Wasted trips

The day starts with a 8.30am appointment at the hospital. I need some new knee braces. The old ones have either lost their stretch with age or my legs have lost yet more muscle.

So we have to get across Lancaster in the midst of rush hour. From the number of heavies making their way from the port, a ferry must have just come in from the Isle of Man or Ireland, just adding to the traffic. The only good thing to say is that it's half-term so at least we don't have to contend with the school-runs as we pass a number of schools en route.

Finally we get there. After a 10 minute wait, I go in to see the man. Yes, I want another pair the same as last time. Yes, they did ease the pain so were doing the job. Yes, I did have a change of braces last time as the manufacturers of the old design had changed the design making them no longer appropriate. Yes, I was allergic to neoprene precluding most brands of knee braces. All this I could, & did, tell them over the phone. And, yes, I'd just confirmed all that was already written down in the notes before him. Did he measure my legs in case of muscle loss? No. They'll give me a ring when the new braces arrive & I'll have to make another trip to collect them.

We were home by 9am, our day disrupted. Neither of us felt very settled all day. And for what? Something that could have been done just as easily on the phone.

We've been fancying going to London for a couple of days to see a show, specifically "Les Mis". We've been finding it very frustrating organising it ourselves. We've got to ring the theatre just to ensure wheelchair accessible seats for example. So, yesterday afternoon we thought we'd get the travel agent to organise it for us.

Another waste of trip. She came up with a figure, well over £500. Is that including a rail reduction as we're a disabled person & carer? No. Will there be assistance arranged to help us at the stations? No, you'll have to organise that yourself. Are the theatre tickets for a wheelchair accessible seat? No, we'll have to ring the theatre personally. Or email, she says giving an address we'd previously tried, just to be given the theatre's phone number to ring. What about the hotel? They will notify the hotel of our preference for a wheelchair accessible room but can't guarantee it.

Well that's a fat lot of use. Pay considerably more for the train, fight around stations with the Fox pushing me & carrying a case, to stay in a hotel we may not be able to get into the bedroom of, to see a show we may not be able to see as we can't get to the seats!

So we're back to doing it ourselves & are beginning to wonder if it's worth the effort. Certainly yesterday's trips weren't.