So after 5 months and a number of days I finally have a new car!! At last! I placed that order on my birthday, 18th December LAST YEAR and anyone who knows me knows I am NOT a patient person so the poor guy at Peugeot has had to put up with a lot of chasing from me 🤣

So I go and collect it, it’s already been to the specialists for the adaptations and already has my personalised number plates on so it’s ready to rock and roll baby! I was weirdly nervous, the only other time I’d driven on hand controls was during my assessment back in January so I guess it was that. It’s only a 30 minute drive from the dealership to my house so I just intended to take my time. Importantly I’d had a wee before we left (didn’t want any emergency situations cropping up!) so I was ready.

Our salesman was expecting us so we made our way inside, done all the boring paperwork shit and hubby investigated the boot hoist so he knew how it worked. After that I was off! Told the husband to piss off and leave me to drive home, can’t deal with being waited for or followed and every little thing judged so I didn’t want him around. I was grateful for him taking me but was happier driving back alone. I set up the radio, linked up my phone and stuck my postcode in the onboard satnav (which was, of course, bang up to date so actually found my address!) and was away! Finally freedom! I’m not afraid to admit those were long months stuck at home so this was amazing!

The journey home was largely uneventful until I pulled up outside my house. Yep, you guessed it, my fucking bladder!! I’d purposely drunk no liquids all morning, peed before I left, done everything to avoid this and STILL my body found a way to piss on my bonfire 🤬 as soon as I began the “rush” to get indoors I was clenching and squeezing like my life depended on it. That kind of stress makes my legs even worse than normal, if you can imagine that’s even possible, so progress was slow and “key in the door” syndrome was very real and literal… did I make it, I’m sure you’re wondering? Did I fuck. Not a full blown accident but you know, a teensy dribble escaped before I made it the whopping THREE steps inside my door to the toilet. Still, it’d take more than that to ruin my day.

My first outing was to be… to the dentist 🙄 one of my most hated places which fills me with nothing but dread. Alas it wasn’t to be. Like a bad dream my new wheelchair hoist blew a fuse and stopped working. WITHIN A DAY!! I was raging, not because I was going to miss out on seeing the dentist but because my new found freedom was now ruined. I called the adaptation company first thing the next morning only to be told I’d have to call the RAC… for a fucking fuse?! I don’t think so. I’ve called breakdown once in my life and that’s when my water pump basically fell off and the car couldn’t be driven. I openly mock people that sit by the roadside waiting for breakdown to change a wheel when they get a flat, I can’t abide not being able to perform such basic tasks to enable continuation of a journey (obviously that has all changed for me now and I’ll have to eat my words and “be kind”) Once again it was husband to the rescue. I hate relying on him, or anyone for that matter. I’ve given a car a full service, changed wheels, installed sound systems and countless other mods over the years so needing him to change a bloody fuse is a massive failure to me. But change it he did, he also modified my wheelchair with some straps to make it easier to lift with the hoist. He’s a good egg 🥰

The hoist does the job, it’s not the best and it wasn’t what I asked for but having spoken to the specialist installer it transpires that Motability have very little knowledge or understanding of adaptations so cannot be relied upon for recommendations for vehicles suitable for specific needs. Crazy?! There are 68,000 vehicles on Britain’s roads under the Motability scheme but only 10% of those have an adaptation. Let that sink in for a moment.

Regardless, I now have a car with a working hoist so my dentist appointment has been rescheduled and I’ll be off to physio on Wednesday! Yay for me!