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Archive for the 'Anecdotes' Category

Nov 17 2008

Texan Rainstorms…

Published by Travelling Blackbird under Anecdotes Edit This

…or How I learned that a waterproof seat for a wheelchair isn’t necessarily a good idea.

 When I think of Austin, Texas, I think of it in many terms: the great friends I have there; the bars I like and the beers they have on tap; the good yet cheap food; the live music; the wide open spaces. However, I also think of it as the place where I got soaked worse than I have ever been without actually falling into a body of water. The very first day I spent in Austin, I found out what the word downpour really meant, and it was nothing like the wimpy little storms I’d experienced in Ireland and Poland. The worst Atlantic storm felt like light rain by comparison: this was rain that hurt.

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Oct 14 2008

Erkelenz Trip Update

Published by Travelling Blackbird under Anecdotes Edit This

When the train pulled in at Erkelenz, I saw the problem. The small station looked completely deserted, just an empty platform that was even lower than the one in Dusseldorf. To get out, most wheelchair users would need to be carried, but this would be very awkward with the bar in the middle of the doorway and the small steep steps. However, I was already prepared to get out there. I took a leaf out of my wheelchair mentor´s book: I sat on the floor of the train by the door, put my backpack on my back, semi-folded the wheelchair and, when the train had come to a complete halt, rolled the chair out onto the platform and climbed down after it. It´s not a graceful way to get off a train, and it´s probably not even all that safe, but it was all I could think of.

Just as I was about to get the wheelchair off, the conductor showed up and tried to stop me, but, possibly seeing how determined (stubborn) I was, he ended up helping with getting me back into the wheelchair. He wasn´t really that nice about it though - I got the distinct impression he was a bit worried about liability, and now that I come to think of it, he may also have been less than happy with me having lied about a friend helping me off the train. I just nodded, smiled and generally did my I´m-still-learning-German-so-I-don´t-understand- you thing.

As he got back on the train, a young lass of about 18 came up to me, looked me right in the eyes and said “Respect.” It was good to see that some people appreciate ingenuity and determination.

Unfortunately, although I could manage it, if I had a high spinal cord injury or muscular dystrophy, I wouldn´t have been able to do this. Perhaps I could have asked someone else to help, but I don´t know if I would´ve found anyone, nor if I would have been entirely comfortable with the idea. What if someone fell or hurt their back? It´s a terrible shame to have all this extra stress because the offered service failed.

I was going to post about something completely different today, but with this just having happened, I decided to go with it while my impressions were fresh. I´ll return to the regular posts about Hanover and Wroclaw tomorrow.

All the best, Derek.

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Oct 14 2008

Get me off this crazy thing!

Published by Travelling Blackbird under Anecdotes, Public Transport, Rants Edit This

At the time of writing, I´m on a train, unsure of where I can get out. When I bought the ticket to Erkelenz this afternoon, and saw that I´d be traveling by regional train, I went straight to the service point to order the Mobility Service. There are two models of regional train in Germany: an older one with two or three steps up into it and a verticla bar in the middle of the doorway, and the newer double-decker models with the floor of the compartment for wheelchairs lower than the platform. Either way, there´s no getting on without help. Anyway, the man at the service point took dow my details and told me to come back 20 minutes before my departure time, which I duly did, only to discover that there´d been a shift change, and there was now no record of my having ordered any help. They didn´t even know if I´d be able to get on the train, as the Mobility Service staff were apparently all busy.

Of course, like anyone, I find this sort of situation extremely irritating, but I try not to go fro 0 to furious in 60 seconds, and instead attempt to find a solution. I asked if they could call again, and told them that I was going up onto the platform to wait. My real intention was to see if I could corral a conductor or a few passengers into helping.

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Oct 08 2008

Midweek Anecdote 8: Rules are there to control the fun.

Published by Travelling Blackbird under Anecdotes Edit This

Even though it’s against my traveler’s code to each at a big chain when I’m away, as I see it as the waste of a chance to discover something new, on that particular Wednesday I was out of time and out of luck. With only half an hour to spare between appointments and no accessible local restaurant or café in the area, my choices for lunch were Subway or McDonald’s. So, it was off to Subway for lunch.

You didn’t really think I was going to eat under the golden arches did you?

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Oct 02 2008

Wroclaw Trip Diary, Wednesday evening

Published by Travelling Blackbird under Anecdotes, Trip Diaries Edit This

5:55 pm. I roll out of the tram, just an inch drop to the platform, so I don’t even bounce. I was right about the new trams being similar models to the German and Dutch ones. They’re low floor trams rather than fully accessible ones, so at some stops, they’re almost level with the sidewalk, but at others, there can be quite a gap. There is a bell beside the door with the lowest floor, and the drivers probably come out to help passengers on and off: I must research that tomorrow.

