Well, a little update.
Went to Amsterdam this weekend with dh and ds. We got the ferry over, that was nice other than being gouged senseless by costs on the boat (got ds his own plate for the buffet and was charged 15 euro for the privilege).
We got to Amsterdam on Friday morning. Got off the bus, walked/wheeled round the corner on to the Damrak and dh's wheelchair broke down. I was frozen in horror: WTF am I meant to do, in a foreign country, with a broken-down wheelchair? Ds kicking off about why are we standing still, I want to go somewhere else, etc, then him crying as I try to figure out what the hell to do.
Went into first shop I saw and explained situation and asked them to phone a taxi. They did. Have to wheel/push dh in wheelchair, ds in pushchair and all luggage down the street to where a taxi can stop. Taxi driver attempts to call a repair company he knows but no reply. Decide to go to hotel.
Hotel have their engineers look at the wheelchair whilst we, disastrously, try to go out with a manual one - me pushing dh and ds on his knee, up kerbs we can't do, dodging trams, the whole works.
At 5 on Friday the engineers give up and say there is a hire company we can try. I phone the concierge on Saturday morning to be told: oh, they [the wheelchair firm] work weekends, only office hours. Too late. I google and find a company outside Amsterdam who do work Saturdays. They agree to bring a wheelchair to us for 80 euro.
Wheelchair arrives 2 pm. We head to the zoo. Wheelchair runs out of power 100 yards from the zoo. We have to get a taxi back. And eat from room service - again.
Sunday we get a taxi to the zoo. Have a nice trip round but after return trip to central Amsterdam the wheelchair is running out of power again. Top up in the Haagen Dasz shop. Limp back to hotel.
Get another taxi back to where the bus picks us up to take us to the ferry. No-one makes the slightest allowance for the fact I have a disabled dh and a 2 year old ds in a pushchair, it's horrible.
Somehow make it on to the ferry and acquire manual wheelchair for the duration. My greatest fear is how to get off the boat with dh, wheelchair, ds, pushchair, luggage, the following morning. Fortunately after struggling to the exit, a whole of ferry staff are getting off to and take all the gear with them and also whizz us past all the queues, so that was okay.
People are awful, particularly when travelling, to wheelchair users. So many people literally looked in disdain and refused to move out of the way enough. I was trying to wend this fucking wheelchair around people's stupid ankles (actually ran over a few feet) because they wouldn't just shift out of my way. They clearly felt: you with your small child and disabled husband and non-functional wheelchair and luggage have no right to get off this boat faster than me.
YES I DO YOU UTTER F**KWITS.
And that was my holiday.
Got home from work tonight so unbelievably tired.
I cannot do this any more.