Helpful People, Grrrr...

Had the classic huffy "I was only trying to help!" in town earlier.

The entrance to the George Vaults has the door a step up, with another step inside, so the only way to do it is to get out of the chair, push the door open, cant the chair back and bump it up a step at a time, which I'm quite capable of doing.

First off someone sitting outside smoking offered to help, which set up the rest of it as fending her off (holding the door open from outside makes the doorway too narrow) made me forget to fold up the anti-tips and blocked me from my normal angle. Which led to the chair jamming half way in as I couldn't cant it far enough back and I'd hit the door frame.

As I'm figuring out what's gone wrong two people from inside decide to intervene. The woman pulled the door out of the way, which actually was helpful, the guy decides he needs to be manly and pick the chair up by the footplate. Which would, of course, have thrown the weight of the chair onto me and my dodgy shoulders, rather than leaving the weight on the step. So I said "Don't!" and started to explain why he shouldn't do it that way. (Amongst other issues it'll often leave you holding a footplate and not a lot more.) Which provoked the huffy "I was only trying to help!" Clearly more interested in being seen to help than actually helping!

And of course when I went to leave, which is easier than coming in, someone came rushing to hold the door (and get in the way).

"My boy's like you," he says. I wonder if he rolls his eyes as much as I did.

On the brighter side I was serenaded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra as I wheeled back to the car as they did their soundcheck for the Castle Garden concert this evening - Scherezade, I think.

Usefully worn out...

Left house for lunch at 2:30, home at 7pm.

Lunch first (see previous post) then I drove over to Wickes to price up some replacement roofing felt for my shed (the existing stuff half ripped off in one of the spring storms), plus loft boarding, passing an accident which had just happened on the way (one car had t-boned another - no injuries, but sitting in the middle of the main road). Passed by a police traffic car with sirens blazing as I parked at Wickes - 'I know where you're going!' Their felt was 50% more than at Homebase for the identical brand, similarly for the loft board (I'd checked there earlier in the week), so back up to Homebase, queueing to pass the accident again, now with police in attendance. Get the felt, drive back past the accident again. Drop off the felt, head up to Asda, getting to the accident just as the recovery vehicle arrives, waved past by the police for the third time in an hour. Do my shopping, head back, and at least this time the accident's been cleared and I'm not waved past by the police, who must have thought I was taking the piss.

Dump the shopping and immediately head out for my daily waddle, because once I sat down I wasn't moving again.

Got a hundred metres, turned around and came home again. Changed into ankle braces (AFOs), headed out once more. I was fairly certain too much time on my feet was provoking the intermittent drop foot issues I've been having, but today was all chair, and  the foot drop was the worst I've seen. My left foot was catching literally every step, my right about half that. Definitely time to talk to my GP about actually getting this looked at and AFOs officially prescribed and properly fitted (as opposed to bought from Amazon), but also important to know it seems to be fatigue-linked, not activity-linked, which makes it much harder to avoid. Passed one of the regular dog-walkers while on the second attempt: "You're definitely walking faster!" he says. Didn't have the heart to explain why.

So tiring, but useful.