Comping wins

I have entered competitions on and off for a few years now, with limited success. Roughly a year ago I won a 'Pampered Chef' dinner service and a large Thai spice and sauce set from another competition. Then nothing else.

Having previously only entered competitions through conventional methods such as postcards, telephone and texts, I decided to give facebook and twitter competitions a try. I entered the first comp via facebook during the second week in December, when all the advent calendar comps were in full swing. I was notified of my first win almost immediately: a case of porridge and seasonal coffee beans from a competition by Dorset Cereals.

Although I have only won one competition on twitter - a teacup set from Spode, along with placemats and coasters (pictured below) - I have won over a dozen other prizes. All of my prizes so far have been worth under a hundred pounds, but the excitement of a knock on the door and a mystery package means that it doesn't matter whether something is worth a fiver or a thousand pounds.

Dorset Cereals porridge came in four flavours - raspberry, gingerbread, original and honey & oats. The raspberry flavour has pumpkin seeds in as well as chunks of raspberry, giving it texture as well as taste. Because it is made of a combination of different grains it is creamier than other porridges I have tried, so for me this made a fantastic prize that I have really enjoyed.

Of course, my husband's favourite prize so far has been something completely different. He worked in a garage after leaving school and one of his jobs was to valet and detail the vehicles. The AutoGlym set that I won from a competition run by Eastlife mag on facebook means that our car is going to be the cleanest in the area.

All the small prizes that I have won have added up to in excess of five hundred pounds at retail prices, although that is the least important aspect for me. I intend to continue comping and see what else I can win. I am keeping a spreadsheet record of everything I win and who the promoters are so that I can thank them. Good luck to all my comper friends, many of whom have had some fantastic wins over the past couple of months.

 

 

 

Waterstones and the wheelchair...

Today, I was finally well enough to be taken to the Merry Hill centre to spend some of my Christmas money. The centre itself is actually pretty good for those of us who are a little less able; the Age UK shop is located just inside the entrance nearest to the cinema and has a range of wheelchairs and scooters to suit a range of abilities. I usually only visit the centre a couple of times a year, but when I do I tend to borrow one of the three electric wheelchairs that they have.

Unfortunately, although the centre itself is pretty good for wheelchair users with wide walkways, roomy lifts and good lighting, many of the shops are not of the same standard. I only went into a few stops today because I am trying to be sensible about how much I do on the rare 'better' health days. With that in mind I went into Debenhams where we spent the gift tokens I won in a competition courtesy of Thomson Cruises. We now have a new ceramic frying pan and several small kitchen items - so huge thanks to Thomson's for that!

Debenhams is actually pretty good to get around in a wheelchair; like most department stores there are nice wide aisles separating the different areas and although the sections are a little more difficult to navigate, there is still sufficient room to manoeuver without trashing the store. Once the kitchenware spree in Debenhams was finished we had a short rest somewhere - amazing how worn out I can get just looking at things. We then headed down to Waterstones so that I could indulge my book addiction. It was here in the home of my favourite items (books) that I found the biggest problem; whoever had decided on the store layout had had absolutely no thought about wheelchair users or any mobility-impaired shopper. The bookshelves lining the walls are well laid-out, but the problem comes with all the additional tables scattered throughout the store. If you happen to be a wheelchair user I would advise that you take someone with you if you want to get round Waterstones at the Merry Hill centre without knocking books off tables. Unfortunately I not only got stuck in corners several times, I also managed to knock almost every book off one of the tables. Luckily my husband and a very nice man who just happened to be nearby picked up all the stray books and popped them back roughly where they had come from.

I quite honestly would have loved to have asked to speak to the manager/ess but we had already heard a loud argument coming from the back of the shop/staff area and I didn't feel up to discussing accessibility with some unknown person after the stress and embarrassment I had experienced in the shop. I have found an email address for a general customer services department, so will just drop them a line asking if they could perhaps consider widening the aisles so that wheelchair users can access their stores. I will let you know if I get a response. Anyone care to take a bet on it?

