London was amazing! This five day break was my birthday present to myself. It took me thirty six years to get here, but better late than never .Got myself an assistant, and was good to go. I thought I had planned everything down to the last, but when I got to Heathrow there was nobody waiting for me at the gate. On the verge of a coronary, I knew that our plan B for me to get to the hotel and to wait for him was never going to happen. I had too many bags, including my laptop, but when the assistant showed up two hours later( it turned out he was in Terminal 3, while I was in Terminal 1: Heathrow i a labarynth), I nearly cried with relief, and the holiday could well and truly begin .

Day 1 : After the fiasco at the airport, there was no way we could deal with the rigours of the Tube. So we ended up paying a sixty pound cab to the hotel ( which we later learned should only have been forthy five tops. This was my first experience of a London cab , and I was a little shocked. Over the next five days we took a lot of cabs, but all the cabs were devoid of clamps. So, you can get into the cab no problem in the chair,but you are not secure, and there is nothing even to hold onto. I would never recommend someone in a wheelchair to get into one of these cabs on therir own. Only for my assistant, there were a few times when the chair actually tipped up. Its a fairly hair-raising experience, and I cannot believe that even for insurance reasons , this is the case. It must have something to do with not wanting to deface the look of the cabs by not wanting to have clamp holes in the floor.

All the buses are wheelchair accessible, but we settled for cabs everywhere, as we were on holidays and wanted to squeeze the most out of the few days , not really wanting to be tied to bus route maps. This turned out to be a wise decision, as there was a Tube strike Monday and Tuesday, and some bicycle protest on Sunday. We stayed in the Kensington Copethorne Tara. As the taxi man soon told us later on its wheelchair accessible but not immediately close to any of the attractions (not totally true, a 5 pound taxi will get you to hyde park). It was a nice enough hotel, in a nice quiet plush area of London, which we got for seven hundred and three dollars. It had a bath (my preference) with overhead shower. Grips and rails aplenty, but a bit of a squeeze to reverse out in my manual chair. I had forgotten to bring my better cushion, so for five days had to improvise by wrapping a jumper around the crap cushion, to pad it out a bit.

After a rest and a settling in, we began to make our way to the Victoria Palace to see the musical Billy Elliott. I was very impressed by the architecture, the sumptuous housess of the recession immune. It was obvious that London/England was the one time ruler of the world. We went see Billy Elliott, and Wicked, and both times I was impressed how good they were for wheelchairs. They have stair climbers at the front and inside the theatres. The pavements are smooth and tapered down at the end. I was very impressed by the play Billy Elliott. I had booked it over the internet, and collected the tickets at the box office. The production was great, very true to the original film, and no signs of arthritis in the cast. How they could dance and belt out the songs for three hours, with only a twenty minute interval is beyond me. The sets were amazing, with two story rooms coming up out of the ground and scenes being effortlessly changed. You were really drawn into the play and transported to a diferent world. Apparently Elton John composed the music for it, and it is one of the most successful musicals around. After the musical we went around Victoria station. Even at eleven at night it was crammed with stag party goers and booze cruisers. But after the rough day, I was just glad to be here, and not on a return flight to dublin.

Day 2:Sat 4th september.

We consistently never made it for breakfast (not included in the room bill), but who cares. Thanks to a tip from a friendly cab driver, I held on for dear life as we made our way to the westfield shopping cente. A shopping centre is a shopping centre, so we just filled in one of the vast restaurants ( I went for thai food with english sticky pudding for desert, I stocked up in the lush shop, then off we went to hyde park andd the diana memorial. Have always been a fan of di, and it was great to see her old stomping ground, from the harvey nicholl' in knightsbridge to the area she lived in when she was still a sloan ranger The Albert Memorial is veryimpressive, situated opposite The Royal Albert Hall. Hyde Park was full of joggers and cyclists, and from there we actually walked back to , what would become my favourite restaurant, an Italian in Kensington called Cafe Concierto.

