First time for everything!

My first for this week at least was abuse from a passing motorist, well the passenger, not the driver, although I'm fairly certain the driver got his rocks of as well, most probably from a circle jerk with his mates when they got home. Unfortunately I didn't get the registration, if I had it would be entered on this blog and anywhere else that I could do it publically, alas the old grey matter isn't so sharp these days so I just didn't think quick enough to take down the rego number. I was on my Mobility Scooter I had just been to the local service station where you get fuel etc. (for those in other countries) it's about 500 metres away from my house, I was waiting at a set of traffic lights, pedestrian lights, not an intersection.

 I was just waiting for the lights to change to red, sometimes they are really quick sometimes they're not, this time it was probably medium amount of time. I was looking at the other side of the street minding my own business, nothing more. All of a sudden a car went by with a lowlife hanging out of the window, he shouted at the top of his lungs just to make sure I and the lady standing behind me heard what he said, "why don't you get off and walk you cunt".

I didn't even have time to give him the one finger salute, let alone a witty retort, I'm quite amazed he didn't just simply use that time to spit at me such was the hate directed toward me, it wouldn't have surprised me... All I can remember was that it was a red car, maybe a station wagon possibly a holden commodore. Anyway with no other identification there's not much I can do about it, but gee I wish I could, yes even though I'm disabled I'm still a male, a male who would like to wipe that grin off his face with an iron bar!

This happened on Keilor road Essendon North, Victoria, Australia, image below, click to enlarge.

Even though this has happened only once and may never happen again, I think I might invest in a Go Pro Hero3 Camera and mount it to the Scoot, I would have loved to have gotten footage of this arsehole to post on youtube and where ever else I could let others see it. Might even be able to give the footage to the police, who knows, they might go and knock on this dickwads door and scare the shit out of him, then again lowlife's generally don't have any respect for the police so it's probably doubtful they would care.

By the way, no I don't care if this dick has had a troubled childhood or he's on drugs or pissed (drunk) or it was just a joke, he needs to be called out, I'm old enough and ugly enough to not really give a fuck, but some might really be affected by such an occurrence if it happened to them, there is already a stigma attached when you first start using disability aids, the vulnerability scale increases, you aren't the person you used to be and no one knows that more than yourself. The irony is he was in a car himself, too lazy to walk you lowlife cunt eh?

Sorry for the language, but quite honestly I'm angry and want revenge....nope I won't dwell on what happened, writing this is the end of it!

Getting around when Disabled

Vehicle

I find this to be one of the most frustrating aspects of having a Disability, I'm in the position of still being able to walk, albeit quite slowly and not necessarily safely at times and I fatigue quite quickly these days, most of the time I don't even use a walking stick, vanity plays a part in that no doubt. Sometimes you just need to visit a store or government department or bank to purchase or sort things out with accounts etc. I have a disability parking permit for now anyway, I have moved to a new council area so who knows if they will grant me one again when I apply, I'm not a very confident driver these days though.

What this blog is about is Taxis or Cabs as they are also called, those at times very handy vehicles the public can "flag down" on a street or order them by phone or even online these days, in the past I mainly used them after a night out on the piss (alcohol). Now though, they are at least a monthly service I need to access for a Drug Trial I am doing, the best thing is that for that Drug Trial I get free Cab Charges to pay for the trip there and back that is paid for by the company doing the trial. I also have a half price Taxi fare card as well,  you need to use that card sparingly because a one hundred dollar trip sill costs me fifty dollars, money I don't really have, but the card still comes in very handy occasionally.

What really pisses me off though is when you only need to go a few kilometres, the drivers get quite angry, I never hide this fact when ordering them, they don't need to take the job if they don't want to, yet they do, seems to me they have no right to whine once they have accepted the job! I mean I don't whinge when the air in the Taxi is thick with their body odour that burns the nasal hairs, or they are on the phone for the whole trip speaking in their native language to some far away country, quite a while ago now they had to pass a law to stop the drivers displaying their religious icons, I don't particularly care about religion one way or the other, but don't fucking ram it down my throat in the enclosed area of a moving vehicle, that was a welcome rule that the government enacted.

