I am Amazed!

[davidgillon]

The counter clerk at Chatham Station managed to successfully book the wheelchair space for my journey up to Lancaster on Friday and without even commenting I wasn't using my wheelchair right then.

It's sad this is commentworthy, but he's arsed it up the last twice, so this is a distinct improvement.

I was still paranoid enough to ring Virgin trains and confirm that B63 was indeed the wheelchair space on the 12:30 from Euston, because it would be the middle of a carriage on the East Coast Main Line, but apparently it really is.

I can't help thinking going back to Lancaster for my college reunion is tempting fate. When I went as a student it started raining as we crossed the Durham/Lancashire border and stopped just after I graduated....

 

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

Class reunions can be dicey affairs.

What anniversary is this?

You could prepare a quarter-sheet answer to "so, why are you in the wheelchair now?" (I've regretted not doing this at other reunions, cause it sure is boring having that convo 16 times.)

Have you some school-mates you're looking forward to seeing again?

Will there be beer? wait, you don't need to answer that.

[davidgillon]

It's the college's anniversary rather than ours, 40 years since it was founded (though in that time it's been demolished and moved across the road into what was a farm field when we were there). We were '85 grads, so it's technically our 31st anniversary. I'm in a group of half a dozen friends, three of whom I see regularly, and a couple of guys we haven't caught up with in about a decade, though I'm in touch with one on FB.

There's only a handful more from our year, we've been playing guess the identity as they've only been listed by first name and initial 'til now, but my group already covers most of the people who knew me well.

I hadn't thought about needing to explain the wheelchair. Of the two who we haven't seen recently, one will know from my posts on FB, the other I should have been on crutches the last time I saw him, I think - genuinely not sure, the more I think the more I push back how long it is since I've seen him. Actually it'll be interesting to see what he's like now as he was one of those people who were born middle-aged ;)

The schedule is Friday night: hog roast at the bar from 7PM, then band and disco. Saturday night: Reception, then process to the Great Hall for black tie dinner and band and disco. They say to be comfortable with what you're wearing, so I've already made the executive decision I'm not even trying to combine a suit jacket and the chair. And I'm seriously tempted to wear a (cervical) collar rather than a tie, ties and I don't get on, while my neck isn't entirely happy at the moment so I could justify it. I'm treating the suggestion of a bow tie with the derision it deserves!

I do need to check the weather forecast, Lancaster Uni is on the first hill after the Irish Sea, and it does tend to be wet.