On caterpillars...

So, life in the Olympic village continues smoothly although that is perhaps not the word that some people would use when looking at the number of limpers and lurchers around the place. Progress is not always smooth in such cases...not that I can talk of course, having been a limper and lurcher all my life! In fact my smooth progress these days is only down to the chair, which has been a huge help in enabling me to cover the long distances required around here.

Today, I saw a caterpillar of people wend their way down the road, each with their hand on the shoulder of the guy in front - the guy in front had a white stick which he ran along the pavement. This really was a case of the blind leading the blind! I cannot get over the level of trust that they must have in each other - it really is amazing! I do wonder though what happens if the 5th guy in line loses touch with the guy in front of him. Do they get lost or do they just whip out their own white stick and become the leader of another caterpillar?

Of course, this kind of thing happens all the time with large groups of wheelchairs where people who get tired grab onto the handles of the guy in front. Not such a bad thing to collect 16 wheelchairs behind you if you are in an electric chair (need a big motor though) but not so much fun at all if you are in a manual chair and are are the person at the front. You sit there pushing away and the chair gets a little heavier as one person gets on, then another and its a bit tougher , then another and you start to feel like you're going uphill. 16 people later and there is much mirth and merriment behind you as you start to feel like you are pushing your way through deep (very, very deep) wet cement.....and then your arms drop off!