JB Progress

On Thursday 23rd May we did a trip to Lambeth Palace and back, as part of the small St Bartholomew's choir in Lower Basildon. The occasion was the 50th anniversary of the Churches Conservation Trust, who look after and conserve 350 'at risk' churches  https://www.visitchurches.org.uk/ Members of the Trust had visited St Bartholomew's last year when we sang in an evensong there. Apparently we are the only functioning choir in all their churches, which is why we were invited to the 50th anniversary bash. Lambeth Palace is the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He however was not in evidence!   https://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/lambeth-palace/visit-lambeth-palace The Benbow sisters were the organisers and booked a special coach with a built in wheelchair lift, so that I could come. The coach turned out to be brand new and the lift most efficient. Once in, I was clamped to tracking in the floor. Here is a video of me descending from the coach on the road jus

The arrival of a shower chair has precipitated a change of approach in how I manage transfers. The shower chair is a Freeway T70 Auto, which has 3 functions: to take a shower in, to use the loo, as it slides over it, to use it as a free standing commode. In working out how best to use it, I decided to take a shower. Having stripped off, I attempted to transfer directly to it from my wheelchair. While standing between the two chairs, I dropped my undies, which became entangled in my feet. While trying to untangle them, I lost my balance and ended up on the floor. The mistake was attempting the untangling while standing. I should have sat down first. The last fall was in January, and like then, I was unable to get myself up. My specialist nurse says I shouldn't hesitate to call 999 in such a position. I managed to inch myself along the floor on my back to get to my phone. A call to my neighbours elicited help. She and her teenage daughter were able to haul me on to t

We recently returned home after an enjoyable week's cruise in the Sapphire Princess, starting at Southampton and taking in Copenhagen, Skagen and Oslo. It should have included Zeebrugge, but Storm Hannah was in the offing around the time we were due to leave Southampton, so departure was delayed to let it pass. We went with a couple we are friendly with, making a foursome. We booked an accessible cabin which had extra space, internal ramps and wide doorways. I hired a hospital bed, a small power chair and a loo seat raiser.  I took my own manual wheelchair. We'd booked a wheelchair excursion in Copenhagen and were surprised to find ourselves the only couple in a moderate sized coach with a tail lift, so we had the services of a guide and driver entirely to ourselves. The trip amplified what we'd found out when we visited Copenhagen last year.  The power wheelchair wouldn't charge, but a phone call revealed that it needed 240V, even though the charger specified 110