OH MY GOD! DIARY OF MANCHESTER AND MORE PART 1

Good morning Bloggets. OK, again, waiting for the man from our internet provider to come and hopefully fix our connection problems. Again I can use my lap top from the living room, but you know in the summer I like to use my laptop in the conservatory. Well, as soon as you leave the living room, it cuts off. Hub can’t use his work desk top either on our new provider and he rather stupidly, cancelled his work internet to save the company money and we would pay for one provider. I can tell you, I was not at all impressed. Working from home, we are saving the company money on electric and heating, so the internet too?

Also I think and always have done, if we have two providers, and one goes down, there is the other one if he is working.

Both of us feel ill today. Hub with his pain and all of the medication he took from it yesterday and me? Well, not sure what is wrong with me, apart from I’m falling to bits.

I think yesterday’s stress has caught up with me too!

Please allow me to tell you my diary?

We woke up early on a sunny Sunday morning. I knew I had to take Waggatail for milk to our shop, as she was going to be left for a long time as we were to go out for the day but couldn’t take her.  The one I don’t talk about was to go to a house overnight. He would not give me a streight answer as to him coming home to let the dogs out so I was already worried sick as to how long the poor things would be left.

My insides were churned up with the prospect of leaving the safe dome of my house and going on the train to a strange land.

As for the shop? Well, you know how I feel about that.

Hub knows he could do the  job in half the time with no anxiety what so ever.

But rightly so, makes me do it. The fact is, you just never know when you as a blind person are going to be on your own and even if we pay for help or get volunteers, they are never there when you need them and you also don’t like asking them for little things like milk?

So, I made breakfast, I couldn’t eat mine, just had to concentrate on going to the shop.

   Put Waggatails harness and leash on and off we went. I was shaking before I left the house.

My neighbour’s husbands were across the road.

My neighbour has only one husband, hahaha. But the other neighbour has one too, so collectively, two of them.

I said good morning, and they echoed words of positivness

 I thought, I can do this.

Hmm. Well, Wagga did so well getting there, only made two silly mistakes which could be rectified.

We got to the shop. Oh around it she was awful. Sniffing everything, pulling to get under the shelves and fridges. It was an embarrassment.

I was having to pull her leash; this was making her choke so she was making sounds as though she was going to be sick.

I could not wait to get out. Got my milk and two tiny chocolate bars to have with coffee on the train, as it would save a fortune.

Wagga went under the till, mind you, as does Long Chops and Black Beauty also used to.

When my Son worked there, he said there was always food under there. Disgusting.

Anyway I thought, let me out of here, as Wagga continued to make sounds like a rather grumpy piglet.

Could I find the door? Yes, I turned right after the tills. A lady spoke to me and I thought, oh no, please don’t break my mind’s map?

Anyway, there is a fine line between the door and going around the whole shop again. In the summer, they leave the door open so I hear the outside and feel the air blowing in, but in the winter? It’s closed.

Wagga pulled me far to the left. I couldn’t take her leash in my right hand to correct her whilst her harness was in my left hand, as I was carrying the bag of two heavy milks as we buy the large ones.

So I got more tightly chested and redder.

Found the door. I was so cross with her. She would not come out of the shop, would rather sniff again. Oh God this was so bad. I pulled her like a heavy sack of potatoes.

So who guided who?

Got out of the shop, I was in a state and told her off. She couldn’t care less.

So then time for a mammoth mistake. My falt I guess. I was so fed up with Wage’s performance, I rather than turned two lefts, turned one, then right. Huu’uuu’uuu’uge mistake.

I knew I had done an error. This made me panic. The ground came up to meet me, the sky fell down to earth and the loud sounds were amplified by terror.

The cars sounded as though they were all around me. Was I on the main road? Yes, I thought I was.

Do I go forward into the road or backwards into a truck.

Then I fell up a large step.

Oh God. I felt so sick. I hated life, I was cross with my Husband for making me do this, I wanted to cry.

I was so lost. Then a lady came to my rescue in the time foreverness.

That is how long it took to wait for help. I thought it was never going to happen.

She told me she worked as a guide dog puppy walker. These are the people who have the pups from the age of six weeks until they go into kennels to have their final training.

I explained I needed the main road path. I after all wasn’t on the road, just on a totally different path, closer to the road than I would like and with the fear, everything sounded louder.

She kindly got me on the right path, but turned out not to be the right one after all.

In fairness, Waggatail did try to get me back to the shop, looking back now, but I didn’t trust her, I mean, would you?

