s the same. Come and watch the game at Brentford Stadium. What better place to see England play etc etc.

EXCEPT… it doesn’t say how you watch it.
The stadium seats themselves, right? With all the seated fans watching on the stadium big screen?
Right ?
Answer – not necessarily at all. There are lots of bars within the stadium with television screens inside, just like pubs have.
I bought 2 tickets.. but in the email acknowledgement there’s absolutely zero indication of how you watch it. You can buy ‘ allocated seats’ or you can pay less and you don’t have an allocated seat.
There’s no option to buy a wheelchair space.. which the stadium obviously has ( because I use ‘ mine ‘ at every home game ).
Well if there is no sale of wheelchair spaces, then it can’t be outside in the open air stadium, can it? There won’t be wheelchair spaces in any of the bars, because bars don’t have wheelchair spaces. So the game must be being shown in the bars, right?
It’s completely unclear though.

The stadium is selling ‘ a limited number of tickets’ to watch the game. So that implies it isn’t being shown in the stadium arena itself? Or does it mean they don’t want 18,000 people coming?
They don’t normally allow people to drink in the stadium seats, and everyone else watching the game at home/ in a bar will be holding a beer/ drink. So it must be in the licensed bars inside?
Or have they relaxed the rules for today so that people can drink in the stadium seats .. and it’s being shown on the massive screens?

I’ve emailed ( 2 weeks ago ), called ( no answer) , been to the ticket office ( closed ).

Jesus how hard can it be? To just say how you can expect to watch it? Except it doesn’t.
I’ve even contacted other people I know from the Brentford wheelchair section. They aren’t going because they couldn’t find out either.

If it hasn’t occurred to you as to why this is a problem.. think about every single time you have been in a bar / watched footage of England games being shown in bars. …

As soon as anything exciting happens…

EVERYONE STANDS UP.

Meaning I miss every single ‘ exciting’ bit because I can’t see the screen, because no one ever considers the fella in the wheelchair.
It’s just how it is. I can’t hold it against the other fans.
Why should they be obliged to sit down because I can’t stand up?

But Christ, a bit of information would be helpful.
Is that too much to ask?

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.