Those "down with disability days"

I recently had to go to the local hospital with the MIL who's been a bit poorly and I said I would meet her over there. Now, as it happens, the hospital really isn't too far from my house, but it's just too far for me to walk and is too hilly to use my chair, so I wanted to drive and park somewhere reasonably close. I allowed half an hour to get there (which is plenty when you can actually see the hospital building from my house if you squint through the trees) and was feeling pretty smug that I was organised and ready to go.

The smugness started to wax a little as soon as I approached the car park and realised that there was a queue to get in - I followed the signs directing me up a side road to the car park, only to discover that it took you round in a big loop and joined the back of the queue which only looked to be around 6 cars long from the entrance. Sneaky blighters - there were around 24 cars in front of me and nothing was moving so I decided to try elsewhere. I headed for the disabled spaces certain in my optimism that I would find something there. In fact there are a total of 8 disabled spaces in the hospital car park^*1 which seems ludicrous since many people attending hospital are likely to have a disability…aren't they? Anyway, my sunny nature started to fail when I saw they were all full and time really started to tick by quickly - my smug half an hour seemed to be fleeing like, well, like a flung thing…!

I headed for the overflow car park - this is a big car park, across the road and runs along what used to be a railway line - it's quite a way from the hospital, but it's flat and I had my chair so didn't have to worry about the distance being too far to walk. I got down there (and of course the traffic was awful everywhere, adding to my time pressures) and discovered that there was no space there either. Of course, sunny disposition or no, by this time I was really getting steamed up…I had been putting up with traffic, insane queuing systems, no spaces, few disabled spaces and just nowhere to park at all! In fact, that isn't strictly true, there was space to park, but it was up the hill - too far for me to walk and too far up a steep hill to use my chair without help. It was at this point I did what any sane person would do and phoned hubby. The conversation went something like this:

"Aaaaarggghhhh!!!! Blurgle, scream, car, aaargh, sniffle, parking, groffle, hill, waaahhhh!!...."

Hubby was at a loss for words in the face of someone plainly displaying all the signs of having a fit of the 'screaming ad-dabs^*2'. He did his best though and tried to remain calm despite not really needing an insane woman calling him up, just to that she could yell down the phone at someone, anyone…please…?

Anyway the upshot of it was that I drove back home and then ordered a taxi to get me to the hospital (how nuts is that?). I got there fine and in time since the MIL's appointment was delayed (aren't they always?) and was there to go in with her through her tests, which she was grateful for. I also discovered that the reason the car park was so full, was not that there had been a major incident in the previous hour, but in fact, parking in the hospital car park has recently become free to all. It's intended to be great if you're a patient, but apparently its also wonderful for all the shoppers and office workers who are now using it because it's close to town…and free...

I was talking to hubby later and apologised for getting in such a strop - which plainly he didn't deserve, but as I put it, it was just a 'down with disability day'. Most of the time I am happy and optimistic and I just get on with life. I don't really think too much about having a disability (even though I do blog about it from time to time) - my life is, well, my life and I live pretty much the way I want to live. Sometimes though, just sometimes, something happens to just remind you how horrid it can be. When you can't walk the distance and you can't use your chair, then you are prevented from doing something that most other people out there just do. Most people would have parked at the top of the hill and walked down - I just couldn't, and so I was reminded of my own restrictions. I didn't like that at all, and so, it became one of my down with disability days….


^*1 That is way less than Tesco!
^*2 My mother used to say this all the time….