So we got lost again, to cut a very long story short, I got so lost again, but got saved in the end, by whom? The same lady, she was horrified by Wagga and the way she was walking, sniffing everything and picking up sticks as she walked along. A fifteen minute walk there and back for Hub, 25 minute for me normally, took me fifty minutes. I also was aware that our taxi was due to take us to the train station.

I got home, Hub was worried about me and I could tell he was furious with Wagga, but I am sure looking back, if I put some trust in her, she would have for sure got me back,

I just wished that her puppy walker would have corrected her sniffing everything in sight and smell as a baby.

OK. Home, no time for anything but to phone the taxi company to ask where were they?

As we had a train to catch. Oh, turned out that they were not going to make it to us. I was by this point, really angry. This was the second train we were to catch the last one was to see our friends in Newcastle, my old home town. Remember way back a few months? The taxi didn’t come and we lost out on seeing them and our train tickets were waited.

Well, this time not only our day out, but train was rather deer and the tickets to our show were very expensive.

I really told the stupid woman off as I was doing this, Hub and I were waiting in the street for our taxi. The one that was on its way, but would be about half an hour late?

My lovely neighbour Dianne came out and told us she would give us alift. Bless her heart she is so kind and would do anything for us, never ever have I had a neighbour like her. Many years ago, I was fortunate to have a lovely old couple next door, but it was a very long time ago. Our last lot of neighbours would have watched us burn rather than hose us down. Same with the ones from our house previous. I remember my x Husband used to be really kind with one of our neighbours. He would always pick her up from bus stops and take her into work. Even took her out for driving lessons. As soon as she got her licence, I one day, was stepping out of the house, it was pouring, there I was before dog, with my white cane and the rain was lashing down. The wind was horrendous. She got out of her car. I said hello to her. She asked where I was going. I told her to pick up my boy who was four at the time. I told her I hated the wind as it was so hard to hear anything. She replied, “oh well, never mind, it’s only a ten minute walk.

After my x had spend years, I’m not joking transporting her. My x really made it clear after then, he didn’t want to know her and would do nothing for her, but of course, she didn’t need anything after then.

But Dianne is not at all like that, she is a wonderful person and turning into a lovely friend. I just hope I can help her in life too!

Anyway the taxi company got on the phone saying the driver was a few minutes away. So we decided that the taxi would be better as they can go down roads she would not be able to. Also they could park up close to the station, like outside the door.

Also if they got a speeding ticket, their problem.

 I told the driver we had a fifteen minute journey, if the traffic was good, for a twelve minute train. His answer?

Not my problem. I have just been given this job. I was more cross with the company, as we booked it the night before.

I booked it for 11.15. He was given the job at 11.20.

And he was in the town when he got that.

The town he said was busy. And we were at one end the train station at the other.

We heard the woman from the company telling the driver she was looking up other train times.

I thought what a cheek. I told him, we could not wait forty minutes as would not get to the show on time. Well, we may have done in reality, but to be honest, it would be tight and my heart had not recovered from the shopping event.

He said a member of staff from the taxi company would meet with us and take us to the train. I told him he had three minutes; he said he was about seven from the station. I told him to put his foot down. He muttered it’s not his fault. I told him I didn’t care whose fault it was, just to get us there.

Hehehehe. I think I was his worst nightmare of a customer.

Anyway, we arrived. One minute before the train was to leave. The staff member took my arm. Hub took my shoulder with LC, on her harness and the four of us ran like hell through the station as though to do a marathon. Oh my God, this was it. I was about to go down in style, not, in the middle of the station.

My heart beating at a speed I didn’t like, All I could hear was trains pulling out, were were about to go onto the track as I didn’t have much confidence in the person running us.

She was shouting to tell everyone to move out the way, imagine, this, hahahah. I’m laughing now but at the time was awful. So you are walking to your train in a state of relaxation. You hear someone shouting excuse me. You look over your shoulder and realisation kicks in. You are about to be rammed by a scary looking woman, as I’m sure she was, and if not it makes a good blog, hahahahaha. Fat lass with a white cane and a bloke with a guide dog, running like hell after you.

I can tell you now, people did move but I think we may be on a few videos.

Next thing I know, as the lady who was our runner, could not speak, but by the  time I got to some steps. I was going up the steps of a train. Who’s train? Ours? Hmm. Not sure at this point and didn’t know if she knew either.

The doors closed. Was Hub on? Oh my God?

More later. X