This morning, Soot the almost 20 year old cat remained as a warm lump on my stomach until I had to extract myself to pack my bag and tidy my hair. The 2 chickens we own were pecking at the end of the run together despite the gusts ruffling their feathers, and Soot was on the back of the sofa when we left at 10:58 AM (and the car said it was 12°C).

There was a big removals van on Farm Road, and the big house called Quarry Bank on Stoneleigh Road had a small Irish flag flying at half mast outside; a banner on railings in Kenilworth was advertising a beer and cider festival, and a man crossing a road had an unbelievably fluffy beard; then Solihull was entered at 11:14 AM, followed by Balsall Common and a road that said it had a High Court injunction on it for a reason I forgot. An Aston Martin showroom wasn’t looking in the best shape, and further down the A452 was one heck of a lot of HS2 work, and there was quite a queue for parking at the NEC at 11:29 AM, including a Reliant Robin and something I thought looked like a hearse, a massive board had ‘The Bear Gryllis Adventure Centre – 10 Epic Experiences – climb, fly, leap, scramble’ advertised on it, and a Jaguar SS100, which was ancient, was also in the queue. We were eventually parked at 11.46am, it was drizzling and very blustery when we set off on foot to hall 20, a little Jack Russell in a fluorescent coat was doing a poo on the gravel next to the path while still attached to his or her owner, and we entered the hall at 12:00 PM.

Neo walk acrylic walking sticks were the first thing seen, followed by Norwegian walkers, cars with steering balls and push pull mechanisms, booklets of ‘Things I need to know after my ileostomy’, Things I need to know after my colonostomy’ and ‘Healthy eating with a stoma’, Mybility All Terrain Scooters, and Baldertech (with a massive teddy bear in a scooter). A stall called ‘Massage The Senses’ had a couple of people face down on massage chairs being elbowed in the back; a virtual aviation experience was followed by beds for disabled babies; and on the next row was a virtual piano, Scooterpacs were available, and Life Gliders were much admired. I spotted a 10 (ish) year old girl with a small tube up her nose by a Trekinectic stall (with a 13 (ish) year old brother also in a chair), a Levitex stall offering free sleep consultations (and also saying that 87% of adults sleep in the wrong position), S.W.A.D was a stall about sex, and another 1 seemed to be about a Born To Perform Dance School that had auditioned for Britains Got Talent last year.

Mum wanted her lunch then – so sat down with it in The Oak Kitchen to the side of the hall, and while sat there – I saw what looked like towers of onion rings being delivered to tables; and once up again, I filmed some of a performance by a group from The Music Man Project (despite the camera battery going dangerously low), and I noticed a stall selling really thick mattresses. Another 1 was offering eyebrow lifts; and 1 right at the edge of the hall called Disability Horizons was selling tipsi trays, uriwinells, cutlery called knorks, and bra buddies; and the hall was left at 1.50pm – into extreme gusts and unpleasant rain (meaning I dropped my notepad while trying to cling on to the leaflets) for 20 minutes.

Then the rain stopped when the car was reached, we got a bit confused while navigating round all the little mini roundabouts, eventually made it out on to the road – and then the rain started again. Mum decided to divert through Beausale and wiggle round the soaked country lanes – causing a stop to photograph some sheep; Hill Wooten was then wiggled through (and the river didn’t look that high), and just before 3pm – the local chemist was reached (and I saw latex finger cots, tincture of matricaria teething powder, and Deflatine tablets for wind relief). The pharmacist behind the counter told us their regular pharmacist had just had a baby – so things were a bit slower, but my prescription was ready; and we were home at 3.14pm. Soot was on the back of the sofa, the girls were at the end of the run, and then hailstones fell for several minutes, he got moving – so I gave him a big cuddle, sat down and was sat on for 15 minutes, before needing to get up and turn the computer on for a weekly virtual gathering.