A quacking spot…..

As a wheelchair user I am always on the lookout for good places to visit and enjoy a coffee. This is even more important when I have one or more of my grandchildren with me, so today’s recommendation for an early winter spot of sunshine, coffee and ducks is Charnock Farm in Charnock Richard. Here you will find a little log cabin where they serve coffee, food and treats. 

On a rare sunny day in winter it was such a pleasure to sit outside with the family and feed ducks and enjoy the view over the duck pond while sipping a latte. 

Access if via a paved area to the cabin and as long as it isn’t too muddy you can stroll around the pond on a gravel path. 

Behind the cabin is a small barn where the children can pet a few farm animals too. 

One of their favourite activities is sitting in the old tractor pretending to plough a field – or fly to outer space, or New York in Ethan’s case!

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New coffeehouse on the block….

Postcode is the newest place to relax and enjoy a great cup of coffee and a selection of food and drink.  This place is very special to us because we spent a lot of time helping to build it.  A few dedicated volunteers built all the furniture and interiors and it has so much charm; much of which comes from the reuse of old items into something new.  Upcycling is definitely the name of the game here because most of the furniture is built from used scaffold planks and pallets.  The soft furnishing is donated jeans and shirts stitched together to create a very unique fabric for the benches.

The lovely old piano bar is now on its 3rd life….firstly as a piano, secondly as a keyboard stand/shelf for our band and thirdly, and currently, as a lovely spot to sit with a friend and enjoy the atmosphere.

The barrel table is one of my favourites because it was created using an old beer barrel out of our cellar….one of three left behind when we purchased the old pub to turn into our home.  Another two-seater table is an old pub table given a new lease of life with a chunky board tabletop.  The seats are from the pub too, but they are now much tidier with upcycled jeans as seat pads.

Everywhere you look is something of interest, from the huge barn doors to the flying delivery bike.  This is truly a unique space created with love and care to serve our community.

One of the nicest things for me personally is that it is big, wide and open.  You can stretch your ‘legs’, roll around without bumping into things and get to the food service area and till with more than ample space to spare.  Parking is really good and access via the ramp into the large doors makes this a definite favourite.  Toilets are clean and tidy with wide passageways to gain easy access.

My favourite part of my trip today was meeting a lovely family.  Mom, Gran and daughter (in a wheelchair) came across to talk to me about my Trekinetic K-2 wheelchair.  I was more than happy to give them a demonstration and show them all the benefits of owning a K-2.  After a lovely chat I pointed them in the direction of Trekinetic and Mike Spindle and suggested they place an order as quickly as possible because the freedom, confidence and multitude of other benefits are priceless.  I hope that I meet them again soon over a cup of coffee.

#postcodecoffeehouse @postcodecoffeehouse @tcclife

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Pre holiday panic!

This was me….

 At that moment when you’ve planned your first holiday for nearly 5 years,  and 2 days beforehand you go to fetch your passport out of the safe…..and the key gets stuck and won’t go in or out!!!! 

This is no ordinary safe according to the safe specialist and can withstand a bomb blast and can’t be opened without a key! 😱 

Half an hour of panic and jiggling, me and the key, and I had to ring the safe specialist and explain the dilemma….holiday in 2 days, need passport, safe stuck.  While I was waiting for him to connect, I said a prayer, and in that instant it moved and then opened – thank you! 

Safe man ‘s advice “whatever you do don’t lock it until I get there”. 

Oh well, the safe may be open, but I can go exchange money….and we are GOING ON HOLIDAY 😄☀️☀️☀️

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I’d give an arm and a leg for that…….

I assume you know that saying, but if you don’t, it expresses a view that whatever it is that is wanted would be worth giving an arm and a leg for.  Now I know it is one of those nonsensical sayings that is simply trying to convey just how much something is worth, but I can only imagine the phrase was coined by someone with two perfectly functioning arms and legs! 🙂

In my case the two legs are present and accounted for but don’t work properly; and until last week the arms were reasonably good too – that is until my shoulder surgery last week and suddenly I didn’t have the use of one of the arms at all!  This got me thinking, as I do about strange stuff sometimes, if I was in some sort of deadly situation and I was asked (imagine big guy dressed in black, with eye patch)  “Do you want to lose the arm or the leg?”, how would I respond?  Having now got limited use of my arm back again I would have to reply “The leg”! It may seem drastic but seriously when you think about it what do the two sets of limbs actually do for you?

The legs get you from point A to B, either at a walking pace or a running pace and sometimes with a bit of exercise or dancing in between.  Your arms on the other hand seem to do everything else….take me trying to roll over in bed, or sit up in bed, or brush my hair (which is long and requires two hands to put in a ponytail, and you should see how terrible I have looked all week!), grasp and open a bottle (which rather amusingly I did land up opening with my feet at one point so you see how difficult this argument can become), take a pill out of those dreadful ‘childproof’ foils, push a wheelchair with one arm (you tend to go round in circles a bit!)….the list is endless, but I think you begin to see my dilemma.

I must say, the one thing this has highlighted for me is that I really do need to stick with the physiotherapy exercises and get this shoulder back to normal – sooner, rather than later!

So this week I am truly grateful…..for both my legs and my arms….and I ain’t never giving them up to the baddy!!!

 

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