Something to think about.

Had a really good day today! Up quite early, managed to transfer in to the shower chair and then, when I’d finished with that, in to the power chair reasonably quickly. Then I had tablet and toast for breakfast and washed down with a cup of tea. Now I was ready for the day ahead. Had a visit from one of my mates from the Territorial Army (T.A) this morning. We had a good old chinwag and he spent a bit of time playing toys with my youngest, well, he is one of her two GodFathers so he is allowed to play with the toys! After a bit more of a chat about not a lot of this and quite a lot of the other, I asked him if he fancied a “walk” up town.

He has a bit of a limp after a while as his foot is a bit knackered, I still tell him it’s old age but he swears it isn’t. To be fair, he joined the regular Army as a boy soldier when he was sixteen, when he left he joined the T.A so has been in the uniform from sixteen to now.  I`m not 100% sure of his actual age but he is definately over forty and he’s been doing the Army thing for all those years, so to be fair, bits of his body are beginning to pack up bless him. However, he ain’t getting sympathy from this callsign, oh no, you can walk so man up son! All joking aside though I could see it was uncomfortable for him so, in a true military sympathy way….I turned the speed up on my power chair and went to the shop at the very top of town!

We spent quite a long time up the town really, post office and model shop and the printers, it was really nice to get out and chat though. I have to be driven by others until I get an assesment sorted out to see if I’m allowed to, and then I have to wait to get a vehicle that is converted for me to drive myself. To that end, I can’t always get to the T.A on parade night but when I can, I do. This is why it was so nice to have my mate round today, it was a chance to catch up on the happenings and stay in the loop. On the way back to the bungalow, we went down to Tesco so I could get something I needed to cook my Paella tonight for me and the Mother in Law. I like it but no one else in my family does, so I invite the M-i-L raound to help me eat it.

In Tesco I bumped in to a couple of the local Police, I have an idea about taking what is left of my bike and leathers, with a presentation to schools sixth form or colleges to highlight the dangers of riding their little 50cc scooters in the summer with no sensible safety gear. How many of them do I see when the sun is out with flip flops, shorts and tee shirts on, and all the time I see them with the chin strap undone on their crash helmet. It’s not cool to do it up. Well, it’s even less cool to be in a wheelchair, and at sixteen you’ve done NOTHING. I just want to try to prevent any of them ending up like me, and I had the right stuff on! The Police are still sorting things at the moment but I really do hope that I get their support to do it. When we finally got back to the bungalow, my mate had to go, judging by how he was limping, I reckon he had an early night bless him!

I had a few messages about yesterdays Blog today aswell. I’m glad that I did, and I’m glad that they said what they did. It means a couple of things, firstly that there are some people reading it, but secondly, people are taking on board and thinking about how things have changed for me. I’m in bed again, meaning another night of unbroken sleep as far as is possible for my wife. In a moment I will watch some more NCIS, (I love that programme), but before I go, I want to leave you with what I hope will be something for you to think about. It will be something I will revisit again shortly but for now I leave you with this…..

My Commanding Officer would visit me in the spinal unit on a pretty regular basis, the last time he visited me before his posting as C.O finished and he started a new posting he thanked me for the conversations we had had, it had given him knowlege of how much different things were now I was in a wheelchair and with the injuries I had sustained. He then asked me a question.    “If you had one piece of advice about people in wheelchairs, what would it be?”     I replied quite simply with this.   “Sir, you are a Colonel, I am a Serjeant, therefore by sheer rank alone I HAVE to look up to you.”   His reply after a short silence was, “I`m so sorry, it didn’t cross my mind.”

Goodnight all.

 

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