So what’s been going on recently?  I’ve been pretty bad at up-dating my blog.  I really have no excuses!

But you’ll be pleased to hear that it’s not because I’ve given up!  Lots of things going on in my personal life (elderly parents needing a lot of support and searching out a suitable care home).  BUT I’ve also had a few holidays.  My first EVER cruise!  We went on a 12 night cruise of the Baltic States (Copenhagen, Stockholm, Tallin, St Petersburg, Helsinki, Bruges).

I’d been told by many friends that cruising is AMAZING.  Myself and hubbie had a sneaky idea that it may not be for us, but we thought we should at least give it a go!

We loved the fact that we only had to drive for an hour to Southampton, that our luggage was taken on board for us and that once we were on the ship, our holiday could begin!  No lengthy airport procedures to endure, no airport transfers – which never seem to be that straight forward when you are using a wheelchair.

We did enjoy all of the places that we visited – some really amazing countries with Tallin and St Petersburg in particular being quite different to many of the other european countries I’ve visited.  BUT I didn’t like having to dress up for dinner, having to clock watch and be in certain locations for specific times, being in such close proximity to 2000 other people, our cabin steward lovely as he was, clattering outside our cabin door at 7am….

Our sort of holiday is more peace and tranquility, moving at our own pace, doing things on the spur of the moment and dependent on the weather – if it’s too hot, I really don’t want to move much!)

We were fortunate with the weather – it was exceptionally warm!

I promised myself that I would have a go at Pilates.  I’ve found myself a local teacher who can do one-to-one sessions with me at Berkshire Physiotherapy Centre (a great local facility where I spend a lot of time and money keeping myself out of pain).  I’ve now done two sessions and I can see already that Pilates is going to be very beneficial for me in terms of strengthening under used muscles and correcting my posture.

Today I made a little video which I thought I would share!  The audience it is aimed at is other Thalidomiders with similar impairments who struggle with pain and are keen to find exercises which help with this!

I thought that I would share publicly as it shows that my exercise routine takes a lot of dedication and effort!  Getting onto and off the floor is an exercise in itself!