Boring boring boring domestic chores this morning - needed a degree in computer science to work the washing machine in the cottage - pre wash half wash coloured fasts coloured not fasts stained deep stained whites soiled God the list was endless hot cold indifferent drain spin - well my head spun, at home the machine is set permanently on 30 degrees in it all goes together and forget about it. Any way selected lucky dip and prayed .
This afternoon up the prom past all the little sugar pink thatched cottages with folk sitting out with cups of tea on their doorsteps and taking in the warmth of the sun . Lots of 'good afternoons "- have you noticed how people seem to smile a lot at people in wheelchairs . Past the ice-cream shop with the lady with the bouffant died blond hair who has served us with ice creams for years and who treats us like locals and always gives us a little extra in the scoop .I did wonder if I should engage her in conversation and discuss Eastern Ceders philosophical analogy about melting ice cream and life but then thought perhaps not .Up to the small car park at the end of the prom where a recent town clerk managed to have his name embossed on the dial of the newly refurbished clock before anybody noticed and then down over the River Lyme and into Coombe Street. It is impossible to go up into the town itself as Broad Street ( the main street ) is actually steeper than it is broad and therefore totally inaccessible to any one in a wheel chair unless they were being pushed by Hercules himself and a young Hercules at that .
Coombe Street runs inland following the course of the River Lyme with old fisherman's cottages clinging to the banks of the river on one side - sadly now rather over done up with over subtle coloured front doors more in keeping with Chelsea than Lyme Regis .As you go up the street you pass shops that were once butchers and bakers and have now been converted into chic designer knit ware and apartments . The butcher we used to go to was called Mr Symmonds and every morning before he opened his shop he plunged into the sea whatever the weather for his morning swim - he did this until he retired in his late seventies .And every morning he would be in his shop ,white coat ,tie and immaculate silver hair looking the picture of robust health . Further up was Jon the baker where we would go for freshly baked bread and you could see through the shop to where they were filling the ovens and how delicious that was walking home first thing in the morning with a warm loaf under one's arm ( quite often mysteriously there would be lumps missing before we got back ) .But that is all a past era now there seem to be more and more gift boutiques selling things you must have but don't really want. Just before the street begins to climb there is abridge that crosses the river and believe it or not on a wall overlooking a weir there is a Banksy graffiti of a heron . Its been there for some time - nobody has tried to claim it or sell it it's just there .
At the bridge V and I swung left along the mill race which runs parallel with the river and down below us in the river was a mother duck with her brood of clockwork babies ;fifteen balls of yellow and brown scooting over the surface of the water like toys in a bathtub .
Back down along the millrace past the waterwheel where they grind the flour for the new artisan baker - all sunflowerseeds and "good for you bread 'past the gallery with an exhibition of extraordinarily bad paintings and home for tea with apricot flapjack purchased earlier with guilty pleasure.Sit outside in the last of the evening sunshine while V snoozes in her chair dreaming of --- I know not.
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Georgepa
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OOPS thanks for reminding me - still in the machine !!!!!!
Snap! 30 degree washes here too. C's walking suddenly got really bad this week and on Wednesday I was thinking we'd be buying a wheelchair this weekend. Yesterday when I picked him up from day care he was back to normal - walking on left toes as foot won't flatten. So wheelchair is postponed again, thank goodness. At least with his hoppity gait (me propelling from behind) he gets a little bit of exercise. Our pool man just arrived to finish cleaning and then fill pool a job he started weeks ago. Of course I am still in my nightie - at this rate whole village will soon have seen me in my nightie which is fortunately voluminous and modest! OK must get C up and plod through another day.
I think we will eventually need two as getting chair in and out of old house with narrow front door won't be easy. My dream is that he won't ever need one, as he will then get no exercise and I dread folding chair and putting in car boot. But it will no doubt have to happen one day - hopefully not too soon. He hasn't been falling much for a while till his walking went at beginning of week and we had three days of falls. I'd forgotten how hard it is getting him up. No inflatable help things here, just me now weaker than I used to be. Still we plod on and are now off to town in the sunshine while man finishes re-grouting our pool.
Hi pattz, I have bought a walker that converts into a wheel chair for S! It's brilliant. Very sturdy! He pushes it along, will sit down, when I have to look at something and when it's all to much for him, I push! Yes, you wouldn't want to sit in the chair for hours, but that's not needed at the moment. What it does mean, I can take him places and go shopping, that would normally be to much for him, without any worry. Also, he tends to walk further, as he hasn't got to worry about getting over tired and not be able to get back to the car!
Envy you with your pool. It makes me miss mine in South Africa. Mind you, it's still far to cold to be thinking about swimming here in UK at the moment. But then, it's winter in SA, so I wouldn't be using the pool there either!!!
Heady you mentioned the walker/wheelchair in an earlier post and I did my research and you can't get them here. C sits in the car while I nip into shops so I am always running around in local supermarkets. We will probably not get into pool till next month (been here too long, blood thinned, Turks don't swim before June and now neither do we) but friends arrive from UK on Monday for two weeks and they will want to swim. We are late getting it filled as pool man disappeared before he finished re-grouting. I've been phoning/texting him for ten days with no response. Last night he finally answered and turns out his baby has been in ICU with major gastro infection caught from older kids who just shrugged it off. Baby now home and slowly recovering and me feeling guilty about all the cursing I have done! And now we head down town to get brake light fixed so friends can drive car - I'd hate them to get stopped and fined in my car, though I have known about light not working for two months and done nothing!
in reply to
Wheelchair tip: make sure the wheelchair comes supplied with hand-brakes for the "driver". In France I could not find a full-size wheelchair - as opposed to the excellent smaller transfer chair which is not really suitable for distances - that had brakes as standard. They cost 200 euros as an extra but were essential in our hilly countryside. And we found that extras take time - three weeks to be fitted with special wheels with brake hubs, and then they screeched and had to be returned, another two weeks. So plan ahead!
Best wishes, Christopher.
"...a mother duck with her brood of clockwork babies..." must be one of your very best , most evocative (for those who remember what clockwork is) descriptions yet. Devon's Dylan Thomas, so you are! Thank you.
Hi GeorgePa, this is great, it's like having a free holiday, without any of the travelling problems, no packing and certainly no washing and ironing when it's all over!!!
Tip for your washing machine - coloured fast, normally will work for most clothes!!! Oh and keep the temperature low if you can adjust that!
Jill says it used to be that she could walk into anyone's home or church kitchen and run the stove. Now it's like going into the cockpit of a 747. Why all the complications for such simple tasks?
Your 'boring' is so colorful or is that colorfast hahaha! It's probably too late now, but dont they have electric chairs that the caregiver can run? May be something to consider for the future. Our little towns here in Arkansas are too switching from local family-run necessity shops like meat markets, to kitchy shops of doodads and dinglebobs nobody needs that end up in the attic or collecting dust on a shelf to be finally broken by the next grand kid lol. but it does keep the economy alive I suppose...though not by my dollar...but somebody's buyin' the stuff.
Well dad is up for the day so everyone have a good ....evening?
Truly hope you can do it again !I get sent brochures from Revitalise.ukI have no experience of them but they might be worth researching if thing get more difficult.p
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