Thursday 25 September 2014

London, Part 1

This summer my family took a trip to London, and I thought I would share my experience form an M.E. point of view and otherwise!

I have split this post into two:
-Part 1 travel and sight seeing
-Part 2 attractions e.g. shops, museums and galleries

I had never been to London for more than a day before, so wasn't really sure what to expect.  I knew that the days would be long, and that there would be a lot of travelling.  But apart from that, I didn't know what was in store! 

The trip was planed with my health in mind.  So we had two days in London with one rest day, and then two more days in London.  We stayed at my Auntie's house in Hampshire and drove to the Wimbledon area each day.  All of the extra travelling made the days longer, but staying with family allowed us to return to a comfy sofa and familiar place each evening, which made the holiday more relaxing and enjoyable.

 We spent a lot of time on public transport travelling around the city taking it all in.  For me this was reasonably low energy and much easier than walking or driving from A to B in a city we didn't know.  I was able to use my (free) disabled bus pass on the London buses, which was such a help.  The service was really good and easy to understand, I especially liked the friendly bus conductors that they have now added to the back of the buses.  It felt very proper, a real step back in time to 'old London'.  We hardly had to wait, and views were great from the top deck.  There was no need to plan around bus times for short journeys.  I can see myself going on a little holiday on my own to London were I mainly travel by bus!  

I also had a go on the Boris Bikes!  I felt like I had an entourage with my dad in front and brother beside/behind me to make sure I was ok.  I had no idea how I would cope, but it was actually fine ....apart from starting!  I got of to a bit of a wobbly start, which didn't seem like a good sign.  But once I got going it was fine.  The best bit was cycling around the front of Buckingham Palace and down the Mall, it was pretty flat and beautiful.  I felt like I was in a film!  It started raining torrentially half way down the Mall and we had to shelter.  But it was fun cycling along in the rain for a bit.  It was pretty much the only rain we had for the whole trip.  Typical! 

We used the Thames Clipper (boat) to travel from the O2 arena to the London Eye.  It was a great low energy activity and there was even a Costa on board!  I really felt like I was travelling in style with my mocha in hand, sat in the warm and dry with amazing views.  Imagine if that was your daily commute! To get to the Clipper we used the new cable cars, a bit of a wacky choice, but a fun experience all together!  The ride was really smooth and spoonie friendly; it felt more like a gentle fairground ride than anything else! Another amazing way to see London!

From the sight seeing point of view something that really struck me was Imperial collage.  As a science student, I have heard a lot about Imperial and know of people who go/have applied there.  I had never realised how amazing it is just sat there.  I couldn't help thinking what must it be like if this was where I went every day.  Obviously for me it wouldn't be the right choice.  But wow all the same, good on the people who actually go there!  

There was so much to see, and we were lucky enough to have nice weather, which made it easier to just sit and take in the views at places like Kensington Gardens and Parliament Square.  Spending so much time on transport made it one of the most M.E. friendly holidays that I've had in years. Who would have thought that the busiest city in England would be so assessable!  I would go back at the drop of a hat!

I didn't take any pictures of my own, so here a photo of what I bought in Harrods.  There are plenty of pictures of London all over the internet!





Wednesday 10 September 2014

Handmade wardrobe

For those of you who don't know, in the knitting/dressmaking blogosphere a handmade wardrobe is a collection of posts about handmade clothes made by the blogger.  I have mentioned previously on here that I took up knitting a few years to replace the hobbies that I can no longer do since becoming unwell.

This is the first instalment of my handmade wardrobe!  The cardigan was finished back in February and it was my first whole garment.  There was no where to photograph it at uni, hence the timing of this post.  I have always wanted to keep a record of my creations, and wouldn't want something like uni to get in the way, so here it is!

Thanks to my brother for taking these pictures.

The pattern was bought in a wool shop called Knit in Minehead, and was found in the second hand/vintage section.  I paid less than £2 for it, bargain!  Sadly this shop has now closed!  I bought the wool at Buy & Save cheaply, it is not top quality at all, but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on my first big project.  It took me 9 months to make in total, as I made so many mistakes.  All rookie errors, I even started knitting the wrong size!

I just love old patterns!

I'm really pleased with how this turned out and I wear it a lot already.  I am looking forward to the winter months when I will be able to wear it more!

Saturday 6 September 2014

Reflections on moving to Exeter

When I moved area to start university I didn't think much about how I would tell people about my health.  I had thought about how I might approach the subject with my lectures, but that was about it.  I had assumed that it would just sort of come up, and that I would casually explain, and then move on.  But it was not that simple.  

Until recently I hadn't appreciated the fact that most people who know me from my home town have known me, or known of me since before I was ill.  There is so much information that automatically comes with knowing a person through a time like that.  They know what I was like before, and how things have changed for me.  If I meet someone new in my home town they are generally surrounded by plenty of people who are able to fill them in.  I have had so much of the work done for me in the past, and didn't even know it!

When I started university no one knew me, or anything about me.  There was a lot of information to get across to a lot of people, all of whom required the knowledge for different reasons.  Some just needed to be told to explain things socially; but others must know because it affects me and will inevitably affect them e.g. for lab projects and things.  I have handled my explanations with varying levels of success...  when they have gone well, I wonder what's all the fuss?  But when they haven't, things can seem impossible!  Close friends allow time and space for explanation, but others are not as invested and can be difficult to approach.

For the first few weeks I didn't feel a noticeable difference between myself and others, there were only a few instances where I had to explain why I couldn't do something.  So I didn't end up saying much.  I was feeling really well having had a year off to focus on my M.E.  It is hard to know what to say when there isn't actually anything to explain!  By the end of my gap year I had started to tell people that I used to have M.E. (wishful thinking).  

Having never done this before, I have found that people expect you to know what to say, but it was not the case.  At the start of the year there was no way of knowing how my M.E. would affect me throughout my degree, and I still don't know what the future holds.  As the year has progressed my symptoms have worsened and I have tried my best to understand and explain them as best as possible.

A lot of things that I have written about in this post may seem obvious, however they are things that I was just not prepared for!  A year on from moving to Exeter I have learnt a lot, I have learnt about the aspects of my health that I find more challenging to discuss, and am working on how to improve.  Not everyone is as practised at reading in between the lines as I had grown accustomed to at home.  Nor should they need to be.  I hope that I am getting better at talking about my M.E, now that I've had a bit of practise talking to people from scratch.