Blog on being a disabled person, different cultures, diversity, equality, disability, travel, being diaspora Chinese and disabled travel.
I have always functioned better when it is warm - not hot and humid but warm in the higher 20's C. Suddenly my energy level seems to go up and I am more positive in my outlook. Colleagues in the office have the fans on and they wilt in the heat. To be...
It should'nt have taken that long but it did. I had wanted to see Jane for some time now and with Naomi since Jane is her godmother, it seems like a good idea. I did the recommended thing..I rang the Rail Enquiries for assistance as recommended and booked...
It seems like one big celebration after another - a big excuse for binging under the guise of cultural festivities. I had some dim sum to celebrate but I went on my own. Chinese new year this year fell on 29th january. It felt just like any other day...
Today Naomi and I packed a picnic and set out for Memorial Park. It is the biggest park in Coventry and looks suitably big on the map. It didnt take very long to get there - however, it was harder than expected because we could not find dips or ramps...
written beginning November... back in Strasbourg before the move and the window in the lving room in the flat my bedroom Naomi in the flat One week in Coventry now… Martin and Jon came over and did a marathon drive to Strasbourg in a hired van to pick...
I thought I better write a quick note before too long. So much has happened-so much is happening..where does one have time to record... ICHIM Paris was very good. This is me at the BnF (the famous book ends) with Marianne Serra Marianne worked incredibly...
I left in mid August and flew with Singapore Airlines - it all went smoothly - there was about 60 films to choose from so i did not sleep at all. The worse of the haze from indonesia had lifted and i was met at the airport by my brother and the kids and...
Today is French Mother's day and voting day for the referendum. I didnt really take part in either. Last weekend I did not write because I went to Paris. I managed to get to the Musée d'Orsay and just as I reached my favourite Degas's sculpture of the...
Gian paid me a surprise visit from Paris this week. He came by train from Paris on Wednesday night and left by plane back to Nice on Saturday morning. We went to l`Alsace à Table restaurant - Marisol came with us. Marisol and I had a barr ( I have no...
So much for getting up early to go to work! The lift was not working! Hello I thought, thank goodness it was working when I got home last night or I would have been homeless. And the landlady came on Monday night to check the place out as she said, Her...
The Pope died yesterday. I must be old - I remember when he became the pope. I wasn't a Catholic yet. Europe was very far away to a young impressionable teenager who was in search of ..........life, spirituality, answers. I was hungry for life. Which...
Susie and Manu and their kids, Eloise and Raphael came to dinner. It was good to see them as Susie reminded me, she broke her waters after dinner in this apartment just before I left to study in USA four years ago. So Raphael is now four years old. I...
My local parish church has merged with another - its been happening for a long time. And most of the important services are held in the Christ Resusité which is rather inaccessible. I wanted to go to the Easter Virgil. It is the most dramatic of services...
Today Marisol and Catherine came for lunch. I made roast lamb with aubergines (eggplants) and courgettes (zucchinis) . I think it is an old French recipe that I got somewhere. A paste of French mustard, olive oil, crushed garlic (lots) and soya sauce...
I have been waiting for John to go with me to buy a Christmas tree. I still have this old fashioned notion that a Christmas tree is to be decorated on Christmas eve and it is a family activity. John baulked at the idea and he said there were no more trees...
Between Christmas and New year was a period in which we tried to really clear the flat. And between times, we went out with friends. I had dinner with Marisol and Philipe in town and after dinner, it was really pelting down with snow. Marisol at dinner...
This afternnon I had a meeting with Brian W from the University - I wanted a few answers about how to get my degrees into a kind of equivalent status. I've known Brian before - he's helped me by giving me access to the university's English department...
At the ruins of the Coventry Cathedral Well it's been nearly 5 months now. Its been a mad time. British Telecoms did not allow me broadband till a week ago. I wrote an entry but it did not get posted here yet. Its been hectic getting settled into a new...
I nearly missed the train to Paris this Tuesday. However the SNCF staff at Strasbourg came up trumps - they got me on the train. I am supposed to be there half an hour before the train is due out but one thing or another I was delayed. And I had not got...
Dominique, a French Alsacian wheelchair user, told me that I should attend a day of information about the law and the disabled at the CEP. He is a translator (French/ English and German) and I ve known him and his wife for some time. He also said that...
Back in Strasbourg with a bang - I was only one day from Malaysia/ Singapore when I got involved in the freedom drive. Here are some links to the event- http://www.vie-independante.org/ (French) http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=71786 (EN)...
This week had its ups and downs. A normal week! Except that I had more time to brood and catch up with friends - well, I spoke to some of them, many were away or not at home! It was a holiday on Thursday(Ascension) and most people had the "pont " (bridge)...
Its been sometime since I wrote almost a month. It has been a busy April. I went to Vancouver on the 11th and came back to Strasbourg on the 20th. I had a couple of days to finish our paper for web accessibility in China for STC special edition (for which...
Cote d Azur I flew into Nice on Saturday 23rd . It was a smooth trip except for a slight incident. The attendant who came to help me off the plane at Nice asked me a question that had me floored. I have been to quite a few airports but this is the first...
Morpheous doesn't seem to be eating much-its not like him. And it seems to be time for him to go to the vet for that "special operation" castration. Anyway the vet's receptionist said there was a free slot. So I rang John and got ready to go with Morphy-not...