I came to the conclusion one sunny day whilst needing a cab to return home from the Drug Trial that I needed to rethink how I would handle Taxi travel in the future, so I went on a slow quest of really talking to the drivers and "sussing" them out, seeing what sort of person they were etc,, religious beliefs, social beliefs and the like, after doing this for about three months at least, I stumbled upon Sam, not his real name, more a shortened version of it, he was an immigrant from Iraq, he was humble, didn't preach about religion and was a family man trying to make a buck to feed his family and was very grateful to Australia for accepting him and his family into this fine country.

Sam an Assyrian, in Iraq, was a Pianist, he speaks about 5 languages and has a wonderful family from all accounts, he does the right thing by me and I help him out when I can if he is confused about something as an example I helped him find a fishing charter boat for a day out fishing in Port Phillip Bay, he speaks English quite well, easily understandable, on the odd occasion he doesn't understand something so I help out with the translation. I only use him for getting to the Drug Trial and back again, I so much dislike travelling in Taxis I will wait a couple of hours for Sam to pick me up and take me home after the visit, sometimes he is just too far away to come and get me so I need to run the gauntlet and access the the pool of drivers that are ready to pounce when a job goes out over the airways, they jump at the chance of a fifty dollar fare.

So if you need to be using taxis regularly find one that suits you, suss them out, most will jump at the chance of even semi regular jobs, even moreso if the fare is decent of course. The trip is so much more relaxing when you have a Cab driver you trust and can have a chat too, the journey goes so much quicker as well. Sam is the type of driver that will help the elderly and disabled get to their door if they need that help. The good drivers are out there, you just need to persevere and find the good ones amongst the rabble and there is a lot of riff raff driving taxis there's no doubt about it. There are professional drivers then there are the ones who don't take it seriously at all, avoid the latter if you can.

By the way, I used to drive cabs briefly in Alice Springs, so I have seen both sides, driving cabs in Alice Springs was quite the experience, not for the faint hearted, I think my old official Taxi company shirt still has the stench attached to it like a stain you can never remove lmao, people who have lived in "The Alice" will understand what I mean :)

Time for an Upgrade

I bought a new graphics card and LED Monitor, I received them yesterday, this isn't a technical or user review, it's more about being dependent on the Internet and technology when you have MS or any disability.

I know a fair bit about computers, I build my own when I need to upgrade, although my eye problems and numb hands do make that task a little more difficult these days, still, I muddle through, haven't blown anything up....yet. The need for this latest unexpected upgrade started with the Monitor taking about ten minutes to get a signal to display my desktop in all it's glory, very frustrating lol.  I did my usual research thanks to google, but there were so many variables of what it could be, being a Linux desktop user adds a little more frustration to the diagnosis process, the old grey matter isn't helping either.

I knew the problem was either the Monitor or the Graphics Card, now in the past I would have possibly borrowed a Monitor (I used to have heaps of old CRT monitors not anymore) but now that I don't drive much anymore, traffic and idiots on the road freak me out and we don't need another idiot on the road, so I order most things online which is handy, but I knew it was one or the other, not both the Monitor and Graphics Card. One of them was on the way out, I did know that lol. All I knew is that I had to be able to use my computer so I needed to get the parts I needed to get.

It did get me thinking of how much I depend on having access to the net and a working computer. I like desktops, I like storage and I like to be able to fix things myself, I don't like having to pay someone for something I should be able to do myself and let's face it because I am working on something I own I find I often do a far better job than some overpaid "genius" who really doesn't give a shit about you or your problem, well except for the dollars they will earn.

I find this to be one of the most frustrating issues I have with this bloody disease, relying on others, I want to control my own destiny, I'm in my 40's FFS these kind of issues are meant to be happening as you get to retirement age, the body is slowing down the eyesight is getting worse naturally, not because of some sucky disease you have, I'm not ready to be 70 yet, but MS makes me feel old, but it's not just a feeling, the facts are, physically and mentally I am getting older than I actually am, thanks MS, you really do SUCK!

I'm the son of a builder and a mechanic, there aint much I don't know how to do, practical things that is, things that all men used to know how to do, now I feel like I don't have a lot to offer, I never paid for much at all in the past, lots of back scratching, I was a commodity, worth something to some people, now I'm not so sure.

I realise I am luckier than some though it really doesn't make my outlook on my own problems easier to handle, it makes me feel sad that others go through what I do and worse.

I need access to the net at almost any cost, it gives me a window to the world!