What is it with pubs?

Now you may remember a particularly blog entry I published last year called hats and pubs in which I discussed the issues faced by your everyday photophobic when trying to go out!

Well I hate to say it but the pubs have annoyed me yet again for there lack of thought regarding policy.

After playing Goalball on a Saturday me, Dave and the coach go for a drink and usually food, we go to the same pub pretty much every week because it has really comfy sofas, and is cheap!

I however am starting to get slightly irritated by the pub for several key reasons. At roughly 7pm every Saturday night they dim all the lights down, turning some of them off in the process, this is bad. one week I was mid meal and the light that I had cunningly sat under expecting the usual dimming was turned off. I quite like to see what I'm eating given that I have that ability, I no I'm lucky but I want to use it to its full potential.

There bouncers also arrive about this time on a Saturday evening we have had several unfortunate run ins. The first time we all went to the pub I was upstairs after visiting the ladies and I was lost trying to find my way back downstairs with loud music and flashing lights, not to mention other people all around when a guy walked straight in to me , somehow straddling my moving long cane in the process, I nearly broke the guys neck, it was his fault but still, I worry about the possible law suites.I noticed the florescent yellow arm band and that he was a bouncer. he was really nice about the whole thing and showed me how to get down stairs.

The other problem with the bouncers is there chosen standing location when attempting to exit the pub (sometimes a little worse for were) they have an unfortunate habit of standing right in front of the door, for obvious reasons I grant you. The only problem is that the pub has a flight of stairs to go down before you get to the door and then two more steps once your out. for some reason which is beyond me the bouncers chose to stand leaning up against the hand rail. Now for someone with my bio-mechanic oddness has enough trouble trying to navigate going down stairs at the best of times but in the dark and with no handrail doesn't bare thinking about. alas I have to try and get the bouncers attention so I can get them to move, failing that a gentle prod with the cane does the trick.

Nevertheless pubs still hold a special place in my heart!

Hats and pubs

I've just been shopping this is indeed one of my favorite pastimes I could bore you in the delights of my many purchases but I fear I may lose any readers I actually have if I where to go in to detail!

My mother and I decided to go to a pub for lunch with the smoking ban now in England it's great , you are no longer confined in a room full of people lighting up forced to do damage to your lungs due to passive smoking, my asthmatic mother loves it, and as an avid non-smoker so do I.

I don't drink , well let me rephrase that statement I'm not supposed to drink on my medication. I still enjoy sitting in the company of others and watching them get drunk or just socialising.

pubs often do nice food as did the one we went to today had a really nice chicken and bacon melt thing with BBQ sauce and cheese in a roll , it was really nice the chips where crispy and everything was perfect.

In fact my entire day would have been perfect if it had not been for one incident, and it is such a common one that happens practically every time I go on an evening out or out for lunch.

I was asked "can you take your hat of please?", this is something I have a real problem with.

I understand it's a measure to try and prevent crime, like wearing a hat is going to have some chemical effect on your brain which combined with possible alcohol consumption will result in a transformation like that of the hulk, from ordinary bloke to giant green destruction machine.

I just think its rude to ask another person to remove an item of clothing (in a public setting) and for me specifically its awful , having to say no i cant remove my hat I'm visually impaired I need to keep it on. OK I do admit that I sometimes keep my hat on not due to my V.I status but due to the fact I feel awkward without it, self conscious , naked and venerable, I'm emotionally attached to my hat collection. There's also the great ability to hide behind it, not in a criminal sense but in a self conscious sense, I'm fully aware that my eyes don't look "normal" my pupils are different, I have scaring and I don't have to much control over there movement so I guess i would rather hide behind the hat than have people think I'm giving them funny looks.

I mean do the owners of pubs even think of people with disabilities, it's not just little visually impaired me this could affect there's people with scaring, cancer patents and people with body dimorphic disorder, to name just three groups that might want to wear a hat.

I don't like it, it happens everywhere I go. I don't like it!