#110: Painter going to work

Welcome to Blind Guys Chess, where this guy, Orin O'Neill. Hello. And this guy, Jan Bloom. Hello. Talk about the A to Z of light. Well, hello, ladies and gentlemen, and you are very welcome to episode 110 of Blind Guys Chat. And thanks be to the Lord. I am back.

Yeah. Hey, well done. Under which stone did you live in the past weeks, Mr. Orin, we missed you.

Oh yeah, you did. Like a headache.

I took a lot of paracetamol, dude.

Funny enough, so did Orin.

Well, we'll get on to that in a minute, but I just want to say thanks very much to Mr. Stuart Lawler and Muhammad for stepping in at very short notice. They were very good and particularly Stuart and he edited the show and did all that for us. So thank you very much, show notes and everything.

And a nice meeting up with Hector, you know. Yeah, I thought he was on the Caribbean, you know, it's been a long time.

In fairness, this time of year.

Yeah. I must put a shout out to a colleague of mine who some of you will know know Mr. Joe Duffy because he has been listening to the podcast and Joe Duffy is a very well known radio presenter and television presenter, but mostly radio broadcast a daily radio show called Liveline on RT Radio 1 and he has been listening to the podcast and he's been asking me via text, how am I, how am I doing? And I'll get onto that in a moment. But what was interesting about Joe when he was listening to our podcast because he was listening to episode 104 and he, he texted me and said that he has number 48, a dinky toy of a Peugeot 104.

You're kidding.

Collector's item. So he is, he's very kindly offered to auction it off so we can go on a world tour.

So that's a big offer. Hey, we need to do an auction then with Christmas or something, you know, we can do an auction show for the PE Show 104.

Hey, well, yeah, but we think of us first, you know, it's very kind gesture of.

Joe might have to get on the.

Podcast because he did a beautiful, beautiful painting for me before I got sick and went in the hospital. A lovely Van Gogh painting, a tactile painting which took him a very long time. But I'm probably going to get him explain to explain it and see how, and ask him how he did it and that because it's.

What painting was it?

Ah, so it's a painting. So I think it's called a painting. I probably have the title wrong. Because I'm still under good drugs. But I think it's. I think it's called painting. Painter. Painter going to work.

It was called the Painter. The Painter on His way to work.

Painter on his way to work. Thank you.

July 1888 and it was stolen at.

The end of World War II by the Nazis show. And it has never been found and.

Now it turns, shop at your hospital bed.

Yeah. Yes.

Well, in fairness, Joe, somehow a little bit spooky.

Yeah. He did a tactile interpretation of it. So it's very much so that Orin can feel it and understand what's happening. But in fairness, lucky for us, we.

Have no listeners, you know, otherwise you are.

Yeah, yeah, It's a beautiful. It's a beautiful painting. It's such an. A moving thing to do.

Yeah, yeah. We'll have to come on and talk about, but thank you very much to all of you. Who sent all the cards and the texts and the basket of fruit. Hang on, hold on a second. That was. Nobody did that. Yeah, my colleagues sent a card. So thanks very much.

Somebody sent about a Lucas Aid.

Was that like you?

Yeah, that was me.

Yeah.

Hey. Hey. And Ms. Oren, who did. See you on your bet.

Oh, wait till I tell you. So, ladies General, what happened? I had a very, very, very. I had a very dramatic weekend on the 19th of October where I had to go into hospital Urgen. And I had a.

By ambulance.

By ambulance. And I had a six hour operation the next day to try and sort out something in my stomach area. I don't know how graphic.

No detail, no details.

Don't get too graphic.

No, I won't. Okay, I won't. So anyway, then unfortunately I had a lung collapse and then something else happened. But at towards the end of the first. I think it was the first week, wasn't it, Claudette? Or the second week I was in. A gentleman from the Netherlands came to see me because he. The second week because he and his family were in Dublin visiting. So yeah, Mr. Jan Blom and I met in hospital and it was very good to bring. He brought Chef as well.

