June
2005. Pre-Expedition - Colin Javens
Days to departure: 129
The
excitement of having the Discovery parked outside my house at
the beginning of the month, but being unable to drive it felt
just like being a small boy who had been banned from opening
any presents on Christmas day. The combination of excitement
and sheer desperation to drive meant that I wanted to ensure
that vehicle adapters were prepared to receive the vehicle to
start work on adapting the vehicle to enable me to drive it
straight away.
Before
any work could be done the one big question was 'Where should
I organise the Turney seat that had kindly been donated to us
to be sent to be fitted?' The Turney seat is probably the most
dignified option of getting into a high vehicle like the Discovery.
Instead of being lifted in manually when 8 out of 10 times your
shoes fly off and trousers embarrassingly drop to show your
bare arse to the whole world (not a great sight). The turney
seat is a driving seat that electrically lowers out of the vehicle
and down to the same height of the wheelchair enabling an easy
sliding board transfer from chair to seat. By a series of conveyer-belt
chains and electrics the Turney seat would then lift me straight
into the driving position…job done.
My
heart sank when I got off the phone to a company who are the
most experienced in fitting the seat having been told that the
Turney will definitely not fit into a Discovery due to the small
space in the driver's door and the seat physically being unable
to turn out of the door. After previously being told by 2 other
companies that the seat would fit into the vehicle I had really
set my sights on this option. It would have made the support
teams life so much easier as well because it meant not having
to manually lift me at all, which is OK once or twice but for
5 months, I couldn't ask anyone to help me do that for such
along time.
Its
been back to the drawing board this month, which has been a
little pressurized as we are on quite a tight schedule regarding
getting the vehicles prepared and testing in time for departure
in November. The problem of getting into the vehicle has however
now been sorted. I've found a company could Cowal Mobility who
will build a hoist that will mount on roofrack of the vehicle.
The team will then be able use a sling and the hoist to lift
me into the vehicle. Its not ideal but as Derek would say 'It's
a solution to a problem!'
(I
wonder if anyone is still reading this or am I boring everyone
to death? If you are dropping off fancy dropping me a note on
the message board and coming back to this later?)
Today
I had a strength assessment by Peter from Steering Developments
(another conversion company, who were one of the pioneers of
hand control design in the UK). He came out to my house to test
my strength in my arms with a portable steering wheel, hand-control
throttle/brake and a computer programme to access exactly what
hand controls I would physically be able to use. I have been
so impressed with this company that I've now asked them to covert
the Discovery. So here we are already 4 weeks behind schedule
but we are making progress!
Summer
Ball 18th June
The early part of the month was also the lead up to the summer
ball Ben, Kiko and I organised for 160 people at the Shirehall
in Hereford. The evening was in aid of our African Beneficiaries
and as a result we decided to theme the whole evening on a 'Touch
of Africa'. The night began with complimentary Champagne under
the sun-drenched pillars of the Shirehall followed by the excellent
food cooked by Christine Waignwright and a hilarious auction
carried out by Adam Parsons (BBC auctioneer). The night was
then danced away to the sound of two excellent live bands Gentleman
of Jive and The Chameleons.
Yet
again this event was a fantastic tribute to our friends, family
and the people and businesses of Hereford who are continually
supporting us and being incredibly generous. The night would
also not have been possible without the hard work from Ben,
Kiko, Barrie, Woody, Lloyd and Luke. Therefore I would like
to say thank you to everyone and well done for helping raise
an amazing £8000, which will go a very long way at the
projects in Tanzania and Zambia.
Expedition
PA
The final week of the month has been allocated to finding a
PA who will assist me with my day-to-day needs during the expedition.
Caroline, Jo and I interviewed 6 great people at Stoke on Tuesday
and we're off to Heathrow tomorrow to interview two more potential
candidates. I am really looking forward to getting the whole
team together. It will really feel like everything is falling
into place.
I
never forget what a wise man once said to me 'You can't Hoot
with the Owls and Scream with the Eagles my dear boy'. Well,
we seem to be doing a bit of both at the moment. IT'S ALL GO!
By
the way if anyone is reading this you have noticed my diary
is getting a little more flowery it's due to Caroline and Jo
urging me to get 'All Emotional' in my diary section. I don't
know whether it is working?
