Charity Event and Meeting a Crohny: A Personal Journey

For this blog entry, I am combining two of my series of blogs into one. The “charity event” series will account for various charity events I’ve been to, and the “I met a Crohny” series is similar to the “I met an ostomate” series, only it involves people with Crohn’s without ostomies.

I first met Crohny1 just over 2 months ago. She seemed like a very nice and very beautiful young woman, with lots in common with me, such as lots of relatives who don’t have a clue. After a few weeks, I got to know her and started to see her as a friend but nothing more. Since we both apparently had a lot of free time coming up, I decided to suggest meeting. At first, she seemed up for an eventual meeting; she even gave me her phone number so we could arrange something if she suddenly became free at a convenient time, but she kept coming up with excuses as to why not. You might be thinking at this point, as you read this, that I should have taken the hint, but we did talk every night for upwards of 4 hours, so why wouldn’t she want to meet me? She even shared very personal information with me, which made me even more determined to meet her. It even became a bit of a running joke where I say I want her to bring me a random object, e.g., a bucket because I couldn’t be bothered getting up, to which she would respond with either “no” or “lol”.

A few months ago, I had to quit university due to my health, so since then, I’ve been looking at charity events benefiting similar conditions as mine. I thought it might be a good way of meeting people and possibly getting more medical help, as well as a way of raising money for the charities. Crohny1 suggested a charity walk in London on May 7th, organized by Crohn's and Colitis UK and the National Association for Crohn's and Colitis. This seemed perfect; I could meet Crohny1 as well as possibly a few other people I know from various other sites who live in or near London. As well as it being a good day out and an opportunity to raise/donate to the charity. I booked the coach and decided on a £50 donation. I couldn’t afford a hotel, so the plan was to get the coach to London at 4:30 am, which gets me to London for 8:30 am. This would give me 2 hours to have a good look around while I waited for Crohny1 to show me where the event was. The event was planned to start at 10:30 am and finish at 3:30 pm, which gave me plenty of opportunities to meet people and make my donation. I booked the coach back for 6:30 pm so I could spend time with Crohny1 and whoever else I met at the event. That was the plan…

At 2 am on May 7th, 2011, I packed my things and got ready to go to London. I brought some snacks, a change of clothes in case of an emergency (in case they wouldn't let me in the pub wearing my charity T-shirt, tracksuit bottoms, and trainers), my stoma bags, and £80 in cash. That’s £50 for the charity and £30 to spend on food and souvenirs and the pub. I was excited; I’ve never been to London before, especially on my own, and it was quite a big adventure for me. I got on the coach and sat on the top deck; I had the road in front of me as well as 1 million dead insects. The excitement lasted all the way there. I got off the coach and I was like, “Where do I go now?” I had no clue. It looked simple on Google Earth, just walk towards the river then walk along the riverbank until I reach Victoria Embankment. One problem though, where’s the Thames!!! After I got myself something to eat and some lotto tickets (from a man who didn’t know how to work the till and got my numbers wrong and overcharged me), I decided to ask someone and then I discovered something about people in London. They have no idea how to get around their town on foot. Every single person I asked just told me to go and use public transport as if the London transport system was some kind of teleportation chamber and the space in the middle doesn’t exist. Having experienced the London Underground while on the way to Worthing, I decided to give that a miss and try and find my own way. Eventually, I gave up and got in a taxi (driven by the dopiest old man in the world). There were roadworks blocking off the most direct route, so he had to circumnavigate a complicated one-way system (clearly stretching his capabilities). After paying for the taxi, I had already spent 2/3 of my spending budget, so at that point, I had to reduce my donation from £50 to £30. I do regret having to do this, but it was either that or risk getting lost in London with no food or drink.

Now that I was at Victoria Embankment, all I had to do was find the start point and the event organizers. The only problem was something they didn’t tell you on the website: Victoria Embankment is massive. I decided to text Crohny1 and let her know I had arrived while I looked for it. After I reached what I thought was the end of it (it goes on and on and on), I decided to ask for directions. Unfortunately, everyone I asked didn’t speak English or didn’t know about the event. Even the stall owners knew nothing about it. At this point, I started to think I had been the victim of a cruel practical joke and maybe Crohn’s and Colitis UK might have just been a joke site set up to trick people. I texted Crohny1 to ask for directions; she couldn’t give me any, so I asked if she could come and find me on the way there. This is when things went horribly wrong…

This blog entry is too long, so I’m going to split it up. I’ll enter the next part in a few days.

Oohhhhhh, hurry up. I can't wait.

You should have had the number for 5 Caca.