Prizes and plans

We have all seen competitions advertised either online or in newspapers and a variety of other formats, but I think that many of us assume that we will never win anything and so we don't bother filling in our details. I have entered competitions on and off over the years but aside from the odd prize here and there have never had much luck.

Just after the beginning of December I decided to join a few online compers communities; places where dedicated compers share details of competitions they have seen (and probably entered). I also decided that as I am very limited mobility-wise I would stick to entering online competitions, must via social media. Since then I have spent an hour or two a day entering competitions, not every day I have to admit.

As a result I have won a number of prizes - none of them alone are worth more than £100, but together they add up to a retail price well in excess of £500. I have won at least one prize a week since I began and, although they aren't worth a lot, it has been great fun. The prize that my husband is most pleased about me winning is an AutoGlym car valeting/detailing kit; the first job he ever had involved valeting and detailing cars and it is something that he enjoys doing. I think my favourite has been the £50 Debenhams gift card, which came with a bathrobe and bath towel, although I am sorely tempted to try the artisan G&T gift set. I have never tried gin however and I'm not sure my meds would appreciate the alcohol.

This morning we were lucky to hear someone hammering at the downstairs door, which leads up the stairs to the flats. That door is rarely locked during the daytime due to people coming and going who don't have a key - such as the delivery man. Unlike some, he did realise that the flats are actually up the stairs and chose to walk up and hammer at our door instead. It turned out to be a prize from the advent calendar competitions I had entered in December containing several make-up items such as blush, eye-shadow and nail varnish (it wasn't what I had been told to expect, but I'm certainly not complaining!)

That was the last of the prizes from December, leaving just two from last month that I am still awaiting the arrival of: a football and a bathroom goodies set. Hopefully they will be with me soon - mostly because Pete wants the football!

I have decided that I am going to carry on comping, as well as writing, drawing and having a go at painting which is something I haven't done since my Art GCSE many moons ago. Oh, I also want to learn how to sew using the machine. My hands are too shaky to sew by hand (which is going to make drawing & painting very interesting). The writing and comping are both things that I do via talk to type software on the computer; something that can also become quite entertaining given my speech issues.

Multi-faith rally: Birmingham fights back against prejudice

Not too long back a US TV host from Fox News made some pretty startling claims about England's Second City, Birmingham. As someone who lives less than fifteen miles from the city in question, the prejudiced claims took me by surprise. Had they been on a less serious and controversial subject, I may well have laughed at the ignorance of other cultures displayed by the man in question.

Birmingham has responded to that and the other recent international faith-based incident - the Charlie Hebdo shooting - with a multi-faith rally which included speakers from six of the city's major faith groups; Muslim, Jewish, Christianity, Hindu, Seikh and Buddhism. Having been to the city many times over the course of my life I thought that maybe I would share some information about the city from my own point of view.

I have been a wheelchair user for a number of years now and have to admit that unless you are planning on driving somewhere, then travel in Britain can be quite annoying for the less mobile. However if you either phone ahead or talk to the ticket office then train stations will make sure that someone will sort out ramps to get on and off the trains. Lifts are available on all Birmingham's train stations for disabled visitors, with plenty of escalators and stairs also available.

As you may already know, Birmingham has some award-winning modern architecture as well as more traditional architecture. The new library shown in this image is next to the recently renovated Rep theatre, which has been home to some fantastic shows. Within easy walking distance is Symphony Hall, where I had my own graduation ceremony, as well as several other halls where some exciting events have taken place in recent history (aside from my graduation, that is).

If traditional architecture is more your thing then you may want to investigate the Art Gallery and Museum, which is located close to the City Hall and the infamous 'floozy in the jacuzzi' as she is known locally. Well, she is nekkid and sitting in a great pool of water!

There have been a lot of changes to the Birmingham of my youth, which was far less pleasant than it is now. Once of those casualties was the old rag market, which has been replaced with a modern version that is lovely to have a wander around. If shopping is your preference, you could do a lot worse than visiting the rag market, located within walking distance of that other widely talked-about piece of modern architecture, Selfridges.

