My young man and I had to make a routine hospital visit yesterday afternoon. Yet like most of my outings changed into anything but routine.
The weather turned it’s first winter’s wind up several knots to almost freezing as we headed out into it. I had decided to take my router walker, as the ground was too wet and dead leaves splattered to negotiate with walking sticks, it also gave me sitting opportunities when required.
Off we set and of course, we just saw the back of a bus disappearing around the corner. A real heart-sink moment as it was a ten-minute wait for the next one. It started to drizzle and we huddled together in the bus shelter to wait out of the wind.
Thankfully there must have been some disruption to the bus timetable, as one appeared in seven minutes. The bus curtseyed allowing me to conveniently roll my walker on. As it was empty we were able to choose seats nearest the disabled bay so we could brake my walker and I could hold onto it through the bars. We completed that part of the journey without incident.
The next bus was quite a different challenge, as there was a metal sheet between my seat and the disabled parking space. We lined up my walker putting the brakes on, all was well till we turned the last tight right-hand corner into the hospital drive. To our dismay the walker broke free heading down the bus, willing laughing helpers grabbed it and brought it back.
The appointment went without incident and I avoided pressing the button on the mortuary floor, which I had succeeding doing once before. Once outside we had to wait for a bus. Oh, it was bitterly cold and windy.
Eventually, the bus appeared, we let the other passengers on first, before confidentially placing my walker in the disabled bay. Again we were unable to keep a physical attachment to it.
Halfway through the journey it made another determined break for freedom, before being captured by my husband and squeezed into a gap at his seat and trapped there by his legs, so very uncomfortable.
I made a sweeping glance around the bus and caught sight of a gap big enough for a folded standing upright walker. Once the passengers nearest to the space left the bus, I suggested as we still had a way to go he might be more comfortable if we parked our escapologist there. A suggestion I was surprised he readily agreed to. It must have been uncomfortable sitting as he had been.
So he wheeled our collapsed walker into the narrow upright space, and we settled for a more relaxed journey. Bad mistake as after a bump over a kerb and a sharp turn on a roundabout, my walker somehow slipped under the bars and lay on it’s side ready to jam the doors when they were required to open at a bus stop.
My young man by this time had a great deal to say to the wheelchair none of which was nice. Other passengers came to his embarrassed rescue and both our thanks.
He stood holding onto the walker in the disabled space, endangering himself, as the bus took off again on it’s wobbly ride. I said, “Please sit on it as with your weight and the brakes on it should not move.”
He was about to refuse, when the bus swung around another corner, almost sending him and the offending walker in the driver's direction.
Once more I said more firmly, “Sit on it sit on! Common sense prevailed. My embarrassed young man lowered himself onto my walker.
You might ask why I had not participated in this fiasco. I was seated against a widow who had a step to negotiate to be able to assist. I would have been an immediate return to the hospital casualty if I had tried. Instead, my focus was on being a helpful I hope observer.
All that is left to say is a big thank you to everyone on the number 2 bus service yesterday afternoon, for their assistance with my runaway walker.
© 2023 Penny Wobbly of WobblingPen
Photo: Pixabay License
