It’s been a busy week. Last Friday my husband Darryl retired from his full-time job. This has been a long-term plan for a while but I’m not quite sure if I am ready for this 😊. In the last 18 months my life has changed beyond recognition: I have 2 new hips, James has moved out and now Darryl is home full time!! There have been many long lonely days at home over the last 25 years or so, most young mums will have experienced that at some point. I think it was heightened at times by the limitations I felt, due partly to James’ extra complications. It wasn’t always easy to go out so it was often easier to be at home. Once both boys were at school I had more freedom, though essentially life revolved around home. I’m not complaining about that at all, I was very lucky not to have to work and I will always be grateful to Darryl for that. Even at the most difficult times I would not have missed those years at home with my boys. They grow up so quickly. Over the years I’ve got used to being here alone most days and actually I quite like my own company. I like to potter, do the things I need to do without question or interference. Oh my, how that is going to change!!!!
Have a Little Thought….Please
Saturday we had not such a pleasant experience. Having picked James up in the morning and taken him for a haircut we made our way to our house. On entering our road, it was blocked by a store delivery lorry. The road was not busy, in fact there was only one car parked in it and the delivery driver chose to park right opposite it making any access, either into or out of the road, impossible. Now I completely understand that the drivers have a job to do and are on a tight schedule. I have a delivery myself every week from another store. There will be times when just for a few minutes the driver has no alternative but to park where it may cause some congestion. In this instance that really was not the case but he had clearly wanted to stop right outside the house he was delivering to. If he had parked on the opposite side of the road (it’s only a small road) behind the other parked car then it would not have caused anyone a problem at all and he would only have had an extra 8 feet to walk. I also appreciate that it is not the drivers fault that James is not going to understand that he has to wait. After just a few seconds of waiting though James was having a full-on meltdown. Darryl opened his car window and asked the delivery guy if he could move back to let us through. He would have heard the commotion as I imagine did the whole street. The driver was at this point wandering between his truck and the customer’s door collecting the empty trays whilst the food was being offloaded by the customer. He point blank refused to move. James was by now hysterical. I got out of the car and approaching him I explained that my son was Autistic and could he just move backwards to let us through please as James was distraught and didn’t understand what was happening. The driver threw the trays he was carrying down by the side of his truck and he did get in and reverse back just enough to allow us through. Once we were in our house Darryl did go to speak with him, the driver said he had a disabled son himself. I don’t know if that was true or not but if he did then maybe he could have been a little more understanding. It took James well over half an hour to calm down when we were indoors. Again, I must emphasize that I don’t expect life to revolve around us and unfortunately, we have to deal with situations every day that James finds distressing and that’s no one elses responsibility but ours, but please, lets show some consideration to others. This whole upset could have been avoided if the guy had just moved a little when we had first asked or parked more considerately in the first place.
A Little Break
Fortunately, our week ended on a much more positive note. We spent a few lazy days in a beautiful area of the country, Studland in Dorset. It was helped by the fact that summer finally arrived and we had glorious sunshine whilst we were there. Since James has moved out we haven’t had too much time yet to be able to make the most of our new found freedom. I have been recovering from hip surgery, for a long while Covid restrictions still applied and Darryl had work commitments. As our other son was also away on holiday Darryl’s retirement seemed a good opportunity to take a few days out for ourselves and it also coincided with our wedding anniversary. We stayed at the Knoll House Hotel. The hotel was lovely, it is maybe a little dated and needing some refurbishment but equally I think that adds to its charm. It has amazing views and whilst we weren’t able to book a room with a view of the beach, we loved our garden room which was away from the main building and looked out over the pool area. Beyond the pool were fields and from our room we watched the deer come out every evening. There are also lovely surrounding woodland areas where we walked every day and also spotted deer. Whilst the hotel was clearly understaffed this did not impact the enjoyment of our stay. All the staff were polite and helpful. We were treated to a free glass of bucks fizz at breakfast for our anniversary on our last day and the 8 hour braised steak was to die for and melted in your mouth.
We are not generally beach people but then we haven’t had time for many years. As the weather was so beautiful, we spent some of our time on the beach at Knoll or swimming in the hotel pool. We did get the bus right outside the hotel to Shell Bay and go on the ferry over to Sandbanks where we spent an enjoyable couple of hours before making our way back.
Not Forgetting James!
The great thing is that because James’ home have an online app which is updated regularly by his staff, I can keep a check on him the whole time I’m away. On Tuesday instead of coming to tea at our house as usual, he went to Grandma and Grandads which he loves to do.
Next week we are taking James away for a few days to the Isle of Wight. We are taking him to Hartlands Autism Friendly Holiday centre on the South Coast in Shanklin. We have rented a self- contained apartment and there are onsite facilities. I have no idea how this is going to work out but I look forward to giving you a full write up on this in a couple of weeks time. You never know..…it could be an ideal holiday destination for some of you too.
