I want to tell you a story that will make your skin crawl.
Imagine the scene, you are out with your family enjoying a fun day in the sun. You are at a wildlife centre and there is so much to see and you. Your kids are running around having loads of fun and they want to do everything and see everything. After looking at some animals, the Lynx was a great attraction what a majestic cat. With long long teeth that would scare off a vampire!
Suddenly things take a turn for the worst, a nightmare scene!
It’s ok says Dad, there is a disabled toilet you can go in there.
Mum is in a wheelchair you see and can’t use regular toilets. It’s so important that attractions and places of interest have disabled toilets.
Mum wheels herself half way up the ramp to the disabled toilet but it’s a bit too much. Dad comes to the rescue and helps her to the door…..then
The wheelchair does not actually fit in the toilet!
This is quite common, you would not believe how common.
Either the disabled toilet is too small to get the wheelchair in and shut the door, or as in this case even just get the wheelchair in. So many disabled toilets are in a small corridor and it’s almost impossible to navigate the wheelchair through the door.
All was not lost even though Mum was getting very desperate at this time.
Mum had her walking sticks in the bag and could walk the last few steps into the toilet. Then very carefully use the loo in the tiny cubicle. Thankfully there were hand rails so she could get up again. There was also a baby changing table for a small child. BUT, what if you had an older child who could not use the toilet. What if they needed changing and the disabled toilet was so small and un-equipped that your only option was to change them on the floor. Would you like to lie on a toilet floor?
Having a disabled toilet is a necessity, but isn’t it about time that disabled toilets were actually equipped and accessible for disabled people. Putting a sign on the door and a few bars around the loo is not enough. These cubicles need to be larger and cleaner, with good accessibility and a changing area for older children or adults.
For many years I walked passed disabled toilets wishing I could use them just to avoid the queue for the ladies.
Now, my biggest nightmare is having to use a disabled toilet.
Read other #accessibilitystories at The Inclusive Home – Accessibility Stories
Recipes for Monsters – review and competition
I’ve just been sent a fabulous cook book to review and the opportunity to give away three copies.
It’s not just for Halloween but I though it would be fun to get this competition up and running in time for monsters of all kinds.
The Hoxton Street Monster Supplies Cookbook is full of everyday recipes for the Living , Dead and Undead. I love it! I’m going to be cooking recipes from the book over the next three weeks while promoting this give away.
The book is highly amusing as it is written as if for monsters, but the recipes are completely safe and sound amazingly delicious despite their creepy names. This would make a perfect gift for all monster, horror and fantasy lovers, Harry Potter Addicts, The Walking Dead Fans, Horror Movie Buffs or Terry Pratchett Enthusiast (like myself)
There are recipes for Zombies, Wearwolves, Vampires, Mummies and Witches. A few of the recipes are translated into monster languages to make it easier for the monsters. The website also has the facility for translation which is fabulous for the monsters looking to purchase this book.
The recipes fall into the categories;
- Sweets and Pastilles
- Biscuits and Cookies
- Cakes and Bakes
- Jams and Preserves
- Savoury Snacks for Entertaining Monsters
- Potions and Poisons
Despite gruesome names like Warm Kidney Cupcakes, they are completely safe and doable recipes for anyone, even if you are not a monster.
Take a look at this video for Maggot Brownies.
So let’s get on with the competition.
Break – Word of the Week
This week I’m choosing the word break not because anything is broken but because it’s half term and we are taking a break from routine.
We hadn’t planned anything too exciting but it’s not been a bad week. We spent some time crafting some lovely lanterns for Halloween. Quite simply we covered old clean coffee jars with strips of coloured tissue paper and then added black spooky cut outs. They are quite effective when lit with a tea light candle. We like to put them by our front door on Halloween.
Yesterday we spent the day at Brick Live which was great fun. There was so much to do and I have a lot to share so look out for my post about it all later. We also got to preview the fabulous Lego Scooby Doo Haunted Hollywood, now available on DVD.
LEGO Scooby-Doo!: Haunted Hollywood (includes Limited Edition LEGO Minifigure) [DVD] [2016]
Brick Live is on at Birmingham N.E.C until 30th October so there is still time if you fancy a visit.
Today we are going to attempt some baking. The kids really want to have a go at making some meringue after watching the Great British Bake off final. We will probably make a chocolate cake too if we have the time. Look out for our yummy bakes later.
I do love half term, just not having to get up and rush about in the morning is nice, but I also like having my kids around and doing lots of fun stuff. I hope all the other parents are having a great half term, and if not then no worries, it’s nearly over.
#My Sunday Photo
I really didn’t want to do another Halloween post, but I did want to show you this photo of one of my pumpkins and one of the luminaires we made for the day. So I’m going to link it up to One Dad 3 Girls My Sunday Photo. Actually, I might even start doing this every week.
Here’s the badge, I’m off to view all the other photos now.
Pumpkin Picking at Hatton Adventure World
I’m really looking forward to Halloween this year. After not bothering for many years, last year we moved house to an area which comes alive at Halloween with Trick or Treaters and parties. We’ve decided to join in this year and we are having friends over for a little party and the littlies will be dressing up and going trick or treating themselves. Boo calls it twinkle tweeting which is a little cuter.
I was excited to be invited to pick our pumpkins at Hatton Adventure World. This is something I’ve never done before. I’d not visited Hatton before either, despite it being just half an hour away from my home. I’ll definitely be going back.
Set in the Warwickshire countryside, Hatton Adventure World is a farm park with so many things to do. There are lots of animals to see, many play areas, a little fairground, bouncy castles, tractor rides, pony rides, sand pit, indoor play area, family theatre, cafes, restaurants and more! In fact, we will have to go back again because we didn’t have time to do everything. I didn’t have time to explore the shopping world so I’m planning a trip with just me and the Other Half to browse the shops.
Throughout the year Hatton has many events going on and we went there during the pumpkin event which is Halloween themed. All around the park you could see creepy figures, and listen to scary stories, or watch a spooky magic show. All the staff were dressed like they’d just come off the set of a horror movie.
The highlight of the day was picking our pumpkins. During pumpkin week every child gets a free pumpkin but you have to go and fetch it from the field yourself. The kids loved running around the pumpkin patch trying to see who could find the biggest pumpkin. I think they did really well and now we can’t wait to carve them. You can carve them in a spooky marquee at Hatton, but unfortunately for us time was running out as we wanted to make our way home before it became to dark.
We found Hatton Adventure World a really lovely place to visit and would love to go back again. The staff were really nice and friendly and I was always served with a smile. The guy in the refreshments store by the goldmines was particularly friendly despite having to deal with a constant queue of coffee and ice cream customers at one end of the stall and another constant queue of children waiting for their medals for collecting their gold pieces at the other end.
Also, the young man working the fairground rides was really pleasant and helpful.
My kids found it difficult to pick their favourite moment of the day, they were torn between all the fun stuff they managed to fit in. In the end we all agreed that we loved the pumpkin picking the best, after all that’s what we went for. I would recommend Hatton Adventure World to my friends. The prices are reasonable too, starting from £3.95 a ticket but rising up to £13.95 when there are special events on. It’s easy to find too being just a short drive from the A40 (that’s if you get off at the right junction, which we managed to miss on the way there, we decided to come home avoiding the motorway seeing as we live so close.)
Disclaimer: I was given tickets to visit Hatton, all thoughts and opinions are my own.