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| Don't mess with the security |
It was about 10:25am, I'm supposed to be at
Headway by 10:30am but I wasn't seen until 10:20am for my 10:00am appointment. As the doctor's surgery is about a fifteen minute ride on my iM.4 Elite from
Easy Living Mobility I thought I could make it, along with my usual stop at
Starbucks.
Ring Ring 📞
Me: Hello.
Annmarie: Hello, are you coming in today?
Me: Yes, I've been at the doctor's, I'm on my way now.
Annmarie: OK, where are you now?
Me: Just by Mill Street, I'll be there shortly
Annmarie: Great, we'll wait for you then, you're about five minutes away?
Me: Five or ten. Wassup?
Annmarie: We're going to Laser Tag
Me: .......................
My silence wasn't because I disliked Laser Tag, I can't say I'd really thought about in the years since I'd become reliant on a wheelchair for my mobility. It's an able bodied person's game. I associate it with people who can walk unaided. My silence was a substitute for a phrase that has become my catchphrase. I'M IN A WHEELCHAIR! But Annemarie's answer is always along the lines of "that doesn't mean you can't do it. Just try it" Knowing that would be her response I decided not to utter a word.
I got to Headway and everybody was waiting for me. We set off straight away without even asking if I wanted a few minutes rest. Rude! It was only a ten minute walk to Ten Pin and - get this - I didn't run into anyone or anything!
There's No Backing Out Now
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| The Briefing Room |
The staff at Ten Pin didn't think there'd be any problems playing in a wheelchair. "I'll show them" I thought, let's see if they have that attitude at the end when there's wheelchair shaped dents in their walls and scrapes and scuffs everywhere. We were split into two teams and told to make our way into the briefing room. We went through a door into a corridor that was slightly wider than the wheelchair and a ninety degree right turn into The Briefing Room. No scrapes or scuffs yet.
On either side of the room were vests and guns for the two teams - red and green. It was handed to me as they were higher than I could reach. There is a target on the front and back of the vest for the opposing team to aim at. Unfortunately the back target on my vest was covered by the backrest of the wheelchair. I tried draping the back of the vest over the backrest, but it was too tight to my body to stretch like that. Oh well, I'll just have to play with this unfair advantage. What a shame... The gun has two handles and is held by both hands, but people generally don't have to ride around the arena and have both hands free.
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| Don't Try This At Home |
We went into the arena which had the lights on at the moment. And what I saw was basically the most inaccessible maze imaginable. It was designed to give you things to hide behind and there wasn't one straight wall, presumably to make it harder to shoot somebody if they're constantly zig zagging and turning corners.
The two teams went to their respective bases, the lights went off (well, they dimmed down considerably so that it was harder to see) and my team started moving to the other side of the arena.
Rookie Mistake
To get into the base I had driven in forwards, I could have just turned on a sixpence so I could drive forwards to get out. I'd driven straight in I thought, I'll just reverse back out, how hard can it be?
It turns out very hard when some joker puts a wall behind you! How? I thought, a wall didn't suddenly appear behind me, so somebody must have put it there. My eyes were taking there time to adjust to the lack of light, so craning my neck to see behind me was pointless. Fortunately my back target was hidden by the backrest of the wheelchair and nobody could get in front of me, so, if I was smart I could just stay here all day and I would win...It took me about three minutes of edging backwards and creeping forwards to get out. My eyes started to adjust to the light and I started to make out what was blocking me...nothing. There was a wall in front and behind me. I think being able to see where you're going is actually quite important.
Better Watch Out Tom Shaw Is About
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| Headway's post on Facebook |
Now I was free I made my way over to the opposing team's base. Slowly...very slowly. I was pinging off walls like a pin ball machine, fortunately all the walls are black and now that the lights are off you can't see the scuffs and scrapes I must be leaving on the walls.
When I said earlier this was inaccessible, the lights were on. Now they were off I had absolutely no chance. I saw somebody up ahead and pushed forward with all the power of the iM4.Elite, but I suddenly stopped dead as I'd hit a wall. I was actually looking through a hole in an otherwise solid wall. I did have the advantage that anybody fleeing from me were exposed to me shooting them in the back. I also had the disadvantage that my eyes are crap! I thought I was pointing the gun at there target, but the red laser would appear on there shoulder.
