STACEYS' VISIT

Hi there.

Well, there are now just approximately two days now before I FINALLY see Stacey 'in the flesh' for the first time.

Just quickly Posting to say that arrangements are still ongoing in readiness for here arrival. I am getting INCREASINGLY excited. I have things to sort out with the Hotel chiefly.

I have made one, (to me at least), VERY bizarre discovery. We will be staying at The Holiday Inn on Castle Street in Cardiff, as I have already previously mentioned.

Now, The Holiday Inn that Stacey & I will be staying at apparently & allegedly (subject to my being correct), only serves Lunch in the Restaurant on a Sunday. I will be in further touch with the Hotel asap to ascertain whether this is true, & if it is whether they operate a Room Service System for Lunch for the remainder of the week. Similarly, I will need to check arrangements for when Breakfast & Dinner are served both in terms of Commencement & Conclusion.

As well as this of course, Next Thursday is Thanksgiving Day in The States. I will also have to see if I can arrange something there too. Alternatively, I am given to believe that The Holiday Inn is an American - owned concern. So, perhaps, they will be able to either assist or advise.

I will be Posting again later on another issue

More 'Barks' again soon

Best Wishes
'Brian, The Bull Terrier'

ASSISTANCE

Hi there.

Just a quick Posting this time.

I would be grateful to learn what you think I should be Blogging about?

I look forward to discovering your answers

More 'Barks' soon
'Brian, The Bull Terrier'

Re SECOND HOTEL VISIT

Hi

Apologies for this Post being delayed. I would have produced this yesterday, but yesterday was one of those 'mad' days.

Yesterday morning, I, along with my Keyworker & Activities Co - Ordinator (who drove us down) visited the Hotel, primarily to view the Disabled Accessible Rooms, & also to 'dot I's' & 'cross t's' in relation to everything.

We arrived at the Hotel, & spoke to a Receptionist. We were then taken to a Lift. I SWEAR that you will NEVER have seen a lift THAT small. It was THAT small, that I COULDNT fit in, without grabbing a bar at the back of the lift & LITERALLY swinging myself around, apparently, & allegedly, making my chair slightly airborne in the process. I also had to do this to extricate (is that the correct spelling?) my way out of the lift. There seems ABSOLUTELY NO way that both Stacey & Myself would be able to fit in there together. How COULD this be possible when I have to manoeuvre like I have to to get in & out. The lift is THAT small & tight, that it would struggle to hold an anorexic Greyhound.

In terms of viewing the rooms, that was, on the whole, pretty good. The Rooms which were Disabled Accessible, but did NOT have a Hoist, were pretty roomy. The Room with the Hoist, was the roomiest though. This Room, however, is allegedly 'taken up', so we will have to take one of the other two Rooms. There were one or two issues that needed to be checked. Thankfully, the bed is a good height, & I can easily transfer to there from my chair & vice versa. The Bath however, is a lot different. That is a REAL 'Nightmare On Elm Street'. It is a Standard, conventional Bath - COMPLETELY UNLIKE the Baths at Danybryn, which with the aid of a Handset, can be tilted backwards & forwards. Worse still, is the issue that the Showers are over the Baths.

Incidentally, as I recall, the Room with a Hoist also had a view from the window, of The Millennium Stadium no less.

There was also a lift to & from the Restaurant/Dining Area. Thankfully, this was a good deal more spacious. Some people, might, for all I know though, be somewhat perturbed by a Glass Lift.

On inspecting the Restaurant/Dining Area, the main things to come from that were the discovery that it was a two - tier Room, with about three steps dividing the upper area from the lower area. This, we were told could be dealt with by the bringing in of a Ramp. We decided that using the lower tier would be a better option.

Additionally, this weekend is the first of two consecutive weekends when Cardiff will be ABSOLUTELY PACKED with Rugby fans. The reasons for this being two Internationals. This weekend its Wales v Argentina. Then seven days later, its Wales v Australia. With this in mind, we were advised to eat in the Restaurant on Saturday Evening, & to make a Reservation. I will 'substantiate' this.

Oh well, thats all for now.

More 'Barks' again soon

Best Wishes

'Brian, The Bull Terrier'

SECOND HOTEL VISIT

Hi Again.

Just a quick posting to let you know that this morning, I am, along with my Keyworker at Danybryn, undertaking a second visit to the Holiday In on Castle Street in Cardiff.

