A Festive Night Out In Lisburn (from my POV) 🎄

So, I wanted to share about an outing I had into the heart of Lisburn, with my older sister & youngest niece; which I enjoyed very much, no matter how dull it might seem to others. For the record, I’m extremely disabled & suffer a lot of illnesses/pains/conditions, which means I spend most of my time confined to a hospital bed in my own home, only using my wheelchair to go out maybe once or twice every 2-3 months. Because of this, my mum, sisters & fam do what they can to lift my spirits. Anyway … me, my older sister & my youngest niece went into Lisburn, with the intention of seeing the Christmas light & other sights at Castle Gardens, but we were NOT prepared for the crowds, not by a long shot! LOL. Parking was so crazy, we ended up having to use the Bow Street Mall car-park & walk from there (obviously, I used my powered wheelchair). The middle of Bow Street looks very pretty with all its lights & I regret not taking some pics of it, but it was freezing & we just wanted to get up there as quick as we could. When we finally reached Castle Street, we took the path on the right hand side of the road, a part of which ended up being too narrow for my chair. I couldn’t gain access onto the road, as someone was parked over the lowered curb, so; we had to go back, cross at the lights, walk up the path on the left hand side & cross at the lights again (opposite Castle Gardens). NGL, the place was absolutely packed with people, so I had to manoeuvre my chair very carefully & I had to keep my eyes glued to the path to ensure I wouldn’t run over someone’s foot. At one point, a child (barely old enough to walk & no eyes watching) almost walked into the back side of my wheelchair. My sister was a bit frustrated, adding that if she got hurt, her family might’ve tried to blame me. Regardless, it wasn’t my fault, as I don’t exactly have rear/side-view mirrors to help see what’s behind me. Anyway, we decided not to stay very long, as it was very overwhelming for me. Being autistic, it’s difficult to cope with the extremely large crowds & the noise levels are often so bad; I’m forced to play my “fave Apple Music playlist” through my headphones (via iPad), in order to keep me from stressing or having an anxiety attack. We stayed there long enough to get some nice pictures, but my sister saw I was getting very tensed up & decided it was time for us to leave there. I did agree to let her get one more video, but not before she had me park in a quieter spot just outside the fence, where I could sit quietly for a few moments (to have a little vape & drink from a small bottle of Coca-Cola my sister purchased earlier). Once she’d finished recording her video, we headed straight for Bow Street Mall again. My sister & niece had a quick browse in 2-3 shops at the entrance, then I suggested going to Costa Coffee. Since I had £50, I decided to pay for my niece & sister to order whatever they wanted (as well as getting myself a hot chocolate, topped with thick cream, caramel & festive red/green sprinkles). My sister got a regular hot chocolate to warm up (with cream & a little gingerbread biscuit), but my niece fancied a cool drink with caramel & ice-cream, plus a sweet treat (a brownie or something similar); which I was happy to pay for, as I rarely get to spoil my nieces & nephews like this. When I got the change, I had about £34-something & since I knew my niece wanted to do some more shopping, I gave her the change I had, leaving me with exactly £30. At first, she didn’t want to accept it, but I told her how I regret not being able to do stuff like this with her very often (as I’m mostly bed-bound, only going out in the wheelchair once or twice every 2-3 months) & that I certainly won’t miss £4. To see her little face light up (first with an 😲 & then the biggest smile, followed by a hug & lots of thank-you’s) was the best Christmas gift she could’ve given me, plus she was thanking me for the early Christmas present I’d given her just before we left for our night on the town; a hardback illustrated copy of “The Secret Garden”, a cute little notepad with a fancy pen & a very nice colouring book that is based on “The Wizard Of Oz” (which tells the whole gist of the story, with lines on every page alongside the images to colour, so it’ll be a beautiful little storybook once every page has been coloured). Anyway, once we finished up our drinks, we continued to shop for a little while. My niece got some stuff from Primark, as she had to do a “Secret Santa” with some of her school friends & at first I browsed with my sister, but then decided to park myself outside the shop until they were finished (to be fair, I was getting a bit lightheaded from circling around the aisles & I also wanted to avoid an anxiety attack). When they did come out & then decided to browse Dunnes Stores next, I decided to go into “Sweetie Miller” & hopefully find a couple things that I might like to take home, plus I love to look at all the plushies (whether it’s “Squishmallows” or “Ty Beanie Boos”, I have a soft spot for those adorable plushies). I managed to find one book I liked, a pack of Tayto Curry Chips (from my childhood), Walker’s “sausage & ketchup sandwich” flavour (50p, plus I was curious about how it would taste), KP Mini Chips with Salt & Vinegar flavour, cola-flavoured “Big Baby Pop” (also from my childhood), English creamy toffees & a couple of Nestlé Toffee Crisp bars … & for once, I resisted the temptation of buying another plushie! LOL. My niece & sister found me there, so after my sister grabbed a fresh can of Boost energy drink from the cooler in Sweetie Miller & paid for it, we went for the car-park & then headed home. My little chihuahua was so glad to see me home & my mum was especially glad that I had such a good time. By that point, I was already feeling sore, so I got changed, got into bed & my mum gave me all my meds. Finished the night with a good movie on Prime Video, tucking myself & my little chi under the blankets, then had some of the goodies I bought. I’d say that night out turned out quite nicely! 😊💖🎄🙌