5:59 pm. That was close. Stupidly, I was rushing across an uneven surface, and my front wheels went into a crack between two paving slabs. The wheelchair bucked forward, not enough to throw me out, but enough to draw attention. I assure people that I’m fine, and feel the blush of anger with myself spreading.

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Sep 29 2008

Wroclaw Trip Diary, Monday 6 am-9 am

Published by Travelling Blackbird under Airports, Anecdotes, General, Trip Diaries Edit This

6:11 am. Time to get up. If my body even thinks about protesting at the earliness of the hour, I’ll remind it that before Lufthansa opened the Dusseldorf-Wroclaw connection, I had to get up at 3:15 to catch a flight out of Dortmund when I wanted to visit my second home. For now, I’m lying in bed, letting myself have a moment to properly wake up, and wondering why I didn’t put both brakes on when I was getting out of my wheelchair into bed. The left brake is dodgy, and I can only put it on when I’m in the chair, so now I have a half-braked chair that’s going to be more difficult to get into, and I wouldn’t mind so much, but this is the third time this week.

6:14 am. Done, in the chair, didn’t fall on the floor. Time to get moving.

6:55 am. I’ve never lived in a better situation for getting to an airport: Continue Reading »

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Sep 24 2008

Midweek Anecdote 7: An Exercise in Patience

Published by Travelling Blackbird under Airports, Anecdotes Edit This

This week’s anecdote picks up from last week’s.

 By the time the plane landed at Gatwick, I had composed several letters of complaint to British Airways, Euro Atlantic, and the management of Tampa International Airport, each more venomous than the last. To say I was annoyed is an understatement. Tired, sore, cramped and in need of a toilet, shower and bed, all I wanted was to be off the plane and on my way. That I had another flight to catch in 4 hours was not improving my mood any.

 As usual, I sat and waited as the rest of the passengers got off the plane. The people who’d been sitting around me and had offered to help said goodbye, and repeated how shocked they were by the whole thing, in tones ranging from sympathetic to rabble-rousing. I would find out later that some of them would lodge complaints on my behalf. Once they were all gone, I waited for the assistance crew to arrive and get me off the plane.

 And waited. Continue Reading »

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Sep 17 2008

Midweek Anecdote 6: No Relief For You!

Published by Travelling Blackbird under Anecdotes Edit This

I had thought I was flying British Airways from Tampa, Florida to London Gatwick, but the white plane I could see at the end of the jet bridge said Euro Atlantic in blue letters. I checked the gate again, but there was no change. I began to regret not having Christian’s Dad come with me to the gate: it’s always easier to deal with uncertainty when you can wonder with someone else. The gate crew looked hassled already, dealing with a dodgy printer and some irate man who wanted to be moved so he was sitting behind his grandson, not next to him, so I decided to wait until things calmed down.

 “Ready to go?” said the assistance crew member, an older gent with an orange complexion, and grabbed the handles of my wheelchair.

 “Hang on,” I said, putting my hands firmly on the wheels to stop us. “Is that the right plane? I’m supposed to be flying British Airways.”

 “Yeah, it’s a whaddyacallit, a charter thing. A sub contract. Same flight, different airline.” And we were off.

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Aug 29 2008

Bonus Anecdote: Bell Bottomed

Published by Travelling Blackbird under Anecdotes Edit This

“Hey. Hey! Hey, guy in the wheelchair!”

I looked up from my book to see the bus driver looking at me expecting an answer; a few of the passengers were looking at me too. I had no idea what he wanted. Then I saw that the lift was deployed and everyone was waiting for me to get off.

“Sorry, what?”

“I said, you wanna get out here now? You pressed the bell, you’re holdin’ up my bus.” One of the passengers agreed that I was holding up the bus, and there was a general air of public transport irritation directed at me for not already being on the lift getting off the bus. That was unfair: I hadn’t pressed the bell at all.

That part of me that gets embarrassed easily by fuss and bother quickly calculated if I was near enough to my destination to just get out and roll from here, thus escaping the situation quickly, but it was too far, so I answered: “No, I didn’t press it. I want 9th and Judah, like I said.”

“GodDAMN!” He angrily hit the controls for the lift. “Holdin’ up my bus!” Continue Reading »

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Aug 27 2008

Midweek Anecdote 5: Belt Up!

Published by Travelling Blackbird under Anecdotes Edit This

When it comes to safety belts, I’m one of those law-abiding people. I would never ride in a car without buckling up and I keep my belt fastened the whole time I’m seated when I’m on a plane. However, it took nearly going through the windshield of a San Francisco bus to persuade me to take the safety precautions for wheelchairs on board seriously. 

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