Having been out of action for what seems like an age, I decided to cut the grass, as this doesn’t involve lifting my arm higher than it will go. I knew it would be hard, everything is when you can only use one arm properly, but I thought I was up to it.

 

This years lawn mower problems have been well documented, so I started early in the morning (7.15am) and put the mower on charge. I was surprised to find it had charged itself by late morning, so went out to start cutting. Mower wouldn’t start.

Put it back on charge, it was done again in 10 minutes. We have been here before, last time it started, this time it didn’t. Back on charge it went.

To cut a long story short, this was how we spent the next few hours, but each time it wouldn’t start. By about 2pm, we’d given up and decided to call on my neighbour, the mower man.

He said it sounded like the battery was done, and offered to come across with his box of tricks, which would at least get the mower started this time. A couple of minutes later his diagnosis was confirmed. He’s going to get me a new battery. In the meantime he got the mower going with his ‘jump kit’, so at around 3pm I started cutting the grass.

I’ve discovered in these last few weeks how we take things for granted. You don’t realise how much you rely on both arms, until one of them is taken away. And so it is with mowing.

Steering in a straight line was easy with my left hand, but manoevering around obstacles was a bit tricky. However, the hardest thing was going around the big over-hanging trees. What I hadn’t realised was how in this situation, I use one arm to steer and the other to protect my face from the lowest branches.

Needless to say I looked like a haystack when I’d finished, and it wasn’t the neatest job I’ve ever done, but to be honest I was just glad to have done it at all. I felt I was in danger of putting my eye out or knocking myself off the mower altogether without the protection of an arm fending off the foliage.

Still at least I know I can do it. Now all I need to do is fathom out how to get dressed without having to step into everything and pull it up!!