London – Page 14 – Well Eye Never

Conductive Coding At Tate Modern

During January I visited a few museums, which is always a good option when it’s cold and wet outside. And the most interesting event took place at the Tate Modern, involving a mixture of hand weaving and modern technology. It was an event run specifically for the visually impaired, including an audio described tour and a workshop, and it was a lovely day. So I wanted to tell you a bit about it.

Christmas 2018 Favourites

Welcome to my epic Christmas Favourites post for this year! I hope you’ve all had a lovely festive season, or found some support, solace, comfort and company if you needed it. And if you were working over the holidays, especially if you’re in the emergency services and other essential jobs, you have my utmost admiration and respect.

Also a very big thank you to everyone who has supported my blog and my adventures over what has been an incredible second year in London for me. It’s been full of even more amazing surprises and adventures than the first year. Raising £920 from my charity abseil for nystagmus research and giving a speech to primary school children about growing up with sight loss were my 2 biggest and most surprising achievements this year without a doubt. But there’s been so much more going on as well, as you can see from all of my Favourites posts for the past 12 months.

I really do feel like I’ve settled into London properly now. I’ll always want to experiment with new things and meet new people, that’s one of the many great things that living in such a wonderful city enables you to do. But the foundations I laid by doing that in 2017 definitely enabled me to have more confidence in 2018, so I had a much better idea of the things I enjoyed doing most, I was less shy around people, and I made more friends on an individual level beyond just going to social groups.

And my blogging has also gone well this year. It’s only ever been a hobby on the side really, so I’m delighted that people are taking an interest. And my efforts have already been far more rewarding than I could ever have anticipated, with all the wonderful opportunities and feedback I’ve received, and the friends I’ve made along the way. I’m getting far more success and satisfaction from this than I’d ever expected. So again, many thanks to everyone for your support. It’s greatly appreciated that you find my posts interesting, entertaining and inspiring.

So with all that in mind, I’m very much looking forward to seeing what 2019 brings, and I hope you’ll stick with me for it!

But first we need to wrap up 2018, and there’s a lot to tell you about, including theatre shows, light displays, walks, food, clothing, TV & radio shows, online entertainment, music and more. So I hope you enjoy this bumper post and video about my yuletide adventures!

A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic

Traditionally Christmas lasts for 12 days, and to some extent that remained true for my mother and I, as last weekend we did take our decorations and tree down and packed it all away, as it was a convenient time to do it.

However, the festivities didn’t actually conclude until a few days later, because we took the opportunity to see A Christmas Carol at The Old Vic on Tuesday. We had actually booked to go in January last year, but sadly had to miss it due to illness. So this time around, as soon as I became aware of the date for the audio described performance, I booked it again well in advance, crossing my fingers tightly that we wouldn’t get ill this time. And thankfully, touch wood, we seem to have escaped any colds so far this winter, which is a relief!

So we did finally get to see it, and had a touch tour and audio description as well. The play had been getting rave reviews everywhere, so we were really hoping that it would be worth the wait. And it absolutely was!

So I wanted to tell you a bit about it, without spoiling anything in case you want to see it (and you should!). If you can’t get to the last few dates this year, do look out in case in returns to The Old Vic again next Christmas.

As usual, all opinions are my own here. This post isn’t sponsored or endorsed by anybody connected with the theatre or the show, and my mother and I paid to see it out of our own money. I just wanted to share my experience, so I hope you enjoy reading about it!

November 2018 Favourites

The nights have drawn in and there’s much more of a nip in the air, so at this time of year it can be very tempting to stay indoors where it’s warm and dry and cosy. But not me. The wintry weather hasn’t stopped me getting out and about as much as ever, so November was pretty busy.

I think it was especially nice to relax having got my charity abseil out of the way. Finally getting the blog post and video up for that at the start of November was a nice way to wrap it all up. Thank you again to everyone for their kind donations and to the Nystagmus Network for giving me another shoutout recently as well!

So here’s my latest monthly recap for November, including visits to theatre shows, comedy clubs and museums, and other bits and pieces. There’s also an accompanying video as per usual. I hope you enjoy!

