Car broken, taxi to and fro about 150 euro, so I can't afford that, and I needed to give that lecture.
There was no only choice: the bus....
Two hours earlier than usual we left the house.
This wheelchair is a real problem. The system is far too heavy for me to wheel it myself outside....
At the busstop: out of it... Stair, deal with the other check-in system... and sit outside of the special zone for people who are less mobile, because other people were sitting there already... stretching their legs, because those places offer more space. They way they left the bus suggested that they were pretty mobile...
At a turn the wheelchair almost moved through the bus itself, as my daughter forgot to strap it secure.
Busstation: out. walking those special pavements between busroads with far too high steps. My daughter took the wheelchair over the normal road-area, but that was too far for me to walk. And there were too many people in the waiting area for me to sit down and manoeuvre through them.
Next bus.
The same.
We were happy to arrive at the university.
She almost didn't manage to get me up the hill!!!!
The bumpy ride was not pretty.
We were too early, so got something to eat.
As the ride outside is very inconvenient my daughter decided to take us through the tunnels.
Finally reached the elevator to get to the normal level again.... broken and out of service.
A guy pointed us to a place....where there was no lift!!
We looked further, found two students.
One of them knew another one,which was hard to find, so she walked all the way with us.
Came to the normal level in a different building and we were completely disorientated, because we din't know that part of the building.
Took the lift another level up... and found ourselves near the entrance door.
Walked in a hurry to the other building... there was the same lift and not working either. (Sometimes they just close one level and keep the rest of the levels accessible.)
Went back to the stairs....
(There was no desk to ask info.)
Two ladies saw me starting to climb the sstairsand pointed out there was another lift.... difficult to be found... so one of them showed the way.
Got up... Finally managed to get the door open, walked in the corridor and them my daughter thought we needed to go up another level.
So we went back...got up... were at a wrong level... through the rotten door, got down again...
Finally found the place where we needed to be and I started the lesson...too late. But I was lucky they had already started the first practical task.
Pffff....
Not a very verbal group, so I needed to tell them a lot.......
Three girls I knew from a lesson before. So we had a nice talk.
Went all the way back again, which was less eventful as we knew our obstacles now.
Daughter wanted to walk me to the shopping center, but I was tootired and I have to get that bedroom done.
At home we were both completely done.
She ordered some food, which was nice. But I was too tired to eat it all.
She went to bed...
I wanted to see the news, as two of my friends were caught on camera during a remembrance service.
Haven't seen them, just feel asleep and woke up hours!! later, because son1 called.
Ate the rest of the food... Did some sorting of stuff downstairs, and went to bed.
What a day!!
But it was a kind of wake up call to see how many obstacles there are for wheelchair users.
I am lucky that I can walk a few steps... but going on the bus alone is not possible at all, as no one lends a hand.
The driver is supposed to come out and help... none even made the movement to suggest that.
We had to walk quite a way to find our way home from the busstop, as there was no way we could leave the pavement, unless we went to another side of the pavement a hundred meters distance. And then we needed to get up the other pavement...which was quite a job...
There was a skip parked on the pavement with not enough space to conveniently walk beside it.
And there even was dogpoo in front of our gardenpath!!! Ugh!!!
It was all so tiring, that I missed a day of tidying up upstairs... which stresses me out.
One possitive thing:
son 2 planned to prune the apple tree tomorrow.....
I am totally exhausted just reading about this, so I can only imagine how difficult a day this must have been for you and your daughter, who had to help maneuver you through all those places. Wow! You are amazing to persevere and keep moving forward even when the obstacles are so severe! That was quite a day! Glad you made it there and back safely, but I hope you don't have to do that very often! Wow! You are amazing.
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