Tuesday, January 10, 2012

up, up and away

This morning I called up the experience company to arrange my one-hour flying adventure. I had bought this gift for myself last year at a charity auction; I’m not sure why – I think a mix of 40-something desire to ‘live a little’ combined with a few glasses of merlot.

As I made the call to arrange a time, somewhere in the back of my mind, quite near the front, I wondered if my lack of sight might be a problem for the organisers, at which point I could gracefully duck out, egg flying over my head rather than on my face. I lost no time in letting the nice lady on the other end of the line know that I was blind, and that the flying instructors may well have an issue with this. Before you could say ‘chocks away’ she had offered me two dates and checked with the instructors – “no problem – they are fully aware of your sight problem and are quite happy with the booking”.

Wouldn’t you know it? Where’s ignorance and discrimination when you need it? Normally I can’t venture anywhere near an adventure without some jobsworth stopping me on health and safety grounds. But not this time.

Note to self – can you still buy bicycle clips?

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