The winter fires burning wood will cast their shadows from the flames.
Daily Archives: 23/01/2018
Daily Prompt: Tardy is my Middle Name
Today I had my first lesson discovering that you cannot go everywhere with a wheelchair. I am not as fast as I used to be, actually very slow and everyone has to wait for me which is one of the reasons why I now take my walks in a wheelchair. It gets me to where I want to go, I can travel further and there is a whole new world waiting for me with my camera. Everyone assures me that I have made a good choice.
Me tardy? Not with a wheelchair. However, I discovered today that not every path welcomes a wheelchair especially after a day of rain. I decided to take a wheelie, not too far, and I remembered I have not yet been on the path along the river turning to the left. Up to now I have only explored the right side on wheels. No problem for me, I am now a profi in the wheelchair, over stick and stone and up and down slopes. There is no limit to my possiblities, at least I thought so.
I took the downward path to the river bank which is smooth and paved. I just had to adjust the seat to a slight backwards lean, as the path was downhill. At the bottom of the path I crossed a slight border and then I was ready to attack the river path (see photo). The path then attacked me, and instead of driving straight ahead my chair took a right angle into a rut in the path, towards the river. No worry, the river was still far enough away.
I reversed the chair and discovered it did not want to reverse, it was stuck in the rut. I was alone on the path. I decided not to panic and call Mr. Swiss to pull me out of my position. I got out of the wheel chair and grabbed my stick which I always take with me. I have a special holder on the wheelchair. I discovered that walking with the stick and minipulating the wheelchair was not a solution. I clung onto the wheelchair, got to the driving controls and manoevred it out of its fixed predicament back onto the straight path manually. I took my seat again, reversed the wheelchair and left the path. This was not just tardy, but a dangerous situation.
I decided to carry on regardless and afterwards stuck to the village paths, taking a few photos on the way of a some interesting garden ornaments. I then realised that there are limits to my walking capabilities, but also to the possiblities of wheelchair driving.
As you can see, I do have a horn on my steering for the chair, in the case of emergencies, but today I did not need it, although it would have been a possiblity.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Letter W – Needs to start with W and have two vowels in the word
Willow trees seen in Waltham, England
Lesser Spotted Woodpecker in my garden the first and only time I had seen one in my garden.
The wooden remains of a tree after the storm.
Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Letter W – Needs to start with W and have two vowels in the word
Flower of the day: 23.01.2018 Calluna
Good Morning
Today we have clouds, nice clouds, real clouds. Switzerland was having weather problems. It all started with various mountain resorts being cut off from the world because of heavy snow falls, and avalanche problems. Yesterday we had a landslide between Goschenen and Airolo meaning that all traffic to the Italian part of Switzerland was blocked by road and rail. They are still working on that one.
Whilst all this was going on in the highlands, we in the lowlands got the rain. It rained continuously for a day yesterday and this was the view on the path in next to our front garden. It is not a river, actually not so deep, but it was typical of the daily deluge. We are on a higher level to the river down below, although there was no actual flooding. This morning it seems it never happened. The clouds are back, a blue sky and perhaps even some sun: just in time for the visit of Trump tomorrow. His team are already here, preparing the way. Switzerland was sinking in snow and rain and we really only a small country.
Yesterday’s trip to the supermarket by car looked like this. Wet roads everywhere and puddles where the rain collected. Needless to say I was home bound after the shopping trip. I am hoping to escape again this afternoon, although am not so sure where to go. After my last eventful trip to the cemetery, it is now on the banned list as when you drive through mud and sludge in a wheelchair it does tend to leave traces in the appartment afterwards when you park it.
To add to the positivity of the day, my last amaryllis is flowering. It is the second flower stalk on this amaryllis and all four flowers are opening at once. Usually you get two and after a while, when they are giving up the flower ghost, the other two open up. This time we have a four flower display.
I now have a few windows to polish up after the rain, but no big problem. I have that on tomorrow’s agenda, today it is the bathroom which I really hate doing, but I have nothing better to do all day.
Lately I have been busy tying up a few loose ends I had left in England. My father died almost 2 years ago and I am now a golden oldie and my journeys to England are now finished. I have had to make a couple of telephone calls to official places and got the old “please hold the line we will deal with you” or “press button 1 for etc. etc.”. This is ok if you are calling in England, but Swiss phone calls can get expensive. I remember when I had to deal with my dad’s stuff when he passed away. I had extra costs of about 200 swiss francs on my telephone bill. When I have completed my business my english connections will at last be finalised.
And now to go and concentrate on my housewife hobbies. Look after yourselves, take care and see you on the sunny side later. I will leave you with yet another wonderful sunrise with no clouds, rain or snow, just a normal day somewhere in the middle of Switzerland where the cows and hedgehogs say goodnight and good morning to each other.
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 