Day 3 : Sun 5th Septmeber.

Sunday at twelve we decided to head off to the london eye. There were some cyclists march/protest on, so we had to weave our way around the back roads towards central London. the place was absolutely jammed. I had brought my own laptop, my 3 dongle worked perfectly in London with no roaming charge, so I could book the tickets for London Eye, the Aquarium, Madame Toussauds , and the Dungeon on-line that morning. This is very effective as the tickets are waiting for you and it also meant I did'nt have to pay the fifteen pounds a day connection the hotel would have charged. London Eye was magnificent. We didn't do the boat ride as apparently they are a seperate company There is plenty of space inside the capsule and even the chatterings of a large group of Indians, and the crying and cursing of a presumed druggie could not put me off. I felt so thrilled to be up here. The capsule actually stops for a few miniutes, so you can really take in the panorama. Security is quite strict, they do a sweep of the capsules before and after, and a big crane comes outside and takes a group photo. Even though I hate doing touristy crap I had to buy the photo. One of the best things for me was before you board the London Eye, you can see a 4D animated preview ( this is included with your ticket I think) Iy was amazing , birds flying around you that you could almost feel you could touch, alongside rain that you could actually feel ( this was the 4D part) We went to the London Aquarium , that was basically around ten metres away . It was very impressive. Huge tanks deep underground, but with way too many children , and after a while I felt very claustrophobic. After this we took a taxi to Madame Tousauds (too far away to avoid this unfortunately, cost 14 quid)It certainly did live up to its reputation. We did the chamber of horrors trip and we could actually see how they make models. Then thanks to another cabby tip, we went around the corner to Baker Street and the Sherlock Homes Museum. Although I couldn't get into the house naturally, there was only one step up to the gift shop. The shop itself was like something out of the eighteenth century, with the shop assistants dressed in peroid costumes ( one of them was from Baltinglass, and a Trinity student). More touristy shopping along the streets, and then back to the Italian restaurant, terrible creature of habit that I am.

Day 4 Monday 6th September

My birthday, and the main reason behind this trip, saw us taxing our way to buckingham palace. I had bought the tickets online, and as were ahead of schedule, we went into the victoria and albert exhibition next door.I had the same reaction here, as in buck palace as I had at the vatican. It was just too much! Its lovely that the art and history is preserved, but I was left thinking about the dickensian age, and the workhouses, or the tough wartimes with people on strict rations, and yet these people lived like this! Wheelchair users go in through a separate entrance. with complete lift access provided. Only allowed to take video/photo's facing away from the palace. It was nice to see, but I wouldn't be in a rush to see it again. The tea and custard pastries in the garden cafe were worth it. Don't understand the fuss over english breakfast tea. Met a friend who lives in london from secondary school days, then back to cafe concierto.

Day 5: Tuesday 7th September

My friend had told us about the roofto gardens , owned by Richard Branson. They are well worth a visit, but the pricelist was too high, and my rumbling belly drew me back to my old haunt. There was a wholefoods store,apparently an american store which sells only organic food (some of it horrible), but I could finally get my honeybush tea. Huge lift to all three floors. We had begun the process of packing son as not to leave it all until the last moment. I booked the musical Wicked online at the apollo victoria. This magical play was to become one of the highlights for me, and a perfect way to end the trip. From the outset, I knew there was no point in trying to do all the sights. London isn't going anywhere, and hopefully, I'll be back. Even though my flight the next day was not until 3.50pm, we were determained not to risk anything. A light lunch in the hotel, and then the whole airport ordeal, thankfully without a hitch this time. Aer lingus are always great in my exfperience, and its only a 50 minute trip.

This whole trip strengthened me in so many ways. Over the past few months, I really felt like I had reached the end of the line, an unemployable, physically defunct, onlooker of life. It has done me the world of good, to know that I can still do trips like this. All is not lost!