:: A SHOPPING WE WILL GO! ::

In the past few years I've found it increasingly difficult to get into the passenger seat of my car. I would grab hold of the handrail above the door and swing myself into the seat but I had to admit eventually it was unsafe and there would have to be a change.
About a year ago I got myself a new vehicle, a Renault Autograph. I don't drive but my special friend, Renée says I'm the best passenger she's ever had because I don't tell her how to drive. The new car is one that I can go straight into the back of in the wheelchair so I don't have to risk life and limb swinging into the passenger seat. One thing that I don't like about the new car is that should have a panoramic window at the front because all I can see is the road in front of me. It is a little frustrating knowing that the countryside around is very beautiful but I can't see it! Obviously the people who make the cars haven't sat in the back or they would have put a panoramic window in. I also have a new wheelchair, a Spectra, which is the best wheelchair I have ever had. These two facts have made travelling a lot easier for me.

The nearest big town to me is Skipton and I heard that Tescos have just modernised their store which in theory should make it extremely wheelchair friendly.This conjunction of things happening, the flashy new wheelchair, the new vehicle and the store modernisation, made me want to do something I hadn’t done in a long time, go shopping! Most men would think I must be wrong in the head to want to go shopping but recently my idea of travelling has been a trip to the doctors or dentists. I go to the dentist every six months and have a decent set of gnashers for my age. I have to look after the bits of me that work because there isn't that much of me that does work. I actually quite look forward to going to the dentist especially now dentists don't hurt any more. I remember dentists in the 1950s and 60s when they really were butchers and were something to be feared! I have noticed though in the last 10 or 15 years that going to the dentist doesn't hold the same fear it used to because they are so much better. If there is anybody out there who is still scared of going to the dentist don't be, IT DOESN'T HURT ANY MORE!

I look in New Pathways each issue and people do the most amazing things like Skydiving and going to Kenya. Paraplegics have sailed around the world for Gods sake. Surely going to the supermarket should hold no fears for me. I did go to see the Black Keys at the Academy in Manchester 2006 but was pretty sure I had deteriorated since then. I did go to Asda when at Woodlands in September but it was with my own personal carer and a manual wheelchair. You always go in a manual wheelchair if you go anywhere at Woodlands. I suppose that's to prevent you from disappearing and escaping!

The reason why going to the supermarket filled me with such foreboding is because I am not a competent driver. I have never driven a car because I am so absent-minded. If I had driven a car I’m sure I would have killed somebody by now, probably me! Besides its bad form for vegetarian of 40 years standing to go around knocking people down like it was some sort of video game! You only need to take a look at the skirting boards in my house to see what sort of driver I am. I had visions of me driving into a display with cans of beans Laurel and Hardy style scattering them in all directions. Now with the modernisation of Tescos maybe it would be less daunting!

I would use my new motorised wheelchair for the journey. (I keep wanting to call it my electric chair but that probably isn't the right terminology!). On entering the store I was pleasantly surprised at how much room I had to manoeuvre. Even I could steer down the alleyways without feeling nervous about hitting anything. The only thing I had to guard against was complacency.

I haven't been shopping in a while and one thing that struck me was how temptation is at every corner. I am a careful eater and have two Belgian chocolates every day. I am for quality not quantity, you won't find me scoffing a Mars bar. My carers are amazed at my self-discipline because when they open a box of chocolates they have to finish them. I did have just one Belgian chocolate a day up until last Christmas when I upped it to two over the Christmas period but when the Christmas period finished I never went back to one.

Even I with my will of iron was sorely tempted at times by all the goodies on display. There was one alleyway in particular that had cream cakes all down one side. I was tempted by the aroma which was wafting in front of my nose and it was all I could do to go by. I just looked straight ahead and increased my speed. Thankfully there weren’t any cans of beans on display at the end of the alleyway because I was so distracted there could have been a calamity! I can understand how people without my iron will can slip down the slippery slope!

I am sure the cheese counter was now on a lower level than it used to be. Because I sit down all the time I am only about 4'6" tall and yet I still looked down on the cheese display. Studying the display I noticed a cheese I haven't seen for many years, Jarlsburg. I went through a spate of having it but then for some reason it drifted out of my consciousness now there it was next to the Gorgonzola. Jarlsburg it's very smooth and has holes in just like the cheese you will find in a Pixie and Dixie cartoon! It isn't at all crumbly, perfect for me who has trouble eating a sandwich with hands that feel as though I am wearing boxing gloves. I wasn't completely good and did buy some ‘bad to me stuff’. I bought some Cheeky Monkey ice cream

When it came to leaving there wasn't even a queue, it was straight through the checkout. All in all I had an enjoyable shopping experience and think I will go more often in future. It has also made me think more adventurous again. Not around the world in a yacht, skydiving or anything like that I think my skydiving days are over after all I am 60 years old in January. I shocked myself just now because I used to be young once! As John Lennon said, ‘Life is something that happens while you're busy making plans’.

::::::