What Makes Me

When people first meet me or look at my blog or social media, it’s easy to focus on the fact that I have a disability, because of the different ways that I have to do things as a result.

However, my visual impairment is just one part of me. It does have an impact on me, sure, and is an important aspect of my life. But it doesn’t stop me from being happy and successful and exploring the world around me. So there is far more to me and my identity than just a couple of wonky eyes, as regular readers of my blog will know already.

So in this post I want to list some of the other key things that make me who I am, all of which seem to begin with the letter C now I think about it. I was tagged to do this by Holly at Life Of A Blind Girl, and the #WhatMakesMe tag was originally created by Gem Turner. So thank you to Gem for initiating it and Holly for nominating me, and I hope you all enjoy reading about what makes me who I am.

October 2018 Favourites

We’re deep into autumn now, with Christmas edging ever closer. And now that we’re well into the penultimate month of the year, it’s time for a look back at October to see what I got up to.

The major event, of course, was my charity abseil for nystagmus research, and you can find out all about it in my epic blog post and video. There are lots of photos and video highlights from the day, especially from the headcam I was wearing during my descent. So do go and check all of that out. Huge thanks to everyone who sponsored me!

But there were still other bits and pieces going on during October as well. So I’m going to tell you about them here, and there’s also a video to go with this post as usual. I hope you enjoy my latest recap!

Queen At The Cinema & Carnaby

Queen are my favourite band of all time. While the words ‘genius’ and ‘legend’ can be overused, they undoubtedly apply to Freddie Mercury, who was taken from us far too soon. And all of the members of the group are legends in their own right. I never get tired of hearing their amazing music.

And right now the band are experiencing yet another wave of well-deserved popularity and publicity thanks to the new Bohemian Rhapsody movie that came out recently. There were some hurdles in its development, it’s fair to say, but they got there in the end. And to help celebrate it, the shopping district of Carnaby in London have got lights up with lyrics from Bohemian Rhapsody and a special pop-up Queen shop that’s also a mini-museum.

So back in October I visited the Queen shop soon after it opened and got myself a few things. And then yesterday I went to see the film, and took another walk to Carnaby to see the lights. So in this post I’m going to tell you what I thought of the movie, share some photos of the Carnaby lights and the Queen shop, and show you what I bought. Nothing here is sponsored or gifted, and I hope you enjoy it!

Out Of Orbit – My Charity Nystagmus Abseil!

We did it! 🙂 On Sunday 21 October, after a month’s delay due to the typical British weather, I finally got to do my charity abseil down the ArcelorMittal Orbit Tower in aid of nystagmus research. That’s a drop of 80 metres (262 feet) from the UK’s tallest sculpture!

It was my first ever fundraising challenge and my first ever abseil, and therefore a big deal for a beginner like me. And it was an amazing experience, which I’m excited to tell you about in this post. I’ve also made a video that includes headcam footage from my descent, so do check that out as well.

Donations closed on 23 March 2019, and I raised £920 (+ £143 Gift Aid)! Thank you all SO much! Everyone who donated prior to the initial publication of this post is listed at the end, and are also in the credits of my video (unless you were anonymous of course). But if you’d like to donate even though the deadline has passed, please feel free to donate to Nystagmus Network and/or Moorfields Eye Charity directly. Thanks!

So I hope you enjoy reading about my abseil adventure, including my fundraising achievements and what happened on the day itself! Thanks again for your support!

September 2018 Favourites

Time for another monthly update, and it’s fair to say that September was very busy and productive, as well as throwing up one or two surprises, which in turn are paving the way for a very interesting October. There is of course a video to go with this post, and I hope you enjoy this little catch-up as usual!

Scam – Mr Latif, Born Gifted

Updated in April 2024 to mention an update to the scam at the end.

So far my scam awareness posts have been focused on emails that I’ve received, simply because that’s how I get most of them. However, scammers still target people in other ways of course, such as by telephone and post.

And so the other day I received an unusual business card. I’ve no idea who put it through my letterbox, but it’s clearly the only thing they’re capable of delivering, unlike the promises made on the card. And it appears this blatant fraudster has been around for quite some time.

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