Yesterday went fairly smoothly, if I'm honest!

-=-=-

The last time I was on a bus was roughly some time near the end of Feb 2012.
My sister had given me a Game-store gift card, and I used it to pick up a copy of Sonic Generations for the X360.
Two weeks later, I was having a brain tumour removed!
Aaah, the fun.

I haven't been on a bus since then. Buses are always super-busy, too much noise, too much movement, too far a distance from town, etc, etc.
It's been a particular bugbear of mine that I'm firmly locked in to the village and can't get anywhere.

But now we've moved, and town is a much shorter trip from the bungalow.
According to Google Maps, it's about 1.3 miles compared to 3.9 miles. That's literally a third of the distance, and thankfully the bus route is one of those little buses, too, meaning there's only a few older people on the bus, and not a huge rabbling crowd of rebels!

As such, MUCH more manageable.
I definitely couldn't go on a longer journey on the bus, though. Getting into town and getting off the bus, my stomach was starting to churn just from the short 5-or-so minute trip. It was more than enough...!!!

But I managed it!!!



Then we walked a couple of streets to where my Diabetes Eye Screening was. They did the usual drips-in-eyes, blur, camera, FLASH thing, and then we headed back out.
Walking back to the bus, there was a small cafe/chippy near the station, and ..
Dare I!?

I haven't eaten out since 2012. The smells of different foods, especially those being cooked, can make me feel incredibly nauseous. Couple that with the impending bus-trip back home, and this could very well be an extremely bad decision.

But we dared..
As Mum opened the cafe door, the waft of smells hit me almost instantly, and the all too familiar queasiness sank in.
Vinegar.. Oh, the Vinegar smell. That's something that's become incredibly noticeable to me, to the point where we have to hide the vinegar bottle in the house at times, as it's more than enough to knock me sick.

But I put on my brave face.
We sat down near the door, lest I need to rush out and take a breather. Seemed like a good idea, especially since I hadn't done this in over a decade.

The waitress came over and instantly asked us to move, in case anyone in a wheelchair needed to be closer to the door.
I was tempted to whinge about being asked, and explain exactly why I wanted to sit near the door, but..
.. Gawd, I just couldn't be arsed.
Not today. I'm dealing with enough...

So we reluctantly sat further back in the cafe, and then ordered a plate of chips each. Chips are easy enough to stomach when you're not feeling 100%. A mostly dry thing, other than the lovely chippy grease, and nothing too flavourful that might kick in any more nausea.



I ate up my whole entire plate of chips, drank my coffee, and my hand only started to shake erratically after about 1/3rd of the chips!
Mmm.. Shakiness.. :/

I'm sure that's just the nausea and stress of it all, right?!
...

We paid up, and it was an incredibly reasonable price given how everything else has skyrocketed lately, and then we headed back for the bus which was already waiting in the station, so didn't have to stand about waiting for it.

Another 5 minute trip back home, another bit of shakiness and queasiness from the rumble of the bus's big engine, but I coped well enough.

And then home.

And then rest.

And then I haven't done anything more since.
My head racing with the things I had to cope with during the day, and how stressful it all was.

I'm exhausted, today.
There's a sort of odd numbness in my head, which I think is maybe a minor headache. If it were a full-on migraine, my blindspot/twinking stuff would be kicking off, so it's not that. Hopefully it's just a headache!!

I think I need to switch off for the rest of today.
We've got family coming around, later, so that'll be another headache incoming

Would I do it again?! I think, maybe.
The weather was seemingly "just right" yesterday, though. Not too cold to freeze the goo in my head (that's very noticeable and hurts in a pain-pain-pain sort of way) but also not too warm to make the goo more fluidic (which is also very noticeable, in a added nausea, extra queasy sort of way).
Once we reach the summer season, I can't imagine this going as well.
Over the past few years, I've noticed a distinct drop in my outdoor strolling stats during the summer months.

But me and Mum have decided it might be a good idea to at least TRY to do this maybe once a month or so.
Can I cope with that?!
We'll see.



All I know is that, if Mum wasn't with me, I definitely couldn't have done any of it. Stumbling is still there at all times, and especially with the amount of traffic near the bus stop, that wouldn't have gone well.
Heck, I even started to panic when I realised that, to step towards the roadside and hold out my hand to get the bus to stop, would NEVER have been a safe thing for me to do.
Again, thank god Mum was there.
It's the little things like that.. The things I don't even think about until I'm in a position to do them.. That it suddenly occurs to me just how dangerous this whole stumbling thing can be.

Sure, I'm used to the stumbles around the house, and usually have something around me that I can grab onto, but as soon as I'm outside, all bets are off!!!

And there's always that "can't turn around to glance" issue, too. Too much looking around increases the nausea in multitudes. Straight ahead, don't deviate!
I think playing the VR has helped me lock down my facing-forward a fair amount, but it isn't great when you have to walk around outside, and can't really look around as you go.

.....

.. But I made it.
I had a lovely day out, and I can only hope that it's one of many more.

Let's a-go!


"Cartoon Derek, uk cafe, seated, chair, table, plate, cup, chips, eating" by #DrawThings

... Greenie's hand's looking a little bit.. um.. teacup...!