Although it is physically impossible for me because of the medical conditions I have, Birmingham City centre isn't too bad to get around for wheelchair users who are otherwise fit. If you do have a mobility impairment and cannot self-propel over great distances I would recommend either making sure that you have someone fit to push you, or hiring an electric wheelchair or electric mobility scooter. However you choose to get around Birmingham, it is definitely worth a visit.

Not-New Year's Resolutions

I have a tendency to flit from hobby to hobby, largely because I have the attention span of a flea - not that I know how long a flea's attention span is, I must look that one up at some point. I become semi-skilled at something then boredom sets in and off I go. Anyone else do that?

When the New Year started and everyone started talking about New Year's resolutions I pretty much ignored it. I never stick to it, so why make myself feel bad? Now, however, I think that it may be time to set a resolution or two;

1. I am going to make sure that I spend a little time each week writing
2. I am going to continue to sketch
3. I am going to find something that interests me every week and photograph it.
4. I am going to continue to enter competitions - sorry folks!

Yes, there are a lot of other things that I need to do, but if I start out with things that I actually like I think that I stand a far better chance of doing them.

Get off your arse and do it.

I took part in the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) writing initiative back in November last year. The idea is to challenge yourself to get your novel down on, I was going to say paper, but more likely the computer nowadays with the aim of achieving 50,000 words or more. Unfortunately I didn't manage to achieve that the last time that NaNoWriMo happened because my health conditions decided to kick in on overdrive. Rather than getting my novel done via my talk-to-type software I was flat on my back in bed - most likely snoring (yes, women snore too, I admit it - though not me, obviously...)

NaNoWriMo is a fantastic idea because it gives us the kick in the butt that many of us need, but just because it is over it doesn't mean that we should rest on our laurels. I am starting to feel a little better than I have done for the past few months so it's time to get writing again. And I would like to encourage you all to do whatever it is that you have been putting off whether that is writing a novel, getting a new job or dancing naked in the rain...

The truth about pain

Here is the thing about pain, the truth; once you reach a certain level of pain, or have a particular type of pain, no amount of medication or happy, positive thinking is going to take it away. You will, to some degree, have to learn how to live with and manage your pain. Oh, you'll undoubtedly get all sorts of platitudes from people who - through no fault of their own - cannot possibly understand what you are going through. Often the people who are trying to comfort you and tell you that it is all going to be okay, that the medication will solve everything, have experienced nothing more painful than the occasional headache. How can we possibly expect them to understand just what constant, unending, nerve-searing pain can do to a person?

What you are going to have to do, as someone living with a pain condition, is try not to explode too many times. Much as you may want to just shove everyone out the door and scream "Leave me alone!" I'm here to tell you that that just ain't healthy. Been there, done that and have a whole room full of tee-shirts (I wish! I could sell them and make some much-needed cash). I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I will tell people to just leave me alone at some point in the future, but I am trying to be a lot more polite about it.

How on earth do you describe pain to someone who hasn't experienced long-term pain? It is like trying to explain blue to someone who has never been able to see. Yeah, okay, you can come up with comparisons "Blue is like a warm summer's sky" but that doesn't really explain the true nature of blue, does it?

Likewise I can say that one particular element of pain has made my skin so sensitive to touch that it is like my clothes are made out of sandpaper, or that I permanently feel as though I have the flu. Those descriptions may help a little if someone has tried rubbing their arm with sandpaper or if they have had flu, but... You see where I am going, right? It can give an idea but doesn't get across the constant wearing down that comes with constant pain.

That said - I still think that we should talk to people and try to explain as much as possible. We all know that pain is invisible, it is one of those conditions that is ignored and ridiculed: "It's only pain, why are you making so much fuss?" "Drama Queen!" and so on. If we want people to better understand pain, then we need to talk about it and the impact it has on our lives.