Yeah, yeah, Chef.

Which Chef. Which everybody loved because they were the, the nurses and the patients were very.

Kind to docs in the hospital.

Yeah. So yeah, Jan was in. Came to visit immunity hospital. He was very, very kind to.

Yeah. And it was very nice also to invite me there in your. On your private hospital.

To be honest.

We had, we had a great, we had great plans for your visit so that, you know, that we'd get together.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

For sure. Have fun and maybe bring the kids somewhere and all that kind of stuff. But fortunately, all of that went. Went.

Yes. Because of all the inspiration. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it was. It was just. It was a. It was a tough outfit.

It was not nice, Oren, at all. You know, it was for your. But, but. But we are happy you're back and that. You're sounding really good again. We had some nice. Well, and also not so nice events, you know, with. With Chef. He was a little bit. He was not welcome at first in the. In the. In the Fridays, you know, in the. In the restaurant.

Really? Okay.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But. But in the end, you know, we stood up and then the general manager came. Oh, cutie. You're so welcome.

They said no.

Did you tell them that? No, no. I'm sorry, but guide dogs are allowed.

Exactly, exactly. But. But the first impression by the watchman was no.

And I think often it's people, you know, the staff might not necessarily.

Yeah, that is true.

Be from Europe originally, and so they might not know the EU law, but it can be very distressing to be turned away. Like, I had some kind of negative experiences in the hospital, coming in and out of the hospital. I got chased into the lift one day by a security guard, and I got stopped so many times, and I had to explain. But the day Orin was wheeled down for surgery, was it that day was the following day. I can't remember. I ended up in tears at the reception desk going, you know, can you please tell your staff that guide dogs are allowed in hospitals? And so there was. There was a really lovely security guard called Kevin, and he told everybody. And when Tran made it his business to tell everyone, so I. I didn't get stopped. From that moment, it's been great. Everyone has been.

You know, it sounds so simple that you explain. Head. Okay, we are welcome. But every time you need to do it again, it. It hurts. You know, it does. Because also when we went in the. In the. In in. On a bus tour, the. On the Sunday, it was then we went to the islands, you know, islands at the lakes.

Glendalough.

Glendalough. And then also the bus driver told us a dog. The dogs are not possible to come on the bus. No, that's not possible. We said, come on. It is possible. He can go on the bus. Sit down. Well, I've never seen that. No, but this is then your first time, you know, so. And then in the end, everyone was, okay, welcome. Da, da, da, da. But you Know again, you need to explain.

I think there's still a need in Ireland. Yeah.

Not just in Ireland.

Well, in the rest of Europe. Speaking in art everywhere, there needs to be a better campaign for awareness to inform people what the rights of people who are blind who have guide dogs are simple as.

Because on some shops, you know, we are in the shopping center. What is this typical British shopping center with supermarket and also cloves.

Free market.

No Marks and Spencer. We were there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Chantal was really. It was a lovely. You know, the girls, they loved it very much. Rosalie, they went in and out and. Okay, then we. And on those. On the Marks and Spencers was a real nice sign. Assistant dogs are welcome. And on the street, Mr. Oren and Madame Claude. This dog, he was. Oh, gorgeous.

Like a rock star.

Even when he was in the harness, you know, they, they, they stood up to him and they stopped him even. And then. Oh, we need to cuddle him. And he is.

He is gorgeous. I know you're not supposed to when they're working, but he is a. No, that's part of the problem. Can be that he like a few other dogs. We know he doesn't look like a typical guide dog because he's not a lab. He's not a retriever. Yeah. So I think people sometimes get a bit like, what. What the hell? Like you're lying. Or that's not really a guide dog. It's like you're faking it.

Exactly. Well, that's truly what I do until all. Already 30, 40 years, you know.

Yeah.

So how did you. How did you enjoy overall and your trip to Dublin? How did the kids like us today?

