An Introduction

Hello. This is my first blog, I fancied giving it a go.

Like I say, I'm Gill, I'm aged 45, a mere 5ft no inches tall (although I do aspire to be taller) and I'm on the chunky side of.... chunky really.
I'm married to a Buddhist transvestite and I like people who are 'at an angle to life'.  Conformity bores me.  I like oddities, laughing, friends, my Mum and love; all kinds of love, acceptance and tolerance.
I try to be adventurous, my recent plans for a parachute jump went awry after a knee replacement operation sadly.
I love to eat, garlic prawns being one of my favourite things, and fajitas, and anything Greek.  I also love to bake cakes.
I love cats and have 3 - Daisy (she's about 8 1/2), Molly or 'Mog' (she's about 5) and Jelhi-Tots (he's about 1 1/2).

I was born in Blackpool in Lancashire and left there when I was 20, trust me when I saw it is one place I would never live again.  I find it a dirty, uninspiring place now (although of course it was nicer in my youth, or is that just how we remember things as we get older?)
I moved from Blackpool to Bromley in Kent, then lived briefly in the small village of Detling on the Pilgrims Way in Kent, then back to Bromley, then on to Duton Hill in Essex where I stayed for 11 years running a pub with my now ex-husband.  After that marriage went tits-up I moved to the market town of Great Dunmow, also in Essex.
In 2004 I moved back up North and am now in Chorlton, South Manchester.  It's not too bad here.  I love the multi-culturalness of it, and it's very leafy & green but has the most dreadful pavements I have ever encountered.  No matter how good it is though, its just not Essex....

I was born with the disability Spina Bifida (this page briefly explains the disability - http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/Spina-bifida/Pages/Introduction.aspx).  Mine is of the Myelomeningocele variety, and a mighty fine vintage it is.  I don't use a wheelchair full time but do for longer journeys, I have a noticeable walking problem or as my younger sister used to call it, a sexy wiggle. Sexy if you're a bit mad maybe. Along with this I was also born with a heart murmur and I am also deaf in my left ear and one of the side effects of the spina bifida is my delightful Urostomy.  I also have CKD stage 3 and am awaiting a total knee replacement.  But, trust me, my boobs are great!

I've discovered through my life that disability is what you make of it.  It can hold you back or it can spur you on.  I have 3 sisters and throughout my childhood I don't remember being treated any differently than they were, except on a few occasions.  I spent a lot of my youth in and out of hospital but have been quite lucky not to have spent too much time there as an adult.

At the moment, my right knee has decided to throw a wobbly and is currently dislocated.  This has restricted a lot of things for me as my mobility wasn't excellent anyway and now is even less excellent.  The lovely Orthopaedic surgeon I've been seeing at the local hospital has put me on 'the list' for a brand, spanking new knee so I am awaiting the magic letter to drop through the letterbox any day telling me my shiny new knee awaits me.