Last Monday (17^th July), I went to London with Sheryl and Daddy for a reception at the House of Commons. This was the launch of the RITE Report, to do with disabled young people’s views of moving into adulthood. I was involved in the early stages of this in 2004/5 which is why I was invited.

It was such a hot day – at home it was 94 degrees! After the long, hot journey we parked near the London Eye and had 10 mins before our pre-booked boat trip left. We had to wait ages while Daddy collected the tickets, then rushed to the Millennium Pier and caught the boat. I decided we should sit upstairs on the boat (there was a lift), but this was a BAD IDEA. The sun was scorching and there wasn’t any shade and hardly any breeze either. I couldn’t concentrate very well on what was going on around us (i.e. the landmarks) as I was trying to breathe deeply and stay calm. I was feeling rather faint with the heat and slightly sick from the movement of the boat turning round. After half the trip I suggested we went downstairs as I thought it would be cooler. It wasn’t really, but it was out of the sun. I lay down in my chair for the remainder of the voyage, and then after we got off the boat we went to a shady tree on the embankment where I lay down again and had an ice lolly which helped lots and I felt better.

Then we had to get to the Houses of Parliament for the reception. We pulled over at the first gate at Parliament so that Daddy could ask a policeman where to park. Dads said ‘Can we park here?’ Policeman said ‘no …’, D said ‘well how about. .’ Policeman said ‘if you would just stop talking sir, I am going to tell you’!! Daddy dropped Sheryl and me off then went to park in a car park. Sheryl & I walked to where people were queuing then found this wasn’t the right queue for our party. We went back the way we’d come and finally found the right gate to go in (after waiting for a F1 racing car to be carried out through the games by 4 men) and had to go through a security barrier, which bleeped when Sheryl took my table through! We followed a group of 3 other people in wheelchairs and helpers along alleys and then parliamentary corridors until we got to the lifts where we had to wait as they only took one chair per go.

When we got upstairs we were led to the House of Commons Dining Room which was very crowded, full of people in wheelchairs and no air conditioning. I was really hot again and so Sheryl asked the room manager to help us, and he got me to an open window which I lay down under and recovered with a lovely breeze over me. The speeches started while I was lying down. One of the speeches was by a boy who uses a communication device (it talks what he types) and another speech was by a girl who is partially sighted and is in a wheelchair. The speeches were all very interesting and inspiring. I was extremely glad I didn’t have to do a talk as I was so hot!

When I sat up I had some sandwiches, a chocolate/custard with fruit topped tart and a raspberry mousse which were all delicious and I thought much nicer than the Buckingham Palace garden party food!

At the end of the party I saw a girl who writes articles for Wellspring, so I went to say hello, only to find that she can’t talk (I had only emailed her before). She uses a sheet with the alphabet on it, and points to the letters, then her helper says the words. I felt quite sorry for her having to use such a slow method of communication, when the other boy has an electric talker.

We met up with Samuel (cousin) after the party had finished and had a chat then he took us to the House of Commons shop where I bought 2 pencils and a massive gold chocolate coin with the Houses of Parliament on the foil. We set off home at 7.10pm and got back to Applefield at 9.30pm, very exhausted after a hot day!