Ah, fine, fine. No, that was very nice. But. But I disliked the Guinness, to be honest.

Oh, really?

I don't know if I. Yeah, I tried, man. No, I'm not the stone.

I don't like it either, Janet. I think it's horrible. Yeah. Oh, sorry, but I don't like. I don't like any beer.

I'm. I'm not blaming people. And you know, everyone has right for tasting.

It's an acquired taste. That's what they say.

Yeah.

It's kind of bitter, isn't it? It's like.

Yeah, it's typical. But, but, but we loved it the way, you know, it wasn't very nice. And it was also with. What is it with the trick and. And shriek. What was it?

Oh, Hal. Halloween.

Halloween was it also. So it was quite funny in, in town. Yeah, it was quite. Yeah. And.

And were there any fireworks?

Yeah, No. T was a little bit disappointed. He said only, you know, glado when. When you dropped us inside town, then we experienced. But that was the only time. But he could not also find shops where. Where to buy it. But yeah, we were also.

Fireworks.

They're actually illegal in Ireland. You're not supposed to buy them.

Us that we were not. Because I think we were also then illegal to get it into the aircraft, you know.

Oh, genie Mac. I'd imagine that'd be hilarious.

Really nice. No, but we enjoyed it very much, guys. But next time it will be better.

You can email blindguyschatgmail.com or tweet us at blindguyschat if you've any comments or questions. Questions.

But things happened also last week. Election.

Yep.

November 5th. It was a little bit. A dark day. Yeah, yeah.

It's just as good. I am not a betting person because I definitely would have lost money.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We hoped it would be better. But now. Yeah. He will say that he will stop the war in Russia with. Within 24 hours.

24 hours. How's he going to do that?

Yeah, well, look, if he manages that, then great. Okay. That's fantastic.

That's what I said as well.

Yeah. I don't think.

But did you hear the news of today, Claudia, that he said we woke up and then he's the word. The Washington Post came with the message. Trump has already contacted Putin that he has to stop.

Yeah.

And today, this afternoon, the official news for. From the Putin government, you know, from the Russian government, he said it's totally nonsense. This is how you can see how fake news is created.

I see the. I see the Prime Minister. Was it the prime minister or the mayor? No, I think it was the Prime Minister, isn't it? Of the Netherlands, isn't it that it didn't go to COP24 because of the. The riots in Amsterdam?

And to be honest, there's also a nice point. Please. Because Maccabi Tel Aviv, you know, it's a. It's a football team from Israel. They came to play against AX in Amsterdam.

Yeah.

And the supporters from Maccabi Tel Aviv, they were there already a couple of days ahead and this was not in the news. They were there, you know, tearing down the Palestinian Palestine flags. They were tearing down all. We have a lot of taxi drivers out of Morocco, Turkey, etc. They were harassed by the Israeli people. You know, they were. No, they. They were tearing them, you know, they were beating them up, you know, etceter. Etc. So they made a lot of trouble and then on the. On the day to the football match, because my neighbors kids were there. There was a very nice atmosphere, was nothing, nothing wrong. But only in the outside. Yeah, that was not nice at all. Yeah, things happened in the. In the city, but Netanyahu used it really that those poor Israeli and guys, you know, they were intimidated by the. And organized, etc.

But yeah, actually, okay, it's the opposite was the case.

There was something other. There was more going on. To be honest, it is not. I don't want to say or to approve things, you know, that is not good at all. Because yeah, you should not do it, but you should tell then the whole story. And they wanted to come with airplanes into Amsterdam and to rescue the Israeli and people, etc. Because we could not do it. And it was like crystal nacht, etc. You know. And they control the media in a way, you know.

Oh yeah, they've got a very loud megaphone.