This visit is to inspect The Rooms at the Hotel which are said to be Disabled Accessible. It would not have been necessary had at least one of the said Rooms been empty when we initially visited last week. Unfortunately this was not the case.

I will Feedback later.

More 'Barks' soon.

Best Wishes
'Brian, The Bull Terrier'

INCOMPLETE TRANSCRIPT

Hi

Just the quickest of Postings to apologise to anybody who may want to visit my Blog to read my most recent Posting prior to this one. I don't profess to possessing the technological know how to tell you how or why this has happened.

All that I can say, is that I offer my profusest of apologies

More 'Barks' soon
'Brian, The Bull Terrier'

HERNIA

On Friday Morning of last week, just after I came out of the Bath, & got myself dried up, a nasty, sizeable lump was detected on the right side of my Abdomen. It was inspected by the Support Worker at the Disabled Care Home that I live at. She, in turn, immediately informed one of the Nurses on Duty. Several people who saw & felt the lump when I showed them, were convinced that I had a Hernia. I have to confess, that, even though, my Spina Bifida prevents me from feeling any pain below the waist, I thought so too at the time. I had never personally suffered a Hernia, but I had been told that they were exceptionally painful.

Very speedily, an Appointment was arranged at the Local Medical Centre. I was called in by the GP. I told him what was wrong. He had a prod. After a few seconds, he diagnosed Scar Tissue, which incidentally had obviously come from my Emergency Surgery after my Hydrocephalus Shunt blocked on October 7th.

I returned Home, & relayed the news to those who needed to know. The scepticism/cynicism remained. I then decided, after mulling it over in my mind, that I would seek a Second Opinion.

A different GP from the Medical Centre visits my Home each Monday to visit & check any other Service Users who are sufficiently unwell. On Monday of this week, I went to my Local Medical Centre for an INR Appointment in relation to my Warfarin, which I have had for about ten years now. Imagine my frustration, when, as I left my Home,  I saw the GP from The Medical Centre travelling in the opposite direction.

I resolved to make another Appointment, with the specific GP who I should have seen on Monday Morning. That Appointment went ahead this afternoon. She checked me over, & mercifully, her opinion matched that of her male colleague, who had seen me six days before.

Alls' well that ends well.

More 'Barks' soon
'Brian, The Bull Terrier'

FEEDBACK FROM HOTEL VISIT

Well, I am back from my Reconnaissance Trip to The Holiday Inn, in the Castle Street area of the Centre of Cardiff.

I travelled down in one of Danybryns' vehicles, accompanied by my Keyworker, & the main driver. We were only there for ten minutes, if that. I had already phoned the Hotel twice this morning, so they were well aware of our impending arrival. We waited at The Reception Desk for a couple of minutes, & were then greeted by a Member of Staff.

My Keyworker, had two issues that she wanted to raise. Those issues being the Bed & Bath (Both in terms of whether I would be able to successfully transfer from one to the other. We were unable to discover this today, because all of the Disabled Accessible Rooms are currently being occupied. My Keyworker & I were both in agreement that, as a Hotel is different from a Disabled Care Home, the Hotel would probably never have seen the likes of the Baths at Danybryn. In adddition to the Bath, we also discovered that the Showering Facilities - were over/or a part of the Bath. :(.

In connection with the Rooms itself, we discovered, whilst chatting with the Member of Staff in question that it would not be until at least Sunday, that we could view a Room. After conferring with my Keyworker, we both agreed to make the visit on the Monday, (the next day that she is working after today). I have been instructed to speak to a lady by the name of Sarah, who, I am given to understand, is the Chief Receptionist there. I willbe getting in touch with her in due course.

The ONE gripe that I, myself had was the fact (as usual) that the Reception Desk was someway above my 'Centre of Gravity'. Referring back to one of my Posts this morning, Why, oh why, cannot it be possible for Architects of a proposed site, like a Hotel, to liaise with Disabled Clientele?, Or, once again, why cannot there be more Architects who are Wheelchair Users?. (Are there any at all?).

Please feel free, to reply to this Post, should you wish

More 'Barks' soon
'Brian, The Bull Terrier'

The Main issue that we wanted to discuss ie

FOLLOW UP

While compiling my last Post, it came back into my mind of a trip I made to Sophia Gardens, (now renamed the Swalec Stadium), The Home of Glamorgan County Cricket Club, a couple of years ago now for the Day/Night One Day Cricket International between England & Pakistan.

