Tag: Blue badge

50 Wilmslow Festive 10K (and Blue Badge trial run!)

Today was the day of the Wilmslow Festive 10K.  Unfortunately I wasn’t well enough to go and cheer the team on and to be official photographer, but they managed to get one or two pictures of their own, after their run.  Other photos are from the Run North West official Instagram page. 

Run North West

There was the usual chaos and crowds before the start with Niamh and Cal unable to find Jake and Jess.  Jake’s brother and his fiend were also running today, but I don’t think they all managed to get together until after they had finished. 

It’s been very cold here recently and today was no exception but it was also bright and dry, so perhaps good conditions for running (says someone with no knowledge at all of what constitutes good conditions for running!).

Niamh continues to struggle with her hip injury, which has impacted on her training and flared up again this morning.  She is a little disappointed in her time of 1 hour and 5 seconds and I think she’ll be giving running a miss for a while now (she is however, talking about some sort of swimming challenge and a coast to coast walk, so there really is no stopping her!).  

I haven’t heard the times for the others yet but have heard that winner of the women’s race, Eilish McColgan achieved a new course record of 32:40 (perhaps I was right about the running conditions after all?!) .

The guys have collected their medals and headed home for a well earned rest, some warmth and a Sunday dinner! 

Well done all of you …absolute superstars ❤️❤️❤️❤️

In other news, my Blue Badge arrived in the post on Friday and I manage to give it a test run on Saturday. 

I met up with my lovely friends Brenda and Karen and we all squashed into my little car and headed off to the Christmas Makers Market at The Lowry.  It took a lot longer than planned to get there (the Mancunian Way is definitely to be avoided at this time of year!) and we were a little confused by the disabled parking arrangements, but managed to suss it out.  We received a top tip from the parking attendant – keep a photo on your phone of your Blue Badge – and may even look as if we know what we are doing next time! 

We had a lovely couple of hours looking round the market (although our total purchases for the day amounted to a loaf of artisan bread and a bobble hat – I don’t think we are quite committed to Christmas yet!).  I have been feeling a bit rubbish lately but found an afternoon with good friends really lifted my spirits …thank you, you two ❤️

Another thing I learnt was that if you try to eat a crepe with melted white chocolate, whilst standing up, holding a bag and a walking stick, when you’re feeling a bit wobbly, you will end up with melted white chocolate all over you! 

We returned to the car park and realised we had been so focussed on sorting out the parking ticket (which was lost for about 10 minutes) and the Blue Badge, that none of us remembered where we had parked the car!  So there we were, 3 supposedly intelligent women (all teachers!) with no sense of direction, spacial awareness or memory between us! 

Julie is still doing well on her alcohol free November challenge …not long to go now Julie! 🥂

I’ll update you on other plans soon xx

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47 More red tape

My Blue Badge assessment wasn’t too bad in the end.  An observed pavement and stair walk, followed by an interview.  I had taken some medical notes and letters with me, which proved helpful and the interviewer asked me lots of questions to extract information to gain as many points as possible. 

Today I heard that I had the required number of points (12) and now qualify for a Blue Badge.  I had hoped to pick it up this afternoon (as I work in a neighbouring building) but apparently it has to be posted to my home from somewhere in Nottingham (why does it have to be so convoluted?!).

Once I have the Blue Badge I can then apply to my work place parking team (who work in the same building as the Blue Badge assessor) for a parking permit.  Until then, you may still see me wobbling about in the streets near my work place …I will try my very best not to fall on my face or get run over whilst waiting for this to be sorted out!

In other news, the four Wilmslow Festive runners are getting some training runs in and wondering what they’ve let themselves in for.  It’s rather cold and damp here at the moment, so let’s hope it’s a bit brighter on the 25th!  

There was a bit of a kerfuffle earlier in the week when everyone’s race numbers arrived, well, 3 of the 4 arrived as it transpired one doesn’t know her own postcode!  Let’s hope she doesn’t have similar problems with the route on the day! 

Here’s a map showing the starting point just in case!

I’m  hoping to get a little team together to go down and cheer them on – do give me a shout if you’d like to come along.

If you’d like to sponsor Jess, Jake, Callum or Niamh, please see them in person or click on the link below (please mention them in your comment). 

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46 Blue badges and red tape

Tomorrow I have an assessment for a Blue Badge. I don’t actually want a Blue Badge, but have found myself applying for one and being invited for an assessment.

In my daily life, I am trying to continue as “normally” as possible.  I also want to keep moving as much as I can and feel no need for special parking privileges.  

But then there’s parking at work …

I work for my local authority and one of the biggest issues all who work there have, is the lack of parking.  We basically have two choices – pay £50 per month for a parking space or park 10 or 15 minutes away and walk.  There’s an extra issue here as my job involves travelling to meetings at various places, so I can end up in and out of the office during the day, sometimes carrying paperwork, laptop etc.

Until now, I have always chosen to park and walk – I didn’t want to pay for parking and I figured that those short walks were good exercise.  But now walking to and from my car for work is becoming quite a problem for me.  All the roads close to my work place are sloping or uneven or both and quite a challenge for someone with poor balance and wobbly legs!  Throw a bit of windy weather and Northern rain in the mix and my journey to work in the morning can be like an endurance challenge! 

I have posted before about how fatigue affects my daily life and the need to conserve spoons (energy) Some days I am so out of spoons by the end of the working day that I struggle to manage the walk to my car.  I don’t feel safe on days like this – my right foot drops sometimes and catches on the ground, I sway when I stop at the kerb to cross a road and sometimes feel vulnerable as I feel so weak and exposed. 

Under the Disability Discrimination Act, I am allowed to ask my employer to make reasonable adjustments to support me to be able to work.  I’ve had a couple of appointments with occupational health and discussions with my team manager and am well supported – I really value all the support I have received from my team and manager.  The only additional adjustment I have requested is to be provided with a parking space in the car park beneath the building where I work. 

The response from HR was that I am already provided with parking …I just need to pay for it!   I have argued that this is unfair – I choose not to pay for parking but my disability is forcing me to do so, but they weren’t for budging.

I occasionally have reason to walk through the car park and it’s never full (because most staff are choosing not to pay for parking), so it’s not as if providing me with a space would cost them money or do someone else out of their space. 

My manager looked at the possibility of paying for my parking using team funds but was prevented from doing so by (yes, you’ve guessed it) …HR.  HR then advised me that the only way I could prove I needed a parking space provided was to get a Blue Badge.

I decided to look up the criteria for being allocated a Blue Badge to see if I was eligible and discovered …there aren’t any!  Responsibility for issuing Blue Badges lies with each local authority and they can decide their own criteria and assessment process.

So, now I find myself attending a Blue Badge assessment, where I have no idea of the criteria, which is being carried out by someone from the local authority …the same local authority that is my employer, who have already refused my parking request!

So, Blue Badge assessment, here I come!  Let’s hope I pass! …or should that be fail??!

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