Time has a way of messing with people when doing nothing it slows down and when preparing to do something it moves fast and before you know you are late and there is no time to smell roses.. Having said that, Tuesday 26th I woke up at 05:30 in the morning and straightaway dressed up like a cowboy for I took a shower before I went to bed. It was my strategy to hasten things and catch an early train to Manchester Airport. The previous evening I tried to book me a taxi to go to Leeds train station but to no avail. Understandably, I was informed that it was elusive to try and procure one because of school runs early in the morning particularly wheelchair accessible taxis. “Why is everything to do with disability limited?” I screamed on the phone with frustration. The receptionist on the phone replied, “sorry sir you can try Streamline & Telecabs they have more wheelchair taxis than us”. However despite being a loyal account holder with the aforesaid for half a decade they decided to stop transporting me because of my electric wheelchair. One of their drivers complained that my chair has no proper points at the rear to fasten it yet my batteries (situated at the back) have got fastening points, actually the incident happened when I went to France in May. Anyhow, I was left with no option but to use a bus. Where I live the frequency of buses is appalling, one after every hour during Monday- Saturday and no service on a Sunday. In order to access a more frequent service I have to weave through houses for at least 0,9 miles. One bus in particular is more ideal because it drops me off outside the entrance of the train station.

I got to the bus stop at 06:30 and the information screen was indicating that my bus is due in 15 minutes. This was cool knowing that the 08:16 train would be able to get to Manchester Airport for 09:06 and my flight was due to leave at 10:45. In the afternoon with less traffic the journey to the train station takes about 30 minutes and in the bus before it got to the station the time elapsed past 08:16 as a result my mind started bouncing off the walls.

At Leeds train station I had to wait to get the 08:43 train to the airport and arriving at 10:01. I was still ok but living on the edge. To my horror when the train was arriving at Piccadilly station, the penultimate stop before the airport, the train stopped before the platform and my heart nearly stopped as well. I was increasingly getting worried that I was going to miss my flight, to exacerbate my worst fears “ladies and gentlemen this train is now terminating at Piccadily due to traffic congestion” I heard the announcement probably I didn’t hear clearly I told myself. That was the first time to hear that trains encounter traffic congestion. At Piccadily I had still the hope until the infuriating and constant announcements of train delays particularly the one I wanted it seemed to be increasingly getting delayed. When the Journey was first disrupted the train was said to be only delayed by 6 minutes, the second announcement the train was said to be delayed delayed by 14 minutes and the third announcement it was highlighted that it was delayed by 20 minutes. After the third announcement the wider passengers on the platform groaned and moaned. After names were taken down possibly for reimbursing or compensating the affected passengers, throngs of people made their way to the taxi rank out of the station. Myself I agonised over decisions, wether to leave the platform or not. On one hand the train journey from Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadily Station is more direct. On the other hand I had never taken a taxi before to go to the Airport from Piccadily but I knew that the process to procure one was going to be long. Eventually I left for the taxi option for I was doing something rather than doing nothing at all, in general I learnt that it is only by doing something that you can achieve something. Though the taxi queue was big it was fast proceeding better yet they were plenty of taxis available including the wheelchair accessible ones. “Y’all right cock?…how come you had to wait in the queue?… That’s mingin that” said the Mancunian taxi driver. Colloquially in Manchester, cock and mingin’ means mate and disgusting correspondingly. In general disabled people don’t have to join the queue however the train assistant left me behind it maybe and understandably she didn’t want to provoke the frustrated passengers into starting world war 3. In my opinion all busy taxi ranks should have a sign denoting that priority should be given to disabled people or a separate pick up point altogether.

The journey to the Airport seemed forever and a day, I needed a dose of anxiolytic to calm me down for I was going nuts.

When I googled I learnt that the Journey takes 20 min however this doesn’t take into consideration the external factors such as traffic congestion which seems to be quite ubiquitous and quite frustrating.

When I arrived at the airport I was downbeat far from my usual upbeat self. I rushed back and forth trying to locate the Turkish Airline check- in point. There was nobody, “Sir do you know where Turkish Airline is?” I asked with a dull voice expecting mercy like a burnt child. “It looks like the check-in point is now closed for boarding” said he hardly showing a glimpse of sympathy. I was late due to a series of unexpected external factors. It was like premeditated incidents- obstacles thrown at me to thwart my journey on purpose. I had used Turkish Airlines before when I visited Cyprus last year in May but this time around I couldn’t locate the reception. When I eventually found it I was told that I had missed it, “yeah I know that” I exclaimed with frustration. I was told that there was another flight due to leave at 4:50 and if I wanted to get on it I needed to buy another ticket. “But I can’t do nothing for you because you purchased your ticket through an online travel agency” I was told. Straightaway I called the travel agency and a bloke called Morris answered who happened to be the same guy who sold me the ticket. “I told you to wake up very early in the morning” annoyingly said Morris rubbing it in. If someone is in the wrong people are quick to give wide off the mark judgements or grossily generalise things. Morris just assumed that I had woken up late without asking me what had happened. To be fair most people fabricate stories in order to justify they lateness. A person living wild young and free might claim that he had to take his or her kids to school or a person allergic to pets might claim that my cat is sick. Even if I had lied, flight policies don’t curve in for no one let alone for a regular guy like me. No wonder most of their employees look like psychopaths lacking a human touch particularly when negotiating, it’s the unbending policies they deal with.

