Walks – Page 7 – Well Eye Never

Christmas 2019 Favourites

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, and have a wonderful and prosperous 2020 ahead. 🙂

2019 was a bit of a rollercoaster year for me, but it worked out well overall. I was very busy and active for the first half, with highlights including a holiday in Liverpool, filming my What Is Normal? documentary, giving a speech at the Aniridia Network Conference, attending the Naidex event and seeing the Only Fools And Horses musical. Then there was a big dip during the summer, with health issues, my PIP application, and my first relationship in London coming to an end after a year (but we’re still very close friends). Then the final few months gave me a chance to recharge and get back to normal, before I made TV & radio appearances to talk about digital accessibility. So there’s been a lot going on, and you can find out all the details in my Favourites posts from the year.

So December was very good for me all in all, and I was kept happily occupied over Christmas as usual. So there’s lots to mention, including museum visits, Christmas displays, socialising in London & Devon, Christmas food, TV shows, movies and audio entertainment, and more. As always, I’ve not been paid or gifted for anything I mention here, I’m simply expressing my own opinions. So I hope you enjoy this festive post and video roundup!

November 2019 Favourites

I seem to have gone from one extreme to another lately. After a relatively relaxed October, November has been really busy, and in a good way. I appeared on TV and radio to raise awareness of digital accessibility, promoted audio description at a trade exhibition, learnt a great deal about Ancient Greece, explored London’s illuminated bridges, highlighted more scam emails, bought some new Blu-rays and music, and enjoyed various things on TV.

So there’s plenty to cover this month, and I hope you enjoy this post and video summary of it all. As always, I haven’t received any gifts or payments by anyone mentioned in this post, and all opinions are my own.

September 2019 Favourites

Those of you who have been following along recently will know that I had some issues in August that stopped me going out much. I was still able to do a July & August Favourites post, but the August part of that wasn’t very substantial.

September has continued to be rather mixed, as I’m still having an issue with my feet, so I didn’t get out too often. I think it might be hives of some sort, but the antihistamines are keeping them right down, so they’re not getting worse and are tolerable. It means I’m able to get around more easily, and also go out and about if I don’t overdo it. I’ve got a dermatologist appointment on 2nd November (which was thankfully moved forward from the original date of the 30th), so hopefully we can start sorting it out then.

And for those wondering about my Personal Independence Payments claim, no decision has come through yet. But I had 3 text messages to say they had the report from my face-to-face assessment, and then 2 letters in the post to say they have all the information they need to make a decision. So I just have to wait and see now.

Despite all of that, however, I’ve still ended up with a fair number of things to write about for September. I did manage to go out over the course of a weekend, when my foot was behaving, plus I’ve got some exciting videos and articles to share that I’ve been involved with, and there are some TV shows and music releases I want to mention. And as usual, no products in this post are gifted or sponsored, and all opinions are my own. So I apologise that there won’t be much in the way of London-specific stuff this month, but I still hope you enjoy this post and video as always.

What Is Normal? (Documentary)

I still find it very humbling and flattering that so many people have taken an interest in my adventures over the past few years, whether it be reading my blog, watching my videos, or seeing me speak at events. I’m very grateful to everyone for the support and encouragement, and I wouldn’t be doing this if nobody cared, so thank you.

I never imagined that I’d have a documentary made about me though. Yet that’s exactly what happened for the first time a few months ago. It was an exciting experience and I’m delighted with how it turned out.

I’ve held it back until now for various reasons. Firstly, whilst I have permission to post it regardless, I wanted to give a bit of space for its creators and sponsors, including a major charity, to publish it first if they so wished. But I also had a few things distracting me over the summer too, as regular followers will know, which has further delayed it.

But now’s a good time to release it, as it ties in nicely with the recent publication of my Aniridia Network Conference talk – Growing In Confidence With Aniridia – which was filmed shortly after the documentary was completed. Soon after that I was also in a second documentary – See Differently by Yiwen Feng – which featured myself and others. You can find out more about my speech and that other film in my June Favourites. I was certainly getting my 15 minutes of fame around that time!

In this post, therefore, I want to share my first ever documentary with you, and give a behind-the-scenes insight into how it all came together. I hope you enjoy it, and please do share the film around on social media.

So without any further ado, I present my documentary debut – What Is Normal?