They. They have a. Yeah, it's a nice expression. Loud megaphone. That's really something. Because also for the asylum situation now the budget for asylum seekers had. The government has 9 billion euros. And they say we want to cut it to 3 billion because we will. We don't allow so many asylum seekers anymore. So. Yeah, then we don't need it. But can you imagine that is. So you cut budget so only the queues will extend, etc. You create a very chaotic situation. And that's what they do on purpose, just to say and to show. Yeah, see, you see, it is out of hand. We cannot control it anymore. Yeah. If you cut budgets with 2/3, maybe.

Jan should become mayor of Amsterdam now.

You know, we were last weekend, we were with the family on. On our. On the island there for the running event. And then it is nice to meet people with the same opinion in a way. And we were thinking how. But how can we change it? You know, should we get off about the bad politics? Yeah, because we have also a nice interview. We have guests from Germany.

Yeah.

You can email blindguyschat gmail.com or tweet us@blindguyschat if you have any comments or questions.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for our guests. We are shortly going to talk to Fanny Bui from Kamnitz about the next year's European city of culture. But just to let you know, we're speaking to somebody who is very well respected in the Olympic field because Fanny recently won the Olympic triple gold and platinum award for the high jump of Mount Everest, a feat that has Only been done once before by a penguin in 1850. But unfortunately, the cameraman at the time, the sales photographer, didn't actually take the opportunity to take a photograph when the penguin was jumping over Mount Everest. But, Fanny, you are very welcome. How are you this evening?

Thanks, I'm fine. You have to know that I'm not supportive at all.

Sorry. Apologies. Funny. But Oren is also not, you know.

A lot of things.

But.

No.

Hey, but many thanks for. Yeah. For your attending our podcast or joining our podcast. Because you are. Yeah. Out of your living in. Not in the Netherlands and also Northern Ireland. Can you please tell our listeners where you live?

I live in Chemnitz. It's a city in Southeast Germany. Yeah, that's where I am. In former times it was called Kalmarkstadt.

What is the weather like in Kalmaz currently?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We're always curious about weather.

Yeah, it's autumn weather or fall weather. It's about 13 degrees at daytime and the nights are already very cold, around zero degrees Celsius. So, yeah, it's already quite cold.

Okay. Okay. And did you also suffer from the rain? I think. Was it in the. Yeah, not now, like in Valencia, but when it was in Austria and also in Switzerland when there was such a big rainfall, was it also suffering your area or did you stay out?

We were lucky.

Oh, you're lucky. That's good.

Yes, but there was a lot of rain in the Czech Republic and in Poland, and that was closer to us and we were afraid that it comes over to us. But this time we've been lucky.

Okay, now, very good to hear. But here, by the way, is almost the same weather. And I was yesterday doing a cycling tour again, or should tour, just a cycling hour with my friend Dani. And. And. But it was also freezing cold. I had cold tones, Mr. Orange. It was in freezing. And yeah, I was wearing hand gloves. That was my. But because we cycle always at night time, so that's always.

Yeah, yeah. But anyway, let's talk about the event in May, between May and June 2025. Fanny, what's happening in your part of the world around this time?

Well, in all 2025, our town has got the title of the European cultural capital. And Chemnitz is a city where we have a lot of blind life, because it was one of the centers in East Germany for blind life. We have a big school for the blind here. We have a professional school for the blind here. And many of those who come here make their apprenticeship, they stay here because it's a City. And we have quite a lively community. We have different blind organizations in the towns. And one of them, it's called Connecting Blind, it's the youngest we just founded in October three years ago. And we want to connect blind people, children with adults, but also blind people internationally. And so we. We wanted to take the chance of the cultural capital of Chemnitz to invite blind people from all over Europe to our town, to show them our city from our perspective.

And what is that so special about Chemnets? Why should we come? For example, you know, it would be nice to come Oren to the cultural city then in May next year.

Yeah, because I'm wondering how many. You're saying there's a lot of blind and visually impaired people. People living around there. I mean, what's the. Do you know what the population of blind and visually impaired people living in cabinets is at the moment?