Practical Enlightenment

After comparing prices and looking at available deals he notified me that the cheapest flight costs £900 assuming that my inbound flight wasn’t cancelled. That was almost double the price of my return flight, to make sure that Morris wasn’t being misappropriate, while on the phone I asked Turkish Airlines to gimme a quote for the same flight. “It will be £1200 however only for the outbound flight if you want the return it will be slightly more” I was told and that was shocking. To exacerbate my frustration I was informed that the inbound flight had been cancelled as well. This was repulsive extortion at its best I felt like I was being punished for wanting to persist with my journey. “So what’s the costs including the return” I asked still connected to Morris on the phone juxtaposing the prices. Shockingly I was told that the tickets costs threefold the price of the flight I missed. Expensive they were but I was told that if I add only a few quid I will be able to fly in business class. I was in a pickle, I had booked my flight; accommodation and transportation so it was a decision making conundrum wether to cancel my journey or not. More so I had promised to attend the graduation without fail for I was going to be reunited with a brother I had not seen for 15 years. As a counterintuitive to a stress free life I bought the tickets, I accepted my misfortunes and moved on. In general, what life throws at us could be perceived as practical enlightenment if it’s not fatal, it’s been said and sung that ‘what doesn’t kill you can only make you stronger’.

Steve Jobs was Turkish

Afterwards I waited for the check-in and my flight was departing at 16:50 and getting to Istanbul at 22:40 with a transit time of 1hr 15min, finally arriving at Ercan Airport at 01:30. When the flight arrived at Ataturk Airport, Istanbul it was still as bright as the day. From my previous experience I was told that 1hr 15min wasn’t enough to transfer my chair from one plane to another but this time around the procedure was flawless. Straightaway I was taken from the plane to the check point for the next flight to Ercan, simultaneously my electric wheelchair was being transferred from one plane to another.

While seating on the bench waiting to check-in I made acquaintance with a Turkish guy also waiting to check in. “When you get to your hotel call me” he said with an affable countenance passing me his business card. The card’s logo resembled the ‘Apple logo’, an apple with a piece bitten off. “Do you work for Apple?” I asked inquisitively. The guy then told me that it was a different company. Then I started wondering how his company was able to get away with using the Apple logo, knowing that Apple has had heated disputes with New York’s ‘GreeNYC’ logo and Woolworths’ ‘apple-y’ logo yet the aforementioned logos looked totally different. He then told me that Steve Jobs was Turkish. I couldn’t tell if he was serious or having a babble but I never believed a word of what he was saying. Albeit it was good to have a chit chat in English with a Turkish person more so he was helping me out and offered to help me when I get to Ercan Airport.

When I arrived at Ercan the taxi I had pre booked was waiting for me as well as my bro and his mates. Though it was late the presence of my bro was a prerequisite and I’m glad he was there. So that he could assist the driver to load my chair into the car because I couldn’t find a wheelchair accessible taxi when I was making my travel arrangements. Like most parts of Europe as I highlighted in my previous writings Nicosia, Cyprus doesn’t have wheelchair accessible taxis. Particularly in Lefcosa, North Cyprus the part occupied by Turkey. Likewise and to some extent Turkey is also a nightmare for disabled people. In 2015 it was highlited that Turkey has 13% disabled population yet the country continues to have maladaptive environments and technologies. Though strides have been made in other areas there is still a repulsive dearth of disabled services and accessible infrastructure as well as transportation.

After my chair was put in the taxi it set off to my hotel, at the time I didn’t know how far it was, I was charged £70 including return when I booked. After I googled the Airport is circa 34 minutes away from the hotel which was a fair fare similar to the London charges which charges £48-£90 for an approx 30min to 60min journey. Notably, if I had booked it from within and using the local currency it would have been a lot less, dead cheap.

Merit Hotel Lefcosa

This was the only disabled accessible hotel I found in the area however there is only two big hotels in the area. As a five star hotel I expected the hotel to have the best facilities for the disabled folk. When I first saw it I was wowed and said to myself what a glistening edifice with psychedelic lights and its glow reaching my retina. I got off the taxi and I accessed the hotel through a slightly precipitous ramp and at the reception I was given keys to my room. As I opened the door the room was expansive cluttered with antiquated furniture. Merit hotel Lefcosa This is all rosy as it evokes sentimental feelings however not for me, thank you, disabled access and the bygone era don’t usually coexist.

