The Need for Speed
I bought a new set of wheels last week.
Okay so the vehicle is second hand and has obviously been used, but so long as it goes from A to B without collapsing then I’m happy.
It also folds up and very neatly fits in the boot of the car.
You see, Herself had an appointment to see a specialist in hospital. Amongst other things she has severe problems with her knees which have virtually rusted solid, so walking is very painful and verrry slooow. We have snails tooting at us in the garden wanting to pass us out. As a result of this, we would need an hour or two just to get from the hospital car park to the consulting rooms.
So last week I bought a grand little folding wheelchair.
It’s motorised, but the only problem is that I am the motor power. I reckon it should speed up things a little though and I have my eye on it for my own use. So far as I know they can’t do me for being drunk while driving a wheelchair? I can sit in it, put the foot flaps up and scoot home backwards as if I were rowing.
So the day of the appointment arrived and we headed into the hospital. I parked the car and then parked Herself in her chair. Off we went. She screeched. “Slow down! That’s too fast!”. We were only going at walking pace but then I realised what the problem was.
I have long legs. As a result I have a long stride. And when I walk at a normal pace I tend to overtake everyone else. When I am walking with someone I generally have to do so in first gear. So Herself suddenly found herself travelling faster that she has ever travelled before, outside of a car, plane or train. So I thought our speed was normal but to her we were going supersonic.
Once the appointment was over and it was time for home she climbed back into the chair and demanded that she be pushed back to the car. This time she claimed I wasn’t going fast enough and is muttering about buying a whip.
I am toying with the idea of buying a second hand mower motor. A nice little 10Hp Briggs and Stratton should do the job nicely?
No gears.
No brakes.
But it should be fast enough for her?
I hope the wheelchair works out for both of you. The problem with a Briggs and Stratton engine is that they are no longer made in Milwaukee. The blocks are cast in Mexico and then assembled in China. Your best bet is a Koehler engine. They are still made and built in the US.Â
I’m not worried about where the engine comes from, just so long as it goes. There must be plenty lying around. I might even buy two and make a motorised hang-glider…..
Some years ago Mrs M temporarily needed a wheelchair and I then discovered first that, no matter how flat you have always thought a particular road to be, it will suddenly seem to have gradients of Alpine proportions once you’re pushing a ‘chair’. Secondly, going downhill is harder than uphill, the effort may seem less but your inability to control the accelerating monster (gravity is rarely your friend with a wheelchair) soon takes over and the lack of grip on your shoe-soles provides little braking efficiency. You also discover that any quaint cobbled-street market-towns are a definite no-no, unless you want to unsettle her dental features and most of her other body-parts too.
Another factor is that you end up behaving like dog-owners – whenever two wheelchair ‘teams’ meet, complete strangers though they may be, the upper part, the pushers, hold one conversation whilst the lower part, the pushed, engage in their own separate banter a couple of feet lower down. OK, maybe it’s not quite as unhygienic as the dogs’ mutual arse-sniffing procedure, but otherwise very similar. You end up chatting to folk you’d never consider as chat-fodder, the fraternity of fellow chair-folk overwhelming any other natural reticence.
That wheelchair fortunately now resides, unused, in our loft, awaiting the time of our next physical disaster or acquiring such a feeling of isolation that we use it again just to make new friends.
Indeed, one of the problems with living in the mountains is that things rarely are level. It does have the advantage that on the way down to the village I can just let go and permit gravity to do its thing, but there is no way I would push her back. I suppose I could always hitch the chair onto the back of the car?
I’m well used to greeting anyone and everyone as the dog provides loads of practice. Come to think of it though, I think I have only once come across a wheelchair in the area. That was being pushed by the parish priest and I ain’t gonna stop to chat to him……
Are you running on renewable power, though?
Attach this bad boy to the outside of the wheel.
https://www.bikeengines.com/
Fold up wheels, what a good idea GD. Why didn’t I think of that? I take my Dad who’s in his eighties to the hospital occasionally. He gets about with a walking stick ok but very slowly. Last time I picked him up after an overnight stay I put him in a wheel chair that belonged to the hospital, much quicker. He got a bit panicky though when going down the ramp to the car park.
On another note, the little icons on the top left of the comments are not showing, same for the pics to the links to Facebook and Martin Scribblerus.
Good thing that you’re pushing instead of pulling? Attempting to “back-lash” someone who’s behind you always has it’s inherent problems. Like whipping the back of your own head.