Good morning Bloggets. My word. What a past few days we have
had? Now back to reality. I have a day to prepare our house for our friend
coming tomorrow. Tonight I am going to the theatre, so must write this as quick
as I can.
It was exciting,
amazing, so deeply sad and beautiful, all in one big dish of life.
Our eyes have been opened and our hearts are warmer.
One day I would love to write a story about one of the
people I met this week.
If my dream ever comes true, and I can publish books, with
the permission of my dear friend, I would love to write her life story.
My Husband has been touched by this amazing person.
We do for sure have
angels on this earth, real living angels among us.
So our journey began two days ago. Seams like forever now as
we have packed so much in!
Our painter was just cleaning up ready to leave. He has done
a great job on our boy’s room. Teen is delighted with it.
So we left our Son with furniture everywhere
And of course. Black Beauty and Waggatail.
Got in the taxi, almost killed myself on our steep doorstep.
With all the rain, all of the concrete has left our doorstep
and gone elsewhere. Hahaha.
Anyway, leaving us with a totally broken step.
What else can go wrong with this house? Hub calls it the
house that Jack built….
But with our neighbours, we will put up with it for as long
as possible
More on our neighbours later.
So in the taxi and off for our break. Oh as soon as I am in
the taxi driving away from the house, I feel the stress lifting from me like a
hot blanket slowly lifting, leaving a layer at a time. As the minutes go by in
the car, the layers become less and less. Leaving me with new skin. Oh I can’t
tell you how wonderful it is?
I wish I could put in better words how this feels.
But I feel as though I have been lifted up on a high cloud
So out of the taxi and streight onto a train
It took two and a half hours to get there. The staffs at
Edinburgh train station were amazing. A lady called Jacquie was so professional
and friendly too. If only they knew how much us blind people respect and
appreciate all what they do? Whereas flying? Oh it’s awful.
In the taxi to our hotel. I felt warm and safe once we got
there and we stayed at the same room as Hub and I stayed in a couple of weeks
ago when he was there on business.
Oh that was so funny. The reception had a lot of voices
talking business. As Hub and I reassured the receptionist that we would be OK
getting to our room, as our dog would remember hahaha. She was not sure about
our enthusiasm of how we were going to get to the room.
She asked us if we were sure and she would show us the way?
We said, no, don’t worry. Well, by this point, the reception was silent.
Obviously, thinking we were the super blind
Well, we tried to be.
Our dog Long Chops would not work, we went in on the door on
the right, and didn’t know it but came out of a door on the left. Straight back
into reception. Hahahhaehehheehehe
Egg on face moment
So we were shown to our room. It was wonderful nothing had
changed in there. Even down to the bin in the bathroom, same place exactly.
I love the fireplace in there
The thick gilded picture above it too. I thought it may be a
mirror but Hub said he thought it was a picture because it was too high to be a
mirror.
You would have to be a giraffe to look through it.
Well, little did we know what was to follow?
Part two
Our friend Debbie phoned and said it was late in the day,
but she would love to come and see us in the hotel. Great, wow? How brave too
as she also is blind and had a long journey to visit us. Hub went out to walk
LC and on his way back, he brought Debbie who had met with him in reception.
Hub heard her getting out of the taxi so that is how he recognised her.
As she had her dog with her so a bit of a clue when he heard
the instructions being given.
We ordered a bottle of wine and that was rather nice. We
talked and talked. Now then, her dog I’m sure wanted to talk to LC, and I know
LC wanted to play with Cherry, but they were on their best behaviour in the
hotel. If only they were on a field
together, they would love it.
Oh Cherry the guide dog of my friend was so lovely. A Yellow
retriever.
Debbie has just received her degree. She is Master of Science,
I’m sure that is her title.
Wow, she is clever; she has studied psychology and
criminology too.
Such a brain. She is desperate to find work, but like a lot
of blind people, is struggling.
She is positive though and has a bright future.
We had a lovely afternoon. We laughed for sure and Hub is
great, he gets on with my friends and talks the talk. My friend and I said
goodbye and I thought to myself how brave she was to do such a journey by train
herself. I know people do this, but she was not too confident a couple of years
ago, but now thanks to her guide dog and determination, she gets everywhere.
It was really kind of her to travel an hour to see us.
Then off for the meal. It’s not cheap to eat in a hotel, but
if you can’t see, to trapes around the streets, is a bit of a nightmare.
We took LC and off we went to hunt for the dining room
Guess what? She found it. She remembered it.
I had vegetable soup and it was amazing, then stuffed beef
tomato with baby baked potatoes and vegetables. My tomato was stuffed with tiny
green beans, peppers and herbs with a cheese on top all melted in. For dessert,
I had my fave, the cheese board.