I don't know the exact number, but maybe it's interesting that the blind people who are in the blind organizations, they are in Chemnitz. They are approximately 10 years younger than usually.

Oh, and why is it, why is that now?

Because we have this professional school here where people can do apprenticeship, they can learn a profession, they can get the.

Certificates and what kind of professions then? Funny, just to interrupt.

For example, it things. I don't know the exact. These English expressions, otherwise you can do it in German.

We are also international.

Professions in the field of it and also like office work, secretary work, and also massage and physiotherapist. So some different professions that blind people can do after, let's say if they don't study, but they finish the school in. In Germany it's the 10th class, so they finish this school, they don't go higher, but they learn, they get a certificate for a profession. And we have a big center where people after school or when they get blind later, can learn, can get these certificates, can learn. And especially when people usually live in the rural countryside there the infrastructure is not that good as it is like in a bigger city. So many of the people from, for example, from the rural fields, they stay in cabinets after their apprenticeship. And we have a lot of spare time activities here, especially for the blind. For example, playing showdown, going by tandem. We have.

I read that.

Yeah, we have. We have some inclusive things too. For example, we have a choir which is led by a blind women here from Chemnitz. It's an inclusive choir. She and two others are the only blind. The others all see. So yeah, and we have. Blind life is quite, quite a lot Here. And of course, because we are quite many, I guess the town that is like the big. That always counts, like the big example for the blind is Marburg, where. Where almost everything should be.

Yes.

That is not Chemnitz is not like that. It's a bit more wild than Marburg is. But we have. We are quite a center.

That's what we prefer.

Yeah, we are quite a center for the blind.

Okay, okay, okay, that's good. And do you have also a guide dogs center in Chemnitz?

We. We have, yes, we have a school for guide dogs.

Guide dogs.

I think even two. But this is a difficult thing in Germany with these guide dog schools, without any laws. Oh, about.

Okay, yeah. What is the problem?

The problem is that. That there are no. No official regulations when you can call a dog a guide dog. So there is not. Not a law that saying a guide dog must know this. Must know that if you take it very satiric, you can say that everybody can found a guide dog school and then say that he has a guide dog. If the guide dog does the exam with a blind person with an O and M trainer and he does that. Good. He is a guide dog. And there are no. There's no regulations. This makes it very difficult.

Let's go back to May.

Yeah. We want to invite people, blind people from all over Europe. We want to give them the possibility to come without guidance. If they want, they can be hosted in host families here in Chemnitz, so at blind. Other blind people's home. And we want to show them our city and our life from our perspective. We want to, of course, have some exchange, have some barbecue together, have some chatting. We want to show them the big center for the blind that we have with the blind school and also with this professional training school. We want to have some exchange about the different systems. Like blind people are trained in which way, which professions they can do, what are difficulties, what is easy, what are the simplest similarities. So to have a good exchange. And we want to show them. We have a very famous, not too famous, if you compare it with Berlin, but from. From the things we have there. We have quite a famous archaeological music.

Nightlife.

No, no, nightlife.

Okay. You know, with the clubs that go on here from Berlin. Don't get too excited.

An archaeolog museum where we have also. This is also. We have some accessible things there. Light system, guidance system.

So you are allowed to touch things.

Yeah, yeah. There is audio guide. And you have. Yeah, and you have the system, the guiding system so you can explore the Museum by on your own, if you want at least parts of it. And the highlight will be a concert that we'll have. There is a radio station in Germany which is called Orfunkde. And it's a station mainly done by blind people. And they invented a chart for musicians with disabilities and they call it low vision charts. And every second year they do a concert with some of the artists which are listed there. And there are some artists from Chemnitz too, that take part. And so two of the of those will be on this concert. And also one band from Poland. So. And we will have this concert in a very nice little church in our town. And it will also be sent in the radio. And so this will be the highlight of our weekend to have this concert. And of course a lot of exchange. We want to play showdown, we want to go by tandem, maybe we can offer some climbing. We want to eat together, to speak together and yeah, to show them how we live. I mean, Chemnitz is not very. The last years our town, our city, when it was in the media were no good, no good news. But we are not only that, we are more than that.

