Tag Archives: decisions

Travels on an Electric Scooter

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About a year ago I realised I was going to need some help with mobility. My predicament is of my own making, and weight loss, physio and arthritis injections can only do so much. This is particularly true when you are fat and lazy, as that leaves the injections to do the heavy lifting.

First we decided that we were going to move to a bungalow. This is a bit of a defeat, but dragging myself laboriously upstairs on all fours had long lost its novelty value. The trip down, on the other hand, clutching at the bannisters and fighting gravity all the way, always felt like it could end in a trip to hospital. A bungalow was not a hard decision.

 

The next step, the mobility scooter, took a bit more thinking about. We are close to a number of attractions – railway, country park, library, shops – and they would all be in reach on a scooter. However, I wasn’t quite ready to admit that my retirement dreams of striding out over mountains and fells had all dispersed like mist in the morning, and that I had become a cripple.

I know it’s not a word that’s gone out of favour these days, but “disabled” is such a weak word and makes you sound like a victim. I’m not a victim, I’m an idiot who has made, and continues to make, a lot of bad choices, and am therefore the author of my own life story. If I’d worked harder at school and had more focus I could have achieved my ambition to be a history lecturer at a University, but I didn’t, and as my aptitude tests all showed I would be happy working outside, that’s where I went. The arthritis in my back and neck may still have occurred after a lifetime of sitting at a desk hunched over books, so the eventual result may have been the same anyway.

Decision-making always takes time, in this case about three months, so it was only last night, an hour after the end of the delivery window, that I took delivery of a bright blue mobility scooter. The grey was a bit nondescript, the red is a bit dark and the yellow one exists only in my imagination. So blue it was.

I went out on it today. Considering that I have driven cars, vans and even lorries for work, in the UK. Ireland and Africa, and had a variety of two-wheeled transport, you’d think that a four-wheeled mobility scooter would be a piece of cake, wouldn’t you? It’s not. I had my first near-accident within fifty yards of the house, when I thought I’d try full speed. That’s 8mph. It’s not generally considered fast. However, on a cycle path, approaching bollards, and wobbling slightly, it’s both ill-judged and a lot faster than it sounds.

The next three miles continued with a lot of worries about tipping over, avoiding pedestrians, avoiding dogs (ditto children, bikes, adverse camber) and getting up hills. It’s not really designed for hills. On the web page it looks like it is, but an 18% gradient in real life is a lot less than 18% in a catalogue with a creative camera angle. I also spun my wheels several times on muddy patches after off-path excursions (some planned, some not (see comments about avoiding pedestrians etc) ) but managed to extricate myself and get back on my way.

I can now see why they recommend you insure these things – it’s mainly to cover you when you run into somebody.

Twice, towards the end of the “walk”, I found that the green bars had disappeared off my display as the gradient drained the system. Fortunately they came back as I reached a flat bit. Half a dozen times I ended up making sudden stops because I couldn’t control it properly.  This became easier after an hour of practice but it will obviously take time.

Meanwhile, Julia ensured I kept a sense of proportion by keeping pace with, and even overtaking me on a couple of occasions. She also gained some amusement by enquiring if I was light enough to go over some of the bridges we encountered on the way. Roman Generals used to have a slave behind them  muttering as they held their triumphal processions – something that a modern man can have by simply getting married.

When we got home we had our best ever sighting of a kite over the bungalow – it was only about fifteen feet above and seemed to be directly over our garden.

The scooter is currently being charged in the garage and will be back in use tomorrow as we go to the shops.

Pictures are from Julia, using her phone. She did take more but they all seem to be about the size of postage stamps.

 

Pictures of Birds

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Male Reed Bunting

I decided to make the theme of today’s photos “Unusual Birds on Bird Tables”, Unfortunately I then realised that the Reed Buntings are both pictured feeding on the ground. I am sure I have shots of them on the feeders somewhere, but I can’t find them.

Female Reed Bunting

My day was marred by two things. One was missing out a book we were supposed to send. The other was dropping a cap badge on the floor during packing, and not spotting it until I’d sent the rest of them off.

The problem is the volume of phone calls. We have had a lot today and each one has stopped me working, even if it’s only a few minutes. The real problem is that each one seems to wipe your memory and you find yourself forgetting what you were doing. I ended up making several mistakes – all associated with phone calls. Well, apart from the cap badge, that was just carelessness.

Pheasant on bird table

I think I’ll leave the birds to complete the blog now. They are more interesting than listening to me ramble on.

Nuthatch

It’s time for bed now, and I’m tired. I really should have written this sooner, as I’m now just searching for words to make the numbers up. We were lucky when we worked on the farm, as the mixed habitat provided a rich variety of birds. I should really have kept a list while we were there. To be fair we ddin’t get Moorhens, Pheasants or Nuthatches on the feeders – I just got carried away and included some shots from Rufford Abbey.

Greater Spotted Woodpecker

However, that would have involved decisions. We had plenty of regular visitors to the area around the Ecocentre, that never used the feeders. Green Woodpeckers fed on the lawn at the front, a Spotted Flycatcher used the grove of trees at the back and we had Buzzards and Kestrels over the field behind the feeders, though never closer than 50-100 yards. We also had House Martins and Swallows picking up mud to build nests, but rarely feeding in the area. It’s easier to leave things vague in many cases, so you can include as much as possible.

Redpoll on the Ecocentre feeder

Looking Forward

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It’s not been one of my better times. Starting in August and continuing to the present, I have been dogged by a variety of conditions, which have all contributed to wearing me down. I’m hoping that there will be better times ahead. However, in August I seem to have thought that a week or two should do the trick, and that proved to be a hopelessly bad assessment of the situation.

Hopefully, I am now back and will be improving over the next few weeks. Having thought that in August and then again in September (just before I caught Covid) I am going to be slightly less vocal about my likely improvement. Even my ten days in isolation turned into twelve when Julia tested positive. Everything in my life seems to take longer and be less good than it once was. I suppose this is old age.

The good news is that I have definitely lost weight. The bad news is that none of my trousers fit and that although braces (suspenders) are a useful solution, they aren’t the full answer. I won’t go into all the details, but they aren’t quite as practical as a belt in some ways, and they carry a continuing risk of injury if over-stressed or under-secured. I’m thinking of wearing industrial safety glasses as  a precaution against eye-injury.

I’m also thinking about going the classic route and sewing buttons to my trousers but that involves serious thought about the style of braces and whether to go for six or eight buttons. Six mean less sewing, but eight mean you can use better quality braces. Decisions . . .