Going for a Wheeling

As I’ve already spoken about, we don’t really do Xmas, not because we’re miserable but because it just seems sort of irrelevant. We’re also adverse to all the forced jollity. So we thought we’d go for a couple of days in Edinburgh on 24/25th. Ironically, the town will probably be quieter than normal on Christmas Day. It’ll be good to have a break from the normal routine.

I don’t know about you but we find that because it’s easier to do nothing, especially as I need to be accommodated, it’s easy to get stuck in a rut and do nothing, especially in winter. So Dawn especially takes the initiative to do things differently sometimes, which I appreciate because it gets us out of ourselves.

Negotiating cities in an electric wheelchair is quite a challenge, especially when there’s cobbles! The lack of drop kerbs never struck me until I was disabled but oh man, it makes life difficult. That being said, I’m usually pleasantly surprised at how accommodating people are for a 4-wheel person like me, except one obnoxious bloke in an Edinburgh festival queue who I had to tell ton ‘f*ck off with your fully-functioning legs!’

We’ve taken to calling ‘going for a walk’ ‘going for a wheeling’ We get quite a speed going when I’m on full power. We had a lovely trip into rural Argyll this week which has turned an old road into a pedestrian track and you can get some real speed up without having to negotiate drop kerbs. We saw 7 red squirrels. The thing is, I never learned how to drive so I’ve got to kind of learn how to do it in the chair. The funny thing is after a 5 mile walk Dawn is knackered and I feel like I’ve done a lot of exercise, when I’ve just been sitting there.

Ease of getting around is really important, so we’ve been looking at houses near to tracks. I’m going to get one of those ‘Easy Rider’ tricycles. Someone will have to buy this place first of course, which doesn’t feel likely until well into the New Year just now.

It's been quite a stress-free time on DJTees compared to some years. I recall snow stopping deliveries one year. That was a nightmare but it’s just wet and grey just now, so if you’re in the UK, you’ve got until the 12th to order for Xmas delivery.

See you next week