Friday 26/7/08: A week in the sun!

It makes all the difference in the world, to be met by friends at the airport,and i had this happy experience on the fifth of July. Even though I arrived in Madrid at 10:30pm, luckily life only starts there around this hour. We went straight from Barajas Airport to a lovely outside restaurant in Torrelodones. Even at 11pm everywhere is packed, and there are children shouting and racing around on their bikes. Although its only a 2 and a half hour direct flight (and the internet price for the Iberia return tickets was brilliant), its almost like being transported to a different world.

I am a huge fan of the mediterranean lifestyle, and at this stage I do feel sorry for all the people who go to Spain, and just eat their burger and chips in artificial resports. At least I get to see the real Spain. I met Marta 14 years ago when I was a second year student in UCD, and she was an Erasmus student in the next door apartment. On reflection, its not so amazing that we have maintained the friendship through the years. She, and all her family, are magnetic people, and tend to bring out the best in all those around them.

The last time I had been at their family home was for her wedding 6 years ago. Needless to say, so much has changed in those 6 years, now Marta and her 2 other sisters have 8 children between them under the age of 7, and when they all get together, the place resembles a zoo. It really does take a special type of person to be a parent. Making the child is the easy part, and there are lots of people who should'nt even be allowed to f petors, never mind children. But these children are obviously so well brought up, that they are great fun to be around.

I knew that they would be genetically blessed, not only are they gorgeous looking children, but they are also very emotionally intelligent. The five year old eldest girl, took it upon herself to be my nurse. I had not thought that a return trip to Spain would be possible. There has been a lot of physical decline since I have been there last and i would never ask friends to help me in the toilet , or pick me up if I fell.

Things got off to a great start, when i could easily get into her car with my transfer board,their minimal guiding hands, and my monkey like abilities with the inside car grab handle. I was genuinely terrified about this , and even contemplated cancelling the entire trip for fear of falling. I have now been used to the hydraulic lift with the van for the past year, so the days of manually transferring are thankfully over, and I was afraid that I had lazily forgotten this particular skill.

Being able to successfully negotiate the car, gave us much greater freedom to get around. Given the crap "summer" that we've had in Ireland the past couple of years, a week of unadulterated sunshine, and finishing off a couple of long over due books by the swimming pool, sounded like heaven. I knew I didn't want to be in a car, travelling all day to the various beautiful places around Madrid and the nearby cities.

This was my 7th trip to Madrid, so I had done all the sightseeing before. I had seen Avila, Toledo, Salmaneca, Segovia, Siguenza, Leon, and Chinchon. As picturesque as these cities were, I was in no great hurry to revisit them. Marta has taken reduced work hours, because of the children, and so she would be working until 4. The place that made this trip possible was the nursing home Penagrande. I would stay there during the night, using their facilities, and the fact that there was always staff on duty. If I wanted cold water during the night, or the windows to be opened due to the heat, all I had to do was press a button.

I am not going to go into all the assistance they provided, and anyone who has any specific question can email me, but the level of care is complete, despite your level of disability. As far as I recall , in the months preceeding the visit , I had to supply a medical cert to the residence stating that I was only using their facilities temporarily, and had my own friends nearby. I think this was to legally protect themselves, if there were a government inspection, to explain my presence.

They are a semi state nursing home not a liaison centre for decrepid tourists, but they served me very well. As I said many times before through this site, humans are much more resourceful, than they ever give themselves credit for. I could never have imagined, even 5 years ago, that I could be in such a vulnerable, dependent position on a lot of occasions, and still be relatively ok with it. It certainly does'nt mean that I like it, in fact the opposite is true. I find it absolutely galling that humans are treated so much worse than cats and dogs.

The nursing home there was like any other, with lots of old ladies shuffling around on zimmer frames, or staring vacantly into space, obviously in their own little world. During the mornings after my shower and breakfast I would sit outside and wait for Marta's mother to come and collect me. Very luckily for me, the residence was directly opposite their house. When I was there 6 years ago it had been a hotel, and the owner was tired of the maintenance side, and longing to get back to her family in the north of Spain.

One of the real sad sights for me was to see a 40 something year old woman coming to visit her mother, who's obviously locked in her own little world. She would sing songs to her mother, searching for a brief moment of lucidity. I dont want to paint a real doom and gloom picture. There was a great deal of humanity in the place, the staff were very nice, we could even joke given the limited vocabulary both parties had.

For anyone coming to Madrid, this residence could be a great facility, given the fact that it is only 50 minutes from Barajas. It was great for me because this place took the fear out of my stay, and together with my friends, made me feel not so dependent, and maybe capable of more trips.

I certainly will not be going to Pisa in September. I was quoted over €1200 for a personal assistant with very limited English. But it seems to me that this residence in conjunction with a friend might be a much less expensive option. I certainly would have loved to have seen Tuscany, but because the tour company I used in May was based in Rome it meant that I would have to pay for mine and their accommodations , and the entire bill was coming up to €4500 without spending money, plus money for petrol/diesel and whatever they ate, and I simply could'nt justify this.

I understand perfectly now why people who need any substantial amount of assistance , do not travel at all. I know its expensive for me to travel, but there is no other alternative, apart from sitting at home, which I will not do. So instead of tuscany, I might go for a weekend to manchester. Ok, so it is a bit of a comedown, but I have help organised, and its more in keeping with my lidl budget!