28th April: An independent journey

Today we passed a great milestone. At 9am, Simon went out in the powered wheelchair and travelled a kilometre by himself reaching a cafe on the Main Street of McLaren Vale. It was nerve wracking, but he has done it. We are so grateful to Jeremy from the Royal Society of the Blind who has been training Simon to use the chair and is so inspiring. We are now trying to buy the right powered chair for Simon so that he will be more comfortable and safer. The occupational therapist came to our house today and has promised to help us to find the right equipment. We gave up on government funding for this. I know that some of you were thinking of getting up a fund to help with this, in which case, now is the time.

Have discovered the 'cheap Tuesday' deal at the local video store and scored some cracking movies: The Damned United is superb for anyone who remembers the legendary Brian Clough and understands English football. I was taken back decades and reminded of the comforts and deprivations of those times. We also saw Inglorious Basterds (that is how they spell it). A tad violent for me, but Simon thought it was brilliant. Now he wants to see Avatar (anyone seen that?).

I was interviewed today by a colleague conducting research into Work Integrated Learning. I found myself quickly embroiled in the Humboldt / Newman stuff about what a University is for. Sometimes I swear Tom Bourner is sitting on my shoulder. Hope so.

Love Marian x

17th April: Simon is home

Just a quick update today. Simon discharged himself from the hospital yesterday, he could take no more. He is home and happy. The next week is a bit challenging because we have no physio or carer support but I can do some work with him and hope it will be enough to keep him ticking over.

Love Marian x

15th April: A mouse in the house

Simon is still in the rehab hospital and is deeply unhappy there. It is not quite the boot camp that we were promised, just three hours of therapy per week day and very little at weekends. It is terribly boring for him the rest of the time. The highlight of his week was when I sneaked in a cornish pastie. I will take him to Glenelg on Sunday afternoon for a spot of CD shopping, he has compiled a long list of must-haves. We have another public holiday (ANZAC day) on 26th April, and he has resolved to discharge himself from the hospital that weekend. We have stuck it out because the Professor has insisted and we need her support, but enough is enough.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch I am besieged by mice. What is Professor Skippy Orlando doing about this? Sleeping. What a slouch. Ironically, the mouse living in the pantry has a real liking for cat biscuits.

Simon's veggie patch is in full bloom - here you can see the 'dwarf' beans after just 14 days. It will be about four weeks before we are eating the produce. I did calculate that this project was costing about $20 per kilo of veg produced, but there's nothing like the taste of home-grown produce. I once had an allotment in Brighton which, despite having only four inches of top soil over chalk, produced an enormous glut each year. I can still remember my colleagues running down the corridor at the sight of me trying to give away surplus marrows.

Have had a conference paper accepted and quite pleased about that. It is local, so no need for travel. Am still thinking about Beijing. I could probably arrange for a carer to be with Simon for a few days but I don't like the idea of being so far apart. Sometimes I wish we were in England, especially now that spring is there and winter will soon be here.

Had a close shave on the road last week. Driving back from the hospital in the dark a roo jumped out in front of me. I swerved and missed him but the girl in the car behind me hit him. He was a big chap. I stopped to assist her, she had a little boy in the back seat and was very upset. The police came, threw a rope around the roo and dragged it off to the side of the road. They just left it there and told us to get on our way. I've resolved not to drive in the dark anymore.

We heard about the UK elections. Simon and I are sending in a request for overseas postal votes. Not sure if we will be in time, but with luck we will send two votes. Wouldn't it be something if we tipped the balance? I voted for the first time in Australia recently. These were state parliament and some commonwealth seats. They use proportional representation and the ballot paper was about two foot long. I can remember as a student having to debate the pros and cons of PR, but I don't remember any academic mentioning the practical problems with very long ballot papers. When asked to rank 47 candidates, eventually you lose count, make mistakes, and your pencil runs out of lead. You can alternatively just tick a box for a 'ticket' - which means that you vote for all of the labor (correct spelling in Australia) or liberal candidates etc. Personally, I don't favour this. It can result in the Harvey Proctor scenario (Basildon under Thatcher). So, if any of you are teaching government and politics these days, you might like to add that observation to your lecture notes.

On an academic note, I want to know if anyone out there has experience of using blogs, wikis, on-line social network sites etc. as sources of research data, and how do you persuade research ethics committees that this is an acceptable form of data collection. Pucker academic references would be much appreciated.

Love Marian x

1st April: Trapped in hospital

Simon was admitted to a private hospital yesterday for four weeks of intensive rehab. This is intended to give him a much needed boost of physio. It was a hard decision to accept to go back into the hospital environment, but we felt it was for the best. The shock came when we were told that he could not have weekend home leave because our private health insurance company would cut the funding if he was not in his bed by midnight every night! This is just bureaucratic nonsense, but there seems to be no way around it. Simon hates the place and I am very anxious about leaving him there. Ironically, the hospital is just around the corner from our old house in Brighton.

It is a long weekend, and I am told that I can take him out on Friday and Sunday, so I plan to bundle him into the car and drive down to the coast - even if I can just get him out in the fresh air for a few hours it will be a break from the hospital drudge. If any colleagues would like to visit Simon in the evenings he would greatly appreciate it. The hospital is in Hove, and if you email Simon's gmail address I can tell you exactly where to find him.

Skippy is upset because Daddy's away, and has decided to take it out on the female cat across the road again. What did we do to deserve a misogynistic cat?

We have decided against the Beijing trip for the time being. The cost of business class fares was monstrous, and I couldn't really justify that when we need so many other things. I have to prioritise Simon's wheelchair, and would like to get a bed that has a powered back rest so that he can sit up in bed whenever he wants to.

On a brighter note. Simon and I bought a huge raised planter for the back yard, it is just the right height for the wheelchair. I filled it with pea-straw and potting mix, and we sowed a load of veggies earlier in the week. In four weeks time it should be in full swing and ready for Simon's green fingers.

Am managing to survive at work - my boss and colleagues have been very forgiving.

Sorry for the lack of blogs. Time flies - so far this journey has taken nine months. I think we are still gaining ground. The same cannot be said for the Hammers - bring back Billy Bonds I say, I don't care if he's ninety....

Love Marian xx