Wheelchair and Steps

Fred is getting more frail by the week. We regularly go out for a meal with friends on a Sunday. He has progressed from using a walking stick to a 'walker' and Yesterday we used the wheelchair.

Now, there is one big problem with that; the place we are going to has three very high steps. Pulling his chair up the stairs backwards was not difficult. When we came to leave I was going to lower the chair forwards; in effect I planned to reverse the action. However one of the locals said that he always lowered a pram backwards, which I presume has four equal size wheels. I tried the same with the wheelchair. It crashed down step-by-step. Fred was unharmed, but his trust in me was shaken and my pride was dented.

We drove home by the scenic route, that he enjoys. But when we got here, he looked at me in a strained way. I was no longer Superman