Introduction

No. 1    Sunday 15 May 2011

This is my first blog which will, I hope, be the start of a regular series.  It is to make a place for my friends to find out how things are going without having to wait for e-mails from me - something about which I am notoriously bad.

My food needs are met by going shopping to a nearby Morrison's supermarket twice one week and once the next.  This is a fairly regular routine, dictated by the time bananas stay fresh (I eat two daily).  Tuesday is a busy day - a lady comes to massage my hands, followed by another who does the major housework (changing bed linen, vacuuming etc.), followed by yet another who files my fingernails (something my disability renders extremely difficult) and gives me a haircut when needed.  During these calls the local Lloyds Pharmacy delivers my weeks supply of medication (pills) and once every four weeks the outside of the windows is cleaned. Once a week, in the evening, I generally go to a social club (close to the supermarket) for retired people.  Recently, on a daily basis, I started having a carer come to put on my socks and shoes and to pull up the duvet - both tasks which were coming close to impossible.

My only other routine happenings are that I go (by taxi) to a Quaker Meeting once a week - most of the time to Gloucester but roughly once a month to Painswick because I live almost exactly half-way between the two.  The other things are that the chiropodist comes approximately every eight weeks and a District Nurse comes every six weeks to change my catheter.

 If I want anything not available locally, and which is too "local" to get on the Internet there are three ways by which I can get into the city.  These are the local bus, about every 15 minutes by day, most of which are accessible by wheelchair, a local community transport system (weekdays only), or a taxi - the firm I use has a number of taxis which take wheelchairs.  All this means that, although I'm not safe to drive any more, there is no feeling of isolation or of being imprisioned at home.

A final thought for this edition to leave you puzzling, is that I have 22 remote controls of various sorts of which I generally have 11 available (not counting the two on charge).

Mike