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[w3526602]

Hi,

This is an urban evolution question.

Come the end of "Lockdown", I'm guesing that a lot of families will be continuing with home deliveries, particularly the weekly groceries from the local supermarkets. At one time, I had an arrangement with the driver ... he let me keep half-a-dozen baskets, and we'd swap empty for new, every delivery. A new po-faced driver put the kibosh on that.

I wonder how many man hours are lost, while the driver waits for hubby to shuttle loaded carrier bags from the front door step to the kitchen? (About 30ft, plus return)! And my knees are starting to hurt too. (I now pay a dog walker£5 a day, but that benefits everybody .. us, our daughter, our grandson, and Wilkie).

What I need is a load carrying version of Barbara's electric invalid buggy, but would not be too much effort to push a trolley. We have a spare push-chair ... sans footrests .. but Barbara has promised it to a newly crippled husband of our daughter's friend.

Any suggestions for a cheap ready-made trolley, or supply of cheap rubber tyred swiveling castors, or WHY?

I believe a "Spring Chicken" invalid buggy costs about £1,000. I wonder if they would sell (at a reduced price) a cargo version. Would there be a demand for such a buggy, with or without, a driver's foot-plate, like on a dog-sleigh?  VAT Exempt? 

I'll get my coat crutches.

602

FAO Nanuq ... Horse-back riding works wonders for your leg muscles ... the smaller the horse the better. But not on a "Western" saddle.

[Nanuq]

Thank you kindly 602, I've discovered with my 108 degrees range of motion in the complaining knee, I can wedge myself into my 2A again and I've started a new workout regimen of driving the beastie a couple miles down to the mailbox and back.  Lift the leg, swing the toes around the clutch pedal, rest foot on pedal and take a deep breath, and puuuuuuuuuusssshhhhh.  Minor complaints from the quadriceps muscles, tendons are all strong as tow ropes, so I just push carefully and the pedal goes right down to the floor.  Select a gear, push the magic yellow button for 4WD and we're off.  The snow is about a foot deep on our road right now, with tons more falling.  I put new tires on the beastie back before surgery, and now I have the chance to try them out.  They're tall and narrow and work like a champ!

[Dentman]

What a neat shop! You've got a POM there right away!

[Gibbo103]

What you need is one of the starship delivery robots that we have in Milton Keynes.

[Genem]

When my wife was running her baking business we had a similar arrangement with the delivery driver, far easier to drop off a pile of boxes and get the empties back next time......though we did tend to keep a few spares. ( cough)....because they were equally handy for lugging stuff to a Farmers Market.

[Dentman]

Any shopping trolleys in the canal?

[Gibbo103]

Have you had a look at golf caddies which could be fairly easily modified. There are a couple of new ones on offer at Tilsworth golf centre at about £500 new, or why not try at the golf course next to your place?

[Genem]

The problem with the trollies/caddies thing is that you need to store them all week in order to use it for 5 minutes. A complete pain in a modern house with limited space. At least the spare supermarket boxes stack neatly and can be used for other storage...indeed they might make very handy spare garden chairs for that socially distanced Christmas. 

[w3526602]

Hi Nanq,

One of the best handling cars in the snow was my 1932 Austin 7, sitting on 3 inch wide tyres, and 13BHP when new.

You could drive through 4" deep virgin snow (on tarmac), yank the steering wheel through 90 degrees, and back to centre. The car would give a quick shimmy and return to straight ahead.

Storing a trolley will not be a problem. We are planning for our builder to link the garage to the side of the bungalow, then cut through the bathroom window, down to floor level, giving us room for a wheel-chair accessible shower, bath, basin, WC, and by special request, a gentleman's "scatter can". I've reached an age where I don't like queuing.I suppose if push comes to shove, we could live with two WCs, (there's posh!) but have you calculated the cost of a full flush?

As I was saying, the alley between  the garage and bungalow is about 20ft, but we only need about 8ft for the extension, so there will be spare alley at front and rear, that can be roofed over too, to provide secure storage.

The original bathroom was 5ft by 6ft, but the original owner, removed the bath, and erected a glass screen to make a wheel chair accessible shower.  Barbara was still walking, at that time. But now she has found there is insufficient space for a wheel chair, between the  WC and the shower screen. Yes, there are cheaper options, but my target is too make this into an "all singing, all dancing" invalid friendly residence.

I plan to plant about a dozen fruit trees, and call it ORCHARD CORNER (pressed alluminium registration plates screwed to the wall), so our daughter should have no difficulty getting viewings, if she decides to sell. Garage and parking for several cars, plus room for a 30ft cabin cruiser on a trailer. Park with sloe berries at end of the cul-de-sac. 

602