PETE, who is struggling a bit at the moment, has had to accept that perhaps a wheelchair would be a good thing.
The idea is that he can walk using the wheelchair for support, but when he gets tired he can sit in it and either propel it himself, or as an extreme measure, get me to push it. This arrangement means that he can get out and about while I can do something constructive about building up my upper body strength.
There are other advantages – I have noticed with jealousy how elderly ladies use their Rolsers as offensive weapons, carving their way through the thronging multitude at the markets like Moses parting the Red Sea, but now I am armed with the equivalent! Plus I can pile any shopping I accrue on his lap instead of carrying it.
The only downside is that, being seated and thus half as tall as normal, he is hard to find in a crowd.
But which wheelchair to get? There are so many from which to choose!
Enter Lesley. ‘Come and see mine – it’s light, it folds up, and you can see how Pete finds it for comfort.’
We went, we saw. We folded it, I lifted it, Pete had a roll around in it, and announced that he was as happy as a spaniel in a duckpond.
This sort of constructive and spontaneous helpfulness is what makes the wheels of the world go round – not to mention the wheels of the chair!
