Going to a restaurant

There have been some problems that were reasonably easy to sort out such as when having a meal. My husband, Ronald would point things out to me such as my glass of water, he would pass the condiments over to me and anything else that I would need rather than allow me to reach for them, as I was liable to knock things over. I found that it was better to have a plain coloured tablecloth such as a mid- green one on the table rather than a colourful patterned or multi-coloured one. For tumblers or glasses, I found that it would be better if they were coloured or had a strong coloured pattern on them though  this was no guarantee that I would not knock anything over because of my loss of side-vision. One Christmas when Ronald and I went to our daughter, Anthea’s home for Christmas dinner, instead of giving me a wine glass, Anthea gave me an attractive cup to drink out of during our lovely meal and I was very comfortable with that and did not knock it over.

When I go to a restaurant with family, I need someone to read out the menu to me as the printing is far too small for me to read and sitting at a table I would have to know where everything is otherwise I will end up knocking things over. I went for a meal at a restaurant once where it was silver service and I thought that I would be fine here but that was only until I felt something hot on my back; it was hot gravy! I know beforehand that I am going to find it difficult to join in with conversations around the dinner table and though hearing aids help to a certain extent and lip-reading helps to fill in the gaps it is still a struggle if you cannot see their faces to lip-read because of the low light that these places seem to have now.  There is another problem; some people speak very quietly so I cannot hear them mainly because of the background noise. The last time that I went out for a meal was with my daughter, Anthea and eleven year old grandaughter. As soon as we entered the premises, my grandaughter dashed off to look for a table that was placed in an ideal place suitable for me! I must point out that this was during the day....not at night! I enjoyed the meal and companionship.