At the weekend, Ben was here, and Will’s family also came up to visit. We went down to a place called Anton Lakes, which is quite close to where we live. It’s really lovely there, like Southampton Common x 100!
Entry is via turnstiles (which is understandable because there are cows about), but there seems to be only one I can actually use, and it’s really difficult to line the chair up properly while the other part swings, I’m not sure how I’ll perfect doing it alone when I have Freya’s successor.
It’s just so lovely in there, there was a kestrel and everything! And also a flying egret, which I didn’t get a picture of, but I got a blurry snap of one in a tree earlier on. It was tough on my chair so I’ve got to learn to get around better. And actually remember to look for where the path is, instead of driving myself into a tree root.
It me!
I got stuck here.
Freya walked up to the swans and they hissed at her quite loudly. Also they followed us around the water’s edge, either in the hope of food or because they wanted to murder us.
Freya actually decided to go in the water, and did whatever the hell she is doing here.
Big fluffy water butt.
It’s hard to take pictures of two dogs roaming around together because they are so bloody fast.
Ozzy is such a lovely bobble.
More dog butts.
An egret!
A heron!
Me & Freya. Not sure what my face is doing.
Cows!
Freya trying water again.
Letti’s winter tips for wheelchair users:
O’keeffe’s Working Hands! My hands can crack and bleed in the cold, or when I’ve been cleaning stuff, and O’keeffe’s is honestly amazing. The pain of going outside without having something to repair your hands later is not worth it.
YOU NEED LEATHER between your hands and the wheels, whether you like it or not. I have a hybrid chair, which has large rear wheels and can convert to a manual wheelchair when needed e.g. I wedge myself somewhere stupid, my batteries run out. Trying to self-propel with soft handwarmers on only ruins them. So you’ll need to put leather wheelchair gloves on over the top of your nice crocheted stuff if you don’t want to destroy them and you actually want to have some grip on the handrims.
Charge your batteries. Don’t wing it like I did and go out half-dead, bumpy terrain is so much more work for a chair.
Neckwarmers, hats and scarves. Unlike everyone else, you are not generating warmth as you walk, because you are not walking, you are stationary while the cold whizzes by you. Your neck and face will get especially chilly.
Boots! Big tough boots. Your feet are going to smash into things when you are making turns and moving around. Things that are damp and mouldy in the woods. Also, if you have to get out of the chair with a walking stick for a second because you are wedged somewhere, you want good shoes for the reason any ambulatory person wants good shoes. Don’t get cold, wet feet.
There’s probably something really obvious I’m forgetting, because me.
Edward selected these to go together on a t-shirt for the game, but I drew the Ananas and also came up with the tagline.
Will’s drawing of us combined. Since my phone is broken and useless, we shared his for Drawful.
?
Some local fog.
Things I need to get through the day. (It doesn’t have to be Starbucks in particular, mind you).
A cutie patootie.
This packaging makes a weird smiley face.
The kitchen is making progress.
Candles always make me feel at home.
Here are some recent Freya positions.
She’s so lovely though.
Will got me an advent calendar (yay!) but some of the chocolates are hard to decipher. I think this is a reindeer, but, why does it have four eyeballs?
The house it starting to come together a bit more. There’s still lots to do and that’s a bit stressful, but I like it here.
