Oslo Diary part 4

Arty and I went for a walk after leaving Hub at the meeting. The weather was red hot. The air was so fresh. It reminded me of when I lived in Northumberland. We went to look for Moose as a lovely lady told us of when she came face to face with a huge Moose. It just stood looking at her, she was not at all afraid. She had her guide dog with her too and the two animals just stayed calm, but, that is one thing I have noticed about the Norwegian guide dogs, they are so calm, their fur is so beautiful, like silk. A lady we were  talking to the one who saw the Moose, told me she never bathes the dog, she gets a towel, soaks it in hot water and rubs the dog with it. I tell you, her dog’s fir, was stunning. Her Husband has a black poodle too, who is a guide dog. He too was beautiful. The dog, that is, not sure about the Husband? But, I’m sure he is beautiful as well? Ha. I might try doing that with our stinkers.

Sitting on a wooden bench, with the cool water rippling by as though to skim over the surface of the glass water, was so refreshing. The birds had the sweetest sound. Arty said that the birds were long and had silver bellies. They were the ones that made the sound of clicking as they flew.

The other ones with the high tweets were so small she couldn’t see them.

I in the tranquillity of the woods, spoke to a passer by, she talked of how she was having trouble with Muslim taxi drivers. In the winter, she tried as a blind person to walk the short distance to work. Leaving your environment of your home, that you know so well, heading off to a route you do every day, and then suddenly it hits you, the snow is so thick, your dog is struggling. Its sense is all over the place with the snow, you as a blind person, can not feel your footsteps.  You can’t differentiate the difference between the path and the road as well as the grass verge, so you get totally disorientated. She did that. Called for a taxi. It came and he told her to go away. She didn’t understand what she had done, so went closer to the car to talk with him. He shouted abuse to her and said some dreadful words to her about her dog. She was almost crying. What had she done? She said she had to get to work, she was lost on the road and he got out of his car and  came to her to hit her, she said he swore and was really aggressive.

She stepped back and shouted to him, she hopes he has a dreadful day. She said, one day she hopes he or a member of his family finds themselves blind and really needing help and she hoped that she would pass them by. Just getting to work for her was a nightmare. You never know you are going to be in trouble, until it is too late and you are in trouble.

You always think that you are stronger than you are.

I spoke to people who said that they had been spat on because they had guide dogs, can you imagine?

The stories I was told this weekend, were just so painful, an yet, showed such strength. The things that one guy told me about his life, made me realise even more, that people with sight, are so lucky. If only they knew, what blind people go through and have gone through in their lives, just to exist.

One story I was told, I won’t go into, but my heart sank. Hit the ground and scraped along my insides. I thought, we live in hell. But then there was this stunning countryside. Nature. What man was meant to live like, love and respect? Because of man, this world has become hell, but for this weekend, I found myself in an open prison of freedom.

Behind the gates of nature. How life was intended.

I met whilst out with Arty, an adorable man. Tall and very calmly spoken.  A real gentleman. He was so incredibly intelligent. His wife was at the meeting, he could see perfectly, as by the way I found out Alan could? Ha, no wonder he took photographs so well and described things as we passed in the car and was able to read things to us? Well it was when he talked of driving through France; I almost choked and had to ask how much he could see? When he said perfectly, I told him, we thought he was partially sighted. He has such empathy with blind people; he is fantastic at guiding and amazing in such a relaxed way in guiding and describing.

He does it in a natural way, rather than a speech to a crowd.

This guy with the wife spoke for a while. He was from Slavonia. His wife is called Barbara. What a really really lovely couple. She can see a bit, her two daughters have been born with the same eye condition as her.

One is an artist and one plays piano and is a teacher.

A lady told me that she is losing her sight. She will be blind by three months. There is nothing can be done for her. She gets very depressed, cries, but has to take herself away from her family, in her words.

“My problems are not theirs. Why make them sad and down?

How selfless? Oh God I could have cried for her, I wanted to hug her. Give her a shoulder to cry on. Everyone needs to have someone. I had no one for 25 years and even now, really find it hard to talk about problems, but, understood her meanings. My teen says to me, he doesn’t want a blind child as they will grow up unhappy like me? I thought I was very good at keeping my troubles to myself, always had a painted on smile? Obviously my Teen, saw through my laughter, and read the pain. I made a promise, never to show my teen or talk about my sight again, not that I do anyway, but sometimes when he would not walk with us when we moved here, to show us the route, I got very upset. But now because of a fantastic few friends, I do get out and because of Hubs guide dog, we do get to a couple of places on our own, though also get lost.

These people were so strong, but showed and were not afraid to show their true side. Some people plod on and never say or admit they have problems and this makes people like me, feel so small.

This is how I gained my strength this weekend. Oh God, really emotional.  

If you have sight and health, you are so lucky. May be you don’t feel lucky, but trust me, you really really are. Go and look at something beautiful. Perhaps a flower in your garden, a view of hills, the colour combination of the clouds, the stars, the glassy lake your child, your daughters face as she walks down the aisle. Just look and take a moment, to know and feel how incredibly fortunate you are to see such beauty.

We can never see that but, what I saw this weekend, may not be pretty to the eye, but brought such warmth to my heart.

We saw no Moose, but watched life, framed with a leafy edging of bracken and bluebells.

More later.