Road Closed = Unexpected Delays

I take turns to drive my daughter and her friend to NYCoS, the National Youth Choir of Scotland rehearsal held each week at St George’s School, Edinburgh.�� My usual route��takes��us under the rail��bridge and��past the mail depot on Russell Road, a route much favoured by rugby fans from our neck of the woods,��en route to matches at Murrayfield Stadium, apparently.

A road-works sign put an end to our ambition this week.�� That access is closed for six months, while Network rail carry out much needed repairs to the rail bridge.�� In the gathering dusk, under the indifferent illumination of an overhead light, with my driving glasses on, I tried to consider an alternate route, and had to admit defeat, turn round and drive us all home again.�� Apart from anything, setting out on unknown routes in rush-hour traffic was not an attractive prospect.

Apologies delivered, I now find myself considering what I never have really faced before: Is my inability to navigate unfamiliar routes at short notice – my fear of unusual traffic routes – part of my condition, my having CP, or is it just a part of having been immobile for the first five and a half years of life?�� I can feel the��hesitation in others, when they��quickly suggest an alternate route, not wanting to voice their bafflement at what they think of as an easy alternative, while I fudge the issue politely and cross my fingers.

Publicly, I refuse to apologise for being different, but privately, I now face a whole raft of questions, to which, thankfully, my daughter knows most of the answers.�� How grateful I am to have such an understanding and thoughtful child.�� How tired I am of trying to navigate a life clearly meant for someone with much faster reflexes than mine, and a much quicker grasp of the facts; and sad, too, to have to confess to such small trip-ups that leave me flattened, while others walk on gaily by, unaware that I even have any issues to contend with.�� ‘That? But that’s so easy!’�� Well, no, it isn’t.

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Masandrivskyi Palace, (Winding staircase)