The colour of the carpet was reminiscent of the Old Turkish sarkoy kilim rug with traditional banded design. All I could see around me was band-band-band even the pillow cases were banded. To me that’s dull and mind-numbing. The furniture was made up of blue velvet and dark brown hard wood which supposedly complimented the fabric of the room. Annoyingly it was thwarting my access particularly the foot stool in front of my bed blocking my passage. It would have been ok and probably luxurious for an abled person but for me it was redundant and unnecessary. So I called the reception and asked to have it removed from my room. In the bathroom though the toilet had grab rails the shower had non save for a low seat. After taking a shower the following morning I somehow utilised the toilet grab rails and had to be extra cautious because the bathroom floor was susceptible to slipping. The bathroom design appeared to have had no input whatsoever of an actual disabled person.

During the course of my stay I encountered a myriad of issues. The hotel wasn’t built with the disabled people in mind but the disabled facilities were rather cost effectively retrofitted. The ramps in the hotel were too steep to the extent that going up or down I required assistance. I remember trying to go up one of the ramps independently, I went up the ramp guns blazing and my chair was forced to veer diagonally by the gradient force as a result it crushed into a pillar which nearly shuttered the monitor. Luck enough my chair was still in good working order. Can you imagine if the chair couldn’t work, it would have been murky and an intricate endeavour to try and fix it. However unlike other top hotels that I have stayed at facilities such as the pool area were accessible.

The food; the staff in the restaurant and the hotel at large were fabulous, thankfully there was an English speaking staff member who had spent some time in Chicago.

The graduation: Cyprus International University

I was told that the graduation starts at 7pm due to the warm weather. In the hottest months of July and August the temperatures are said to soar up to 34 °C and even to 40 °C. Now that’s hot from the day I arrived 27/07 till 29/07 when I returned I hardly went out of the hotel during the day. Like nocturnal animals late evening were the best times to go out.

I was told that people don’t go out in the afternoon unless having a compelling reason.

The graduation ceremony took place in the open air in order to accommodate multitudes of people from across the world particularly from Middle East and Africa. That said I never accessed any of their buildings even the toilets. Therefore I didn’t analyse the disabled facilities at the campus but after searching on internet about the disabled accessibility of the university, their website highlights that “the Rights of People with Disabilities is aimed to be taken as a basis and to ensure that the rights of these people are followed”.

After my bro was handed his certificate we took some photos

The return journey and the importance of sleeping

My flight was due to depart at 08:40 and arrive in Istanbul at 10:15- connecting to Manchester at 13:15 and arriving at 15:20. The brother I had not seen in 15 years stayed at the same hotel when he came from Africa therefore he helped me to pack my clothes after the graduation ceremony coupled with the celebrations. Having said that I didn’t have enough time to crush out, as soon as I finally went to bed like a watchman I annoyingly woke up to focus at the task at hand. I went to bed at 02:00 and the taxi came to pick me up at 05:30 not enough time to sleep at all but amazingly I was wide awake and careful. I guess the Harvard biologist Christopher Randler was right, in 2008 he discovered that early risers are more proactive and found out that they anticipate problems and try to minimise them. However it is important to sleep when necessary as Winston Churchill the former British prime minister credited his successes to leading the country through World War II to the naps he took. Many highly successful people also have one thing in common- they wake up early, people like Oprah Winfrey; Richard Branson and the former President of the United States of America Benjamin Franklin. Sleeping is important but from my point of view it’s usually a 3-5 days task based on the rational that that’s how long it took me to recover from Jet-leg after I travelled from New York. If I don’t sleep beginning of the week I make sure I will have enough during the rest of the week. If I sleep well I tend to be proactive or in other words increase my personal productivity.

When my taxi came I was all set and my brother and the concierge helped to load my chair. Earlier I didn’t describe Ercan Airport, it’s a very small airport with mediocre facilities. On my inbound flight I used the disabled toilet and it was covered with layers of old dust coupled with a dump and mouldy floor it made my skin crawl. I’m glad I didn’t have to seat on the commode, after answering the call of nature I left the toilet as fast as I could I even forgot to take a photo.

