It that time of year again
The city is starting to come to life after a very long, cold and snow-covered winter.
There is a feeling of hope in the air
Last weekend I was at the BrainWEEK lectures but unfortunately I was too late to get any more tickets during the week. This weekend I visited the Nürnberg Exhibition Centre where products from workshops for disabled people from all over the country were on display.
I attend every year and usually come away with presents for many of my friends and family. This year I again came away with several things, but these mostly for myself.
I found for myself a pink Netbook cover! I was tempted by the pink because I had actually wanted a pink Netbook but there had been none available when I purchased mine. This cover, along with many other arty products, was made at a centre that treats patients with psychological problems.
I also bought for myself the ultimate in arty household equipment. An long-handled, oak dustpan and brush now stands elegantly in the corner of my kitchen, beside the arty cobweb-brush that I bought two years ago from the same place, all made at a centre for workers who are partially sighted or blind.
I bought for a special friend’s birthday a lovely handmade, ceramic pot with a bright design of trees and houses on the outside, made by adults who suffer from epilepsy.
All of the products at this exhibition are produced in the workplaces of people with different disabilities and problems. I worked in such a centre for several years in England before I set off to Hungary to become a conductor. We did not exhibit our creations at big exhibition centres like this one,but we did exhibit in small, local art galleries and we did quite well selling our wares locally. One day I will make my dream come true and work in a conductive workshop/art gallery for adults. I came away from this exhibition with high hopes again.
A nice massage
Just as I had decided that I would set off for home I had a last chat with the physiotherapists with whom I sometimes work. They were there at the stand from the Boxdorfer Workshop, giving a half-hour sample of Thai massage and hoping that the donations that they received would help to pay for a new cycling machine for their department.
They all at once spontaneously said that I should come back in fifteen minutes when they had a thirty-minute slot free. I needed no persuading, I said goodbye to my friends and settled down to be cared for by my colleagues. It was really very nice, because having walked around for three hours with my purchases in a rucksack on my back I was fully aware of where all my aches and pains were, and my colleague found them too. I will certainly be booking up for the full treatment one of these weekends.
One day...
After the massage coming out into the last warming rays of today’s spring sunshine was just the job.
I found a sunny spot to wait in for the underground train, that at that point is in fact over- ground, and contemplated my day and whether one day I can bring the magic of conductive upbringing into my Makarenko -style dream.
Notes
High Hopes –
Frank Sinatra sings High Hopes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIDLC8M4R28&feature=related
Workshop Exhibition Nürnberg -
http://www.werkstaettenmesse.de/
http://www.behinderte-nuernberg.de/arbeitsfelder/boxdorfer-werkstatt
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