Vroom vroom!

I had to go to the local shopping centre today to get a present for a birthday party. It was suggested to me that when I was there I should get one of the shopmobility scooters to go about on (tongue wasn't in cheek either).

It reminded me of a very good friend of mine (who sadly died of cancer several years ago) who had a disability and owned her very own scooter. We used to see her zipping round town all the time; I remember meeting her on the top floor of Debenhams during the sales, causing havoc as she raced for the bargains scattering shoppers left and right in her wake! Occasionally she would let us do time trials on it, or use it to go on the pull.

The was one famous scooter moment caught on video which still makes me laugh. We had both been leaders at a big International youth camp based in Northern Ireland. On the last day, we were packing the 600+ kids that had attended off on coaches home. All the leaders stood to watch the kids leave and as we waved off each bus in the long, long line of buses, we suddenly noticed my friend on her scooter, sandwiched between two coaches, heading up the main road from Armagh to Belfast waving back.

What else would you expect from a woman who's first response, on arriving at her touring caravan which her husband had filled with lit candles as a romantic gesture, was 'has the electric gone off again?' Or who, when attending a self-defence class and was asked to do some karate type movements, promptly started singing her favoured karaoke piece 'Give me the Moonlight' and dancing.