Nairn and cake

Written 6pm Friday 27th Feb

(I am including time of composition in case I am unable to post until a few hours or days later)

Today we had a lazy day of driving, eating and a bit of walking. Firstly we went Bogbain to have an organic breakfast, I had creamy scrambled eggs on toast. The eggs laid by the local free range hens. It was as delicious as it sounds. There was a little shop to look around and I picked up a small gift for Jase.

After stopping off at Starbucks we drove to Nairn and walked along the white sandy beach. I hope to post a pic I took on my mobile. Will post proper pics from my camera when I get home. Nairn beach is very long with sand dunes and lots of soft white sand. There was plenty of drift wood strewn across the beach and dog paw prints criss crossing the sand. We rested a while as the sun came out, something the picture doesn’t show. The view out to sea was one of dark mauve clouds and rain whilst behind us the sun warmed our backs. The only sound was the rush of the waves and the keeling of gulls as I watched a pair of swans glide towards the shore.

We then had tea and cake in the Quay Cafe! Bliss.

Train journey to Inverness

Written at mid day 26/02/09

It is one of those watery after the storm days. Great big cotton wool clouds scudding across a water colour sky. The wind isn’t as fierce or as cold as yesterday but still blustery. Some of the clouds look quite ominously grey and rain heavy to me, but I am safe on my train just crossing the Forth. I can see Inch Keith and the Bin (a prominent local hill to Burntisland) with it’s TV mast. There are quite a few boats in the Forth wending their way to the sea. I have 3 and a half hours of beautiful scenery to take in as I journey north.

I associate Inverness with healing. The first time I visited in 1997 I had been very ill after teaching at the Ridings School. I also spent a week in Inverness three years ago when recovering from another difficult episode in my life. Since then I have visited twice to see Lorraine and her not so little boy now, Ben. I just always feel so much more relaxed in Scotland, the people are more laid back and friendly (certainly more so than in London!) and the countryside is so immediate and accessible.

Thinking about laid back Scots I got stopped in the street by a friendly Edinburgh drunk at a bus stop on the North Bridge. He reeked of alcohol and asked me if I could direct him to Waterloo station because he wanted to see the sunset over it and started slur waterloo sunset by the Kinks. Even the drunks in Scotland are more cultured and relaxed. I said he’d have to get a train to London if he wanted to see such a sight

I also read a good Billy Connolly quote today in a book in my hotel room.

“In Scotland there is no such thing as bad weather just inappropriate clothing. Get a rain mac!”

Train ride to Edinburgh

The first leg of my journey to Inverness is over and I am relaxing in the hotel room, drinking rioja whilst on the TV in the background is some programme about celebrity chefs. The journey to Edinburgh went really smoothly - I worked for a bit but have now put work away for my long weekend away. I took the picture below from the train window as we sped towards York. It's taken on my mobile phone so not great but I like the beams of sunlight and the murky winter colours.

The big excitement on the train was that fresh milk had been reintroduced to the first class complimentary tea and coffee. Some time around new year National Express East Coast introduced some efficiency measures one of which was to only provide those evil little pots of uht milk that, A) taste horrid and B) spill everywhere when you attempt to open them. Anyway after a lot of complaints and I am guessing a few dry cleaning bills NXEC have relented and returned to real milk. Yay, for common sense! But unfortunately NXEC in my opinion have really downgraded their first class service but haven't really reduced the prices. I generally travel first class because as a visually impaired person the extra room, less stress and knowledge that I don't have to navigate the train to get to the buffet just make it much easier and more accessible for me than standard. I have only recently been able to afford first class, I now have more money than I used to. The whole - have NXEC downgraded first class? debate - is causing a stir on the forums.

Tomorrow I head up to Inverness to stay with my friend Lorraine. It's been nearly 18 months since we have met up so there will be lots of gossiping and catching up to do.

Ridiculous attitude of the week

I am used to the news being full of people spouting ridiculous opinions and I am also used to certain aspects of the media promoting and legitimizing the views of bigots. However when I first read the story linked here I thought it was a joke. Apparently parents have expressed concerns to the BBC and have even called for the removal of a CBBC TV presenter (that’s kids TV on a Kids TV channel) because wait for it .... she only has one arm! According to these anguished parents she could scare the kiddie winks and give them nightmares.

Well this is my nightmare - where disabled people are locked away because we “scare” people, make people feel awkward or because some people don’t like the way we look because we look different to them. This was a reality 40 years ago and I thought this “nightmare” was about to be consigned to the past, It seems not.

Back to Bonny Scotland

I am heading back up to Scotland later this week to visit my friend Lorraine in Inverness. I can't wait to be out of London and in the beautiful Highlands. On my way though I shall be stopping off in Edinburgh for the night. I am looking forward to a night of luxury again in my favourite Edinburgh boutique hotel.

I thought I would post a few very old photos from Inverness taken on an old mobile phone so they aren't great quality but were taken around Inverness apart from the bottom picture which was taken in Fife.

Long difficult week

I haven't felt much like posting since getting back from Edinburgh. I had to go back to Moorfields Hospital because my contact lens was still hurting. This time the wait was not so long and the waiting room was a lot emptier. I got a new contact lens within 2 days which wasn't bad going and seems to have done the trick.

No sooner had I sorted out my contact lens trouble than work just got ridiculous. Then on Thursday night whilst walking home from work towards the tube station at Oxford Circus some bloke decided it would be amusing to see if he could knock me to the floor from behind. Not sure why or what he was up to but he walked off as if nothing had happened. Luckily Jase was with me so I didn't hit the floor or get hurt badly. My shoulder got hurt badly enough that it hurt for a couple of days afterwards.

What upset me most was that the lad that hit me just didn't seem to register that he had done anything let alone anything wrong. Also not many people around us seemed concerned. I know I was with Jase and people would have seen that but no one seemed concerned about the bloke that hurt me. They just watched him walk off. It was just that London mentality of not getting involved, head down keep walking, keep to yourself.

Edinburgh get away

On Friday last week we traveled up to Edinburgh for a long weekend. What we didn't realise was that the long weekend would become even longer due to the snow!

We were staying at the Glasshouse Hotel which I can definitely recommend but I won't link to their website as it's a horrible website. We had a lovely suite which looked out on to a huge balcony and the view over St Mary's cathedral. From our balcony we could look across the Forth to Inch Keith (an island in the Forth) and also to Kinghorn and Burnt Island in Fife. There was a great sunrise on Saturday morning.

After visiting friends and Jason's parents we were set to travel home on Monday but woke to tales of the whole of south east England being cut off in foot high snow drifts! The trains were up the spout and we were advised not to travel until the next day. After booking an extra night in the hotel the snow began to come down in Edinburgh as well - although it did not stick.

On Tuesday we were able to travel home safely but I had a couple of extra days at home due to the ice being pretty treacherous out side our flat. Not a good mix visual impairment and ice.

If you click on the title above it will take you to some more pics of Edinburgh from my flickr page.

Disability Now Opinion Piece

I was asked to write an opinion piece for Disability Now just before Christmas and it was published last week you can read it here