What I can vividly remember, apart from the rain ruining proceedings, were the following two things:

1 The extremely tricky grassy, & gravelly surfaces, which I negotiated with a great deal of difficulty. If it had not been for the generosity of certain other spectators who witnessed my plight, it would have been still harder

2. In these times of Identity Fraud, (& you will almost certainly find this, as potentially TERRIFYING), I needed to go to a Natwest Cash Machine around the back of the ground. There were two. However, there might as well have not been ANY. This is because, get this, because of steps up to, & down from the relevant machines, I had to ask a fellow spectator to carry out the Transaction on my behalf. In this day, age & climate, is that scary or what?.

I will be liaising with the Swalec Stadium via their website (http://www.glamorgancricket.com/)  in the very near future to see whether the area around the back of the Ground has been 'concreted - over'. I will not be holding my breath though. I will also be visiting the website of The England & Wales Cricket Board (http://www.ecb.com/) to establish whether there is any International Cricket in Cardiff next Season.

More 'Barks' later on
'Brian, The Bull Terrier'

HOTEL VISIT

Hi

I must confess that I am nervous about today. This afternoon, I am, (along with my Keyworker from Danybryn), venturing down to The Holiday Inn Hotel on Castle Street in Cardiff. My reason for doing this is because from a week on Saturday (November 21), I will be staying at The Hotel, along with my Partner, Stacey, who I met on Facebook, in March of this year.

The reason for my nervousness is in connection with people & their different perceptions of Disabled Accessibility. I myself, would look for such things as wide doors, decent sized rooms, in order to negotiate successfully, (such as Bathrooms & Toilets), & flat surfaces with no steps. I say this, because I know of a website called, I think, http://www.cardiffpubs.co.uk/

The purpose of this website is to list EVERY Pub in Cardiff, with details on every conceivable issue, such as what the facilities are like for children, Whether the Pub has a Beer Garden, What the Toilet facilities ar like, & also, the Disabled Access facilities.

It lists two Pubs in Cardiff as Disabled Accessible, which I KNOW are not. One is a Pub called The Mochyn Du (Which I THINK, translates, as 'The Black Pig). This is in the Pontcanna area of Cardiff. I can point out two reasons why this Pub would not match the criteria of a wheelchair user in this sense. Firstly, on the way into the Pub, there is a gravel path, (wheelchairs DETEST gravel, & well as grass). Secondly, there is a 90 degree right hand turn to get into the bar, & then a similar left hand turn to get out. NOT Disabled Accessible in my eyes.

Even worse, there is a second pub in the Llandaff area of Cardiff, called The Heathcock. This pub is situated just past the BBC Wales Studios. I have travelled past it NUMEROUS times in either a van or a taxi. It is LAUGHINGLY described as Disabled Accessible, I say 'LAUGHINGLY, because there are two entrances/exits with no fewer than SEVEN steps for a wheelchair user to ATTEMPT to negotiate. I would LOVE the answers to the following three questions:

1. Who on Earth, labelled these Pubs as Disabled Accessible?. In the case, ESPECIALLY of The Heathcock, were they labelled like this by somebody who was out on a 'Pub Crawl'?. Its absolutely CRAZY.

2. More simply, & directly, why arent there more Disabled Auditors?. They would be in a perfect situation to check out the facilities. They would have first - hand experience of what to look for.

3. Similarly, now that I think of it, Architects need to liaise with Wheelchair Users at the earliest opportunity, in order to gauge what is needed. All of this has me wondering if there is any such thing as an Architect who is a Wheelchair User?. At the risk of being seen as a cynic, I VERY MUCH doubt it somehow.

Now you may have a better idea of why I am as nervous as I am.

I will be back again later on to Post  in connection with how the Trip went. I would welcome any responses that anybody may wish to air.

I will be 'Bark' again later on ('Bark', Get it?)

Brian, The Bull Terrier

CONFIRMATION

YIPPEE. My Blog has now been Registered successfully. I can now, FINALLY, get started.

I WILL be revisiting 'Help' Pages on here, however, in order to get the maximum out of the Service.

Watch this space

More 'Barkings' soon

Best Wishes
'Brian, The Bull Terrier

SUCCESS?

Hi,

Just the quickest of Posts to say that I THINK, that my Blog has now, Please God, been successfully Registered.

More 'Barks' soon

'Brian, The Bull Terrier'