July & August 2019 Favourites

Right then, I’m back. And it’s fair to say that this past month has been a bit of a write-off. A few things forced me to take a break from blogging for a little while, and prevented me from getting out and about the majority of the time. So I apologise for not posting recently, but I just haven’t been in the mindset for it.

As a result, this post covers both July and August together, as there’s very little to mention for the latter month. To put things into context I’ll start by explaining why I’ve been absent, and I’ve also posted a short video in relation to that. Then I’ll go straight on to the more cheerful stuff, and there’s still quite a lot to mention, including a musical, a movie, a comedy show, museums, walks, events, my new computer and TV shows.

So let’s crack straight on with my latest post and video recap. As always, I’m not sponsored by any of the people and companies mentioned below. I hope you enjoy my latest post and video recap!

June 2019 Favourites

We’ve reached the halfway point in the year, and summer is finally blessing us with decent weather. And I’ve had a very busy month!

Firstly, there have been some disability related developments, most of them positive. In particular, I’ve spoken at a conference, been a guest on a podcast, and I was filmed for another documentary. So my visual impairment led to a few great opportunities in quick succession, I’m happy to say.

On the downside, I’ve finally received the call-up letter to switch from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payments (PIP). This basically means I have to fill out a huge form about how my disability affects me, and then have a face-to-face assessment with a health professional, so the government can decide if I’m entitled to benefit payments. It sounds relatively simple when worded like that, but most disabled people will tell you it’s anything but. So that’s going to be on my mind a lot over the next couple of months at least, and I’m not looking forward to the process. But I’ll let you know how it goes at a later date. I’m not going to bore you with a rant about it in this post!

Thankfully, apart from that, I’ve been able to enjoy the month in many other ways. I went on a lovely weekend break with my girlfriend, I’ve been out in London for more exhibitions and walks, my girlfriend and I enjoyed a new film at the cinema, and I’ve enjoyed new TV shows and music releases at home. So there’s plenty to get through. As always, I’m not sponsored by anyone mentioned here, I’m just sharing these things because I enjoyed them. And I hope you enjoy this month’s post and video!

Liverpool – My Magical Mystery Tour

Even though I will never tire of all that my home city of London has to offer, I’m also keen to travel and explore other places as well. Yet I’ve never fancied going on holidays by myself. Some people love doing that, and I’m well aware that there are companies that enable visually impaired people to do so. But I much prefer to go away with people I know. It’s much more sociable and fun as well as helpful.

And now I have someone very special to go on adventures with – my girlfriend Claire. The prospect of expanding my geographical horizons and sharing new experiences with her is a lot more exciting and makes things much easier.

So earlier this month, we had our first trip away, to the city of Liverpool. Claire has been there before, but I hadn’t, so I was very much looking forward to it, as it clearly has a lot to see and do. We could only scratch the surface for 2 days of course. but we certainly packed plenty in and really enjoyed it.

So I thought I’d give you an overview of what we saw there. Rest assured this post isn’t sponsored or endorsed by any companies mentioned here. We simply decided to go there ourselves and we paid our own way for everything. I hope you enjoy reading about it!

Update (September 2019): I’ve also been featured in an article by Age UK Mobility, with a few comments about my visit to Royal Albert Dock. Check it out here – What is the most accessible attraction in the UK?. Welcome to my blog if you’ve arrived here from that page!

April 2019 Favourites

After the madness of March, which had a lot going on, it was nice to have a relatively relaxing time in April. I still had plenty to do of course, including blog posts about March and being very busy at work, but it wasn’t as hectic and eventful.

So there isn’t quite so much to report on this time, but I did enjoy some tours, exhibitions, walks and entertainment that I want to tell you about. And as usual, I’m not endorsed or sponsored by anybody mentioned here, these are all my own opinions. So I hope you like this month’s post and video about my latest adventures.

January 2019 Favourites

2019 is already flying by isn’t it? I hope you’ve all had a lovely start to the year. January for me was pretty busy, particularly at work, which pushed me behind on my blogging a little bit. But I’ve got plenty of things I want to post about.

So today it’s time for my first monthly favourites post of the year. They seemed to work out well during 2018, as they’re a nice way to summarise things, and I notice they’ve inspired one or two other bloggers to do monthly updates. So I’m going to carry on with them, and I hope you enjoy this latest post and video summarising my activities.

As usual, nothing in this post is sponsored or endorsed by any of the companies mentioned unless otherwise specified, and all opinions are my own.

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!

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