So you're saying that if you are blind or visually impaired and you fancy going to cabinets at the nma, you don't need a sighted guide.

We will supply us as guides, us blind people who. Who live here and who know our city. So we are the guides and we are the ones who. Who are going to. Of course we have some sighted supporters helping us also. But most of all, the concept is that we do our things among each other and we don't necessarily need support. Sighted support in every life situation, so to say. Yeah, so if the. The only. The only thing that people really have to handle on their own is the traveling. So we can, when they come to Chemnitz, or maybe we can even organize something. When they come to the next bigger town, which is Leipzig, we can pick them up and then they will be under the guidance of their hosts of us blind people who live in Chemnitz and who show them our city. This is the specialty of our weekend.

And is this weekend, because you're saying this is the cultural capital for 2025. Are there other non blind and vision impaired events happening on this weekend? Or is this just specifically going to be related to blind and visually impaired tourists?

Every day there will be something. Some events on every day, but of course we organize special things for our blind friends.

Fanny, how do people get more information and do they need to register?

What's the we have a website which is www.connectingblind altogether.org. the first step is just to write us a mail, an email that you're interested. At the moment we are collecting how many people are interested and then we will will put them all together and write some, some detailed information and ask some questions like for example, is there any allergy? Do you rather want to live in a hotel? We can't, we can't pay for the hotels. We just can give the links for the hotels. But we can if of course if someone is in the host families he doesn't have to pay for the place. Yeah. And the weekend is going to happen from the 28th of May until the 1st of June.

Okay, well thanks very much. Sounds like it like it's going to be a good. A good few days specifically blind related. Well, Fanny, thanks. Thanks so much for coming. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to us about this event next year and it's plenty folks, you've got plenty of time and please keep.

Us posted also if you have news or something. You know, it's always good to follow up perhaps in the early next year.

All right, F. Well listen, thanks so much for, for joining us and good luck with, with next year and Jan and I might see you there next year in, in May. Yeah.

Yeah, maybe. Yeah. Thank you too for having us here and for letting us introduce what we plan and yeah hope to see many of you and of your listeners.

Thank you Fanny, that was lovely. Thank. Happy ending. Yeah, thank you very much. And don't forget that we'll put the information about to go to cabinets if you're interested. Should be a good event in May of 2025 and you have plenty of time to think about it and save your money and go there for the. For the weekend. Should be a good gig.

We have been in the southeast part of Germany already for, for. For holidays a while ago, a couple of years ago and it is a nice environment. It's really nice. Yeah.

Very good. I got to do a quick TV corner for a second because I now that I'm now that I'm back home I'm kind of binge watching. We're kind of binge watching stuff because I didn't have control of TV and hospital which is a pity but I a shout out for two things. One, I'm Claude is more into than I am. They're all on Netflix. One is the Lincoln Lawyer which is.

You'Re more into than I am.

I'm not really into. I'm not really into. And the other one, we won't have an argument about it. And the other is very good. Very. I think it's very funny. Is called. Is Series two of the Diplomat. And I think. I think that is a brilliant. Brilliant.

It is actually good. It's good. It's.

It's basically about this former CIA woman who has now become the US Ambassador to London. And she. She's not good at the job she want, but she thinks she's still kind of CIA and she's kind of running. She's kind of doing all this kind of secret stuff and secret talks and what have you. And it's very funny. And her husband is very funny as well.

It would be hard to think that that's actually. What if ambassadors actually do that? I don't know if they do, though, but it's interesting. The other thing is Bad Sisters is coming back.

Sisters is going. Okay.

It's coming back this week.

I think that's going to be on Apple tv.

Yeah. And so that's season. What is it? Three? I think two or three. And there's a new thing coming on Paramount plus called Landman, which has one of your favorite actors on. Oh, it's Billy Bob Thornton.