Hub had some kind of fish for starters, and for main course,
another kind of fish, with a pastry filled with a sauce and vegetables with
mash and for dessert berries cream and ice cream
Coffee to end the meal with.
And LC, found the front of the hotel and we went for a walk
so she could pollute the streets of Scotland.
Back to the hotel, I must say, the road we crossed was a
little scary, as it was one of those roads which are really wide. You cross as
nothing is coming and half way across, there is a car coming at speed. Your
there thinking, oh my God. Where is the path?
It went on forever.
Up the kerb and back to the hotel.
I ran a bath now this is funny as it’s one of those baths
with the glass cubicles in the room, God knows if our curtains were closed properly,
and we were on the ground floor and I also put lights on in our room. Now why?
Again, God knows and he’s not saying.
So lights on dark outside and a gap in the curtains with a
Fifi in the bath. Lovely… Not…
Oh the toiletries are lovely at that hotel too. They smell
of peppermint and the other thing is lavender.
Now I say other thing, as I have not got a clue if I am
washing myself in shampoo, conditioner or shower gel.
All bottles look the same.
The funny thing was, Hub found a box on the bed when we
arrived. He handed it to me saying it was a couple of mouth fresheners you
sprayed in your mouth? Hmm. Thank Goodness, I checked it out? It was a good job
I didn’t spray it in my mouth as one was a pillow spray and the other was a
roll on for your pulses. I presume that was what they were anyway, as they
smelled of lavender, so if I had sprayed this in my mouth, my tongue would be
tired. Haha.
The bath was huge. Really long.
Oh there is something so tranquil about a nice hotel.
After my bath, I made sure my boy was OK, Hmm, he was more
than OK, he was out….
Never the less, he did call me back when he got in with his
friend.
God knows what time he went to bed?
I had the best night’s sleep in the world.
The bed was enormous.
I love the hotel as you never hear anyone passing. It has
loads of doors, so whether or not this is why it’s quiet, I don’t know.
A peaceful perfect night on a plump pillow and a safe
feeling of love.
Now the next morning we had to wake up at half seven. We
were to have breakfast and go to meet with our friend I have never met before.
We have been talking on Facebook for about eight months. But
I have not met her until Thursday.
I have written about her before. She is originally from
Poland but now is a Brit. She is the most amazing person and I have had months
to learn about her, but Hub hasn’t and I tell you, he was left with a hand
print on life. A lesson for sure.
I have said it before; I would love to write her life story.
She is a movie in the making.
But until that day, I had not met her so I had excitement
but also hoped we would get on as well in real life as we did on Facebook?
She can see perfectly fine, so I didn’t need to worry about
her meeting with us.
Before we would meet, I had breakfast and had to catch a
train. We had a forty minute journey to make.
I must say the trains in Scotland, are fantastic. The staff
really are great and they seem as easy to use too as you never wait for
assistance.
Debbie told us if you are blind and live in Scotland, you
receive free rail travel. In Scotland only though. This is brilliant.
If they get their independence though, not sure they will
still do that as I’m sure it is the English who pay for it, I know Scottish
people receive free prescriptions too if you are over an age, I think that is
right, and we pay for it. This is what I don’t understand why Scottish people
would want to become independent from England, as I’m sure those perks won’t be
able to stay in place?
But how good is that, I mean, we as blind people can’t get
in a car so they make it so Scottish people can travel free of charge. Amazing.
I was texting my friend Magda all the way and we were both
getting more and more excited.
What would she look like to us? She was cheating as she can
see our photographs on our Facebook pages, but I didn’t know what she looked
like obviously, but when I saw her in real life, I would find out in a blind
persons way.
Haha.
Now what way is that?
Part 3
As the announcement told us, we were one stop from the
station. Magda was texting and I knew she was at the station
The little train pulled into the town where my friend lived
near and would be waiting for the two people she had been chatting to online
but had not ever met. I had butterflies in my stomach. I was really excited to
meet with the girl. Hub marched off with LC with me following behind like a
shadow on a sunny path.
Down two steps and I heard the little friendly voice. She
was there, such a sweet person, I felt like I did when I first met with my
dearest friend Olga so many years ago. You know, she took my arm and off we
went to find a taxi to go to the restaurant. We never stopped talking all the
way. It was as though we had been friends forever. She was my little baby
Sister. It was like wearing a comfortable pair of slippers, not saying Magda is
like a pair of slippers, haha.
She is a cute little doll.
Oh my God Bloggets, she was amazing, I mean she has not ever
been with blind people before, but she just knew to be normal. You know what I
mean? We were normal, she was normal, she is an absolute natural