Access

I had a really lovely time in Norfolk recently, but there were certain things that weren’t accessible that could so easily have been.

Whoever said Norfolk was flat lied. Especially when you’re using a wheelchair, I find you notice every incline and even the tiniest slope can feel steep! These kinds of things tend not to frustrate me because there’s often no way of combatting them and it isn’t a deliberate choice but rather just how the land lies.

I also understand that access needs can conflict! For example, the things that get put on pavements (with the raised yellowish bumps – I apologise that I’ve temporarily forgotten the name) are invaluable for blind or partially sighted people, but cause pain in my head when my wheelchair goes over them. Because they’re so useful for blind or partially sighted people though, they’re an important accessibility aid.

Likewise, not all buildings can be fully accessible because of historic importance or listed status. I was very impressed by a castle we visited (Norwich Castle I think, though I wouldn’t swear to it) – I was able to access most of it and the only thing I couldn’t do was get up to the walkway, which didn’t actually have anything new to see, merely a different perspective.

On the off chance that any town planners or property owners and developers are reading this, here is some advice!

Cobbles/Gravel

There was SO MUCH GRAVEL.

It may sound trivial but my wheelchair threatens to fall apart when faced with gravel. There was a pub right next door to where we were staying, but because both the pub and our cottage were surrounded by gravel it was virtually impossible to get to without a car. Obviously, for a journey that short there wasn’t any justification for using the car but we’d have spent more time there had it not been for the gravel.

Steps are NOT accessible

I posted this on Facebook with the challenge to find what was wrong with this photo! I was as impressed with my friends’ responses as I was horrified by this door in the first place.

There are two main things that I noticed – that step, which is far too steep, particularly for an unaccompanied person or group of disabled people. There’s also the fact that the door is narrow and looks far too heavy. Even if asking or phoning the number produced a ramp, that wouldn’t solve either of these issues! Fortunately I didn’t need to go in, but this really isn’t good enough, and that’s before I get into whether I should have to ask for access or whether it is just an automatic right.

Accessible furniture and housing

This wasn’t actually something I’ve previously noticed very much, and I was grateful that our cottage had a downstairs bedroom. However, there were three major issues, none of which were insurmountable but they did undoubtedly make it more difficult than it needed to be.

Firstly, the living room was actually on a mezzanine level, and so up some fairly steep and scary stairs. It was really the only place to sit together with my parents and chat, read or watch TV. There was a sofa downstairs, and we spent a fair amount of time outside the cottage but it didn’t make for the most pleasant environment. There was also no toilet upstairs, and both my bedroom and the downstairs toilet had one steep step up to them – while not insurmountable it did make me feel a little bit trapped. In the house, I tend to use a walking frame rather than my wheelchair so these were things that were difficult, rather than actually impossible. The final issue was that all the furniture was very low down! It made it quite hard for me to stand up, especially because the sofas were leather (though that might have more to do with my personal dislike of leather!) – I’m aware this may seem like a very trivial complaint but I do wish that people would bear this kind of thing in mind when furnishing houses for other people!

I’ve probably forgotten lots of things and this is by no means an exhaustive list. My main advice would probably be that aesthetics don’t trump accessibility, and that if a castle can do it, so can you!

Yesterday, we got home from two (mostly) lovely weeks in North Norfolk. A slightly ranty post about accessibility (which can mostly be summed up as me talking about how much I hate gravel) will follow shortly! For now though, I’ll just mention the highlights of the holiday, of which there were many – although I’m glad to be reunited with Arya and with my own bed! I was glad to be well enough to be able to go out and do things most days, even if it was tiring and I’m definitely paying for it now – I’m still in bed and it’s long gone 1!

Amazona Zoo – this is a relatively small zoo, although I grew up going to Paignton Zoo which is huge, but a lovely one. I especially enjoyed the jaguar! It was also nice to use my camera for the first time in about two years.

Holt – the main thing about Holt was the incredibly posh food shop they had there! It was almost good enough to make us want to drive all the way there to get Christmas presents in December ..

Food – one of the lovely things about holidays is getting to try lots of new restaurants. My favourite was the one we went to on the final night, where I had the absolutely gorgeous steak pictured above – I’m sometimes a fairly unadventurous eater and I’ve got a lot pickier but that was absolutely lovely. We also met up with my godmother and her husband for a very nice lunch – it was the first time in years that I’ve seen her but they were in the area.

Norwich – obviously, this basically turned into Julian of Norwich World for me! I even took Julian and Cuthbert with me and Cuthbert got a photo at the altar in St Julian’s.

Here are some more photos from our holiday!

Finally, here is the newest addition to my rapidly expanding collection of cuddly toys – meet Bolt the Cheetah! So far he has avoided being ripped apart by Arya and ripping apart Cuthbert!

Margaret Atwood

Last night, I went to see Margaret Atwood in Conversation with Samira Ahmed – she was actually in London at the National Theatre but the evening was being broadcast to cinemas across the UK, one of which was the MAC (Midlands Arts Cinema, one of my favourite places in Birmingham) so along we went! I saw her speak in Edinburgh with some friends a few years ago, and that time she was talking about her book Hagseed (based on the Shakespeare play The Tempest, and a book I would highly recommend).

I read the Handmaid’s Tale when I was about 12, and it had a very profound impact on me and shaped a lot of my opinions at that age. I haven’t yet read The Testaments, but I do now have a copy so that has instantly moved to the top of my to-read list!

For me, it was the readings from The Testaments that were the highlights – Ann Dowd, Sally Hawkins and Lily James brought the characters to life. Margaret Atwood’s face while they were reading was a delight to behold, as she was very clearly moved by them.

Hearing her speak about the inspiration behind both The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments was interesting, especially when she spoke about her time in Berlin, and when she talked about the climate catastrophe (especially in relation to her MaddAddam trilogy, the first of which, Oryx and Crake, is one of my favourite books ever) it was also very interesting – it wasn’t really that she said anything new, but Atwood has a particular talent for phrasing things in a way that sounds very profound, both in writing and in speaking.

If you didn’t get a chance to see her, I would definitely recommend trying to get along to any other broadcasts, or if it’s released on DVD. But now, to read The Testaments!