Monday, September 20, 2010

NO SHI*T !

Much to my relief I am feeling much better today. I did a perfectly normal poo this morning which really did please me very much. I was so pleased I decided I was well enough to go for a swim which I did. The swim went very well. I have to say that I feel better today than I have done for weeks.

Very grudgingly I am coming around to the idea that I expect too much of my body and myself. I was telling James about our trip. He works at the leisure centre is 30 and fit and even he raised his eyebrows at the amount of travelling that I did. More than one person that I know has suggested that my itinerary would exhaust a well person let alone somebody with my disease. I interpreted their words as them being kind and just not wishing to point out that I was too ill to do what I had planned. even my doctor said that when she and her husband go on very similar driving holidays they share the driving and swap over every two hours. John does not drive and I spent eight hours driving myself three or four times a week while we are away. I now accept that I’m going to have to give this up.

This does not mean that I cannot still go to Germany or France or wherever. It does mean that I will not travel so far and that I should only travel to one place and stay there for several days before either moving on or coming home. There is still much that we have not seen in the Mannheim area and that is still very doable. Instead of taking one day to drive the 400 miles from Calais to Mannheim we can do it in two days and then spend a week in Mannheim before returning home again taking two days to drive to Calais, staying there overnight before re-entering England the following day.

Frankfurt is also not that far. There are other possibilities as well. I still want to do Paris and will have to have a serious investigation into how I can manage this because as far as I understand it Paris, like London, is pretty poor for wheelchair users.

4 comments:

Penelope Grey said...

Colin, although Paris can be a bit iffy for wheelchair users, I think alot of it is down to signage, or lack of it. I am sure there must be a website somewhere or a handbook that will explain where the access points are hidden. Here it seems more obvious. Getting to Paris would be easy for you on the train. It took us 2.5 hours from Victoria Station (?) London to Gard de Nord, Paris. Once there getting around in a car is stupid as the traffic is a nightmare, so people use the trams, which seem to be accessible, or taxis. The pavements are very wide, like parts of London, so you would get around easy. I think you would just have to be careful about where you stayed, making sure they had full wheelchair access or lifts. Where we stayed (it was an apartment), there were only stairs, lots of them, and no lift.

Knitting-twitter said...

well Colin, for sure its far to long for one person to drive ... one simply needs more stops when doing such a trip. So it doesn't surprise me at all that you felt a bit exhausted...
Its not only the driving, its..you are not alone on the roads, you need to fully concentrate all the time and that is using a lot of strenght too,specially in Germany where they fly deep...
all the best...Christa

Lia Nord said...

Gorgeous photos of Dresden, Colin! Yes, I think you're right about the amount of travelling--and Mannheim would make a nice base for travel around the area. Plus we'd love to see you again.

FuguesStateKnits said...

Colin, I love that you are giving your Self a break and realizing that your body, in the condition that it's in, needs a break every now and then. I hope your travel isn't stopped, just made a bit more gentle!
Hugs,
Joan