Well, Billy Bob. I like Billy Bob Thornton.

And John Hamm, who you also like Billy Bob.

Yeah, he was the one, wasn't he? The one that married Angelina Jolly and she had a vial of his blood. Blood.

Yeah. Each other's blood.

Each other's blood.

Really?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Is. Is that true love or something?

Oh, it's something true. Something. I'm not gonna go into detail there, but it's made.

How about. Do we have a dusty view corner? What about emails? Have we gotten. Is anybody writing to us at all? At all?

They are, they are. We have two emails, but one of them we can't do because we didn't do our homework. We have a little bit of homework to do before I can read out the email. Okay, so we'll hold that over for.

Okay.

I have explained to the writer what's going on, so she will.

All right.

Okay. But this one is high blood. Guys, chat team. I'm Laurent, and.

Excuse me, I'm M. From France.

He's actually from Belgium. Writing from Belgium.

Belgium. Oh, welcome. That's a friend of Chef, because Chef is also a Belgium name.

Oh, really?

I didn't know that.

Yeah, yeah.

Sjf. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Good.

Yeah.

I've been enjoying your show. The mix of humor, practical advice and useful info really works. Lauren says I have A question about traveling through Europe. What.

Don't.

What are some of the accessibility challenges you've run into while traveling? Are there specific countries or cities that you found really, either really accessible or, on the other hand, especially challenging? I'm sure a lot of listeners would appreciate any travel tips you have for getting around with visual impairment. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts in a future episode. Thanks for the great content. Best, Laura.

I think you should go to next year event in Chemnet to experience.

Yeah, and Germany is pretty good, I think.

Yeah. Yeah.

The UK is pretty good as well, I would say, isn't it? They're good at dipped. Dipped crossings and audible crossings.

What did you do with this special card? Or again, because that's the access card.

No, the access card. So, yeah, so the access card. So you can buy. Anybody in. Anybody in the world can buy this thing called an access card. If you're traveling in the UK and it will get you into some museums for free or some at a discounted price, or if you're going to, let's say, musical or play or whatever, you'll usually get in at a discounted price. And your companion, if you have one, will generally get in free. And that's what. And it cost. It's like £12 or something for a year.

I think it's three. I think it's three years. Is it?

Oh, yeah, I think it's three years.

I'll put the link. I'll put the link in the show.

You're good. Yeah. I mean, the thing about London is, you know, if you're going to somewhere like London, it's not an accessible, probably as I would. I would like it to be in that. The tube stations are quite old, so you've either got to walk up the steps or you can go up to the escalator. But as we've talked about this before.

Yeah.

If you can't bring your dog on the escalator, if your dog isn't trying to go on the escalator, then you're in trouble because there are very, very few lifts in any of the existing tube stations. I think, as we always would always say, the best method for getting around anywhere that you don't know is always plan ahead, call ahead. So if you're going to get on something, a tube in London, you know, make sure when you go to the station, make yourself known and somebody will look after you, get your ticket and bring you to the tube and then somebody will come and get you on the other. When you get onto the other side.

In general, I think the awareness is getting better and better. And when you ask people polite for assistance, everyone will immediately come up and help you.

Something that might be of interest to all of our listeners is a call out to our listeners that if you have been somewhere that you think has good or bad accessibility, let us know and we might be able to compile something and put it on a. Put us up somewhere on the Internet so that you could reference it. That if you're thinking about going to X, Y or Z, you might be able to look at a blind guy's chart and see, well, that's good. There's good accessibility in that town or not or whatever. But maybe that's something to think about writing into. If you've been anywhere and you think the us.

Yeah.

Anyway, we are out of time folks, and I'm going to let you go. Thank you for listening to episode 110 and please join us. And I hopefully will be sounding and feeling a lot better by the time we get to special episode one one one one. Okay, bye. Bye.

Bye. Thanks guys.

Bye.