I was glad to leave the God forsaken airport and arrived at Ataturk Airport, Istanbul with a layover of three hours. I was assisted out of the plane and straightway I transferred into my electric wheelchair like a boss. Better yet I was escorted to the business lounge by a very nice dude (grounds staff), it’s either he loves his job or he has a hidden agenda, I thought at the time. After the dude helped me to settle in the lounge he stretched his hand and with a crafty smile he said “tip”. Really and truly if I had some Turkish Lira with me I would have given him but I had spent it all. “I’m sorry mate I have nothing but I will give you something” said I reaching to my side pocket on my right hand side of my chair with my left hand. All I could find was one quid and 50 pence, I handed him the money and shaking his head he gave me back the 50p. Very cheeky but he reminded me of Mathew 7:7 ‘Ask and it shall be given you…”

For both journeys I was flying in the business class so I had the opportunity to use the business lounges in Manchester and in Istanbul. Turkish Airways uses Aspinall business lounge at Manchester Airport, garish looking food and ok facilities, I thought. However I was wowed by the Business lounge in Istanbul.

The food also looked great and appetising far from the one served by Aspinall lounges. In general Turkish Airlines offer good service I think. From my point of view their food served in the plane was even nicer.

Biological mechanism of survival

This was my second time to experience business class, the first time is when I used British Airways to fly from London to JFK, New York. The comfort is second to non particularly in British Airways but you know what happens when people are feeling comfy and relaxed- they fart I endured yet another bomb shell. I harbour not vicious resentment in my heart for people who fart because it’s a biological mechanism of survival. However I hate fart. In the process of metabolism, the lavish meals are broken down into heat and energy (nutrients) by microbes. These food-munching organisms produce a smelly by product of hydrogen sulfide gas, the same stench that is discharged by rotten eggs. Now that’s nasty I could even taste the rich and fetid smell in my mouth. I travelled in economy on numerous occasions and I can tell you that business class fart is more pernicious.

Turkish Disabled Facilities

The disabled facilities are shocking, before boarding my transit flight I wanted to use the toilet in the business lounge. I wanted to go for number two but I changed my mind after I saw the toilet lest I get stuck in the toilet without a buzzer. This was a toilet in a business lounge at the airport and it’s a perfect representation of the appalling disabled facilities in Turkey. In 2017 I also had worst experiences after I spent more time in Istanbul.

Manchester Airport: doing work

The plane arrived in Manchester at 15:30 then I was assisted last and was told that my chair wouldn’t be delivered to me straightaway but as soon as possible. I was taken to the baggage area in a manual wheelchair. “Do you have a bag to collect or just your chair?” Asked the grounds staff with a lackadaisical tone. Probably he had had a long day but in my opinion when people take a job they should try to be enthusiastic about it or find another if possible. I digress, when employees are doing what they love to do it makes a difference. When you do something do it well, work is inescapable it is key to one’s well being. Arguably, human beings are built to work so to derive meaning, value, pleasure and fulfilment is to know why you are doing it and how to do it well then it will feel less laborious. However it will be hard to apply the same principle to some of the most demeaning jobs.

To exacerbate the situation the ground staff couldn’t locate my chair, he went back and forth like tennis. “I don’t know what happed but I cannot find it… I will leave you in the ‘Global Baggage Solutions’ queue to find out what happened” said he and he promised to come back after double checking it’s whereabouts. Thereafter he left me in the que and I waited for about 10 minutes before someone was free.

Since I couldn’t move forward in the queue I shouted to get the attention. I was a bit far and the person at the reception was reluctant to talk to me because he probably expected the ground staff to bring me closer. A further 5 minutes or so elapsed trying to get his attention and finally he stood up from his chair “you shouldn’t have been left alone, where is the person who brought you?” I recounted what had happened then he said he was going to check. When he returned after sometime he informed me that my chair was coming. Thereafter I ridiculously waited for the chair I don’t know for how long then finally a fat chap in greasy attire came and left my chair on my side and I asked him to help me transfer but to no avail. Meanwhile the ground staff never returned, so I had to figure out myself how to transfer into my my electric chair.

People packed like sardines

From about 15:20 when the plane arrived I finally left the baggage area at 17:30 and headed to the train station which happens to be within vicinity. The next train to Leeds was said to be coming at 18:18 however it was announced that the train was cancelled and passengers waiting for the Leeds train were advised to take the following train to Manchester Piccadily and then make the connection. However when that arrived it got fully packed quickly even the carriage with wheelchair seating. Disappointedly I posted the following on social Medea:

Trains are getting busy and unreliable.

Train to York cancelled and the alternative train to Manchester Piccadilly station was full of passengers from the cancelled train. Good sign that people are using more public transport but inconvenient. Big investment will only solve this problem, HS2 is coming and why many were against the project it’s beyond me

Over crowded is an understatement people were packed like sardines or worse. If I had managed to get on I would have been uncomfortably stifled by people’s crotches and backsides and showered by sweaty stinky armpits. Albeit I wouldn’t have minded if it meant getting back home early. After I missed that I notified the railway staff my situation. I was then made a priority on the following train to Manchester Piccadily which was due at 19:18. Eventually I got on a train at 20:35 arriving in Leeds at 21:34. I like using public transport but has become unreliable and an anathema.