A little holiday was in the diary, Mum’s first without Dad, a trip to Edinburgh, I was going with her. She really could do with a new hip soon but there are legitimate reasons for the delay. Getting around anywhere is challenging without a car, but it’s best to leave it in the hotel car park, however buses are perfect then the last few metres on foot until we can sit down somewhere.
We’re free-styling our trip to Edinburgh and one of the sights on our list is the Royal Botanic Gardens. In the foyer I notice the mobility scooters for hire and suggest one for mum, it goes down like a lead balloon! So we set off walking and I know we won’t get very far. After about 20 paces Mum sees the light and we go back for the scooter. When she has mastered the controls and wrestled the idea of her reduced mobility into a small shadowy corner, off we go to explore. For the next two hours I get to literally jog alongside her…! She prefers the speedometer to read ‘rabbit’ rather than ‘snail’! Then we get to the glasshouses, they are architectural wonders and full of exotic plants most we’ve never seen before. We go in all 11 glasshouses, in and out with the scooter through the power-assisted doors, it’s a revelation and an inspiration for the design I later called ‘Sediment’ - inspired by an unknown plant.