Month: July 2011

Woke up this morning in the hotel, feeling a bit out of sorts because it wasn’t my normal bed. Our train was due to leave at 12.48pm, so we left the hotel about 11.30am, bought some breakfast and lunch and went to the station. After eating our breakfast (me) and lunch (Johan), we went and told the assistance people that we were there. A nice man with a ramp took us to the right platform, and we waited for a train, people watching while one train being delayed had an effect on another train.

I missed the timing on this photo- a second before it was showing the train as having arrived, when there was a distinct lack of train (it came a minute later). We got on and travelled back to Newcastle. Unfortunately, for some reason our assistance wasn’t booked at Newcastle, so Johan had to go find someone to get a ramp and help me off the train. We got the bus home, then spent the rest of the day relaxing and eating Graze boxes 🙂

Today was the day of Johan’s uncle’s 50th birthday party in York, and we went. This involved getting a train, then walking to the hotel, then taxis to and from the pub it was held in. The ramp at the train station is apparently not for public use, but I was allowed on it anyway (I guess I’m not a member of the public? :P).

The assistance for the train was excellent. Even though it wasn’t fully booked (we left it quite late) they were really helpful. We had booked the wheelchair space on the train, and it had a plug socket so I could use my laptop on it 🙂 Getting off at York was also easy.

I have also discovered that if you’re disabled and want to use a taxi, you better not be tall 😛 I had to duck quite a lot to get in the taxis in my wheelchair, and I’m not particularly tall for a human (though at 5’10”, I’m tall for a girl, plus it’s mostly legs). Luckily the drivers were helpful.

The pub was not disabled accessible at all, but the first taxi driver used his ramp to help me get in. Using the toilets meant Johan having to come into the ladies, which he was a bit uncomfortable about, and me having to go from my chair to the floor then to the toilet as my chair didn’t fit into the cubicles. It worked, but it hurt my arms a lot trying to pull myself off the floor.

Overall today has been good, though it was too loud at the party, and it was nice to meet Johan’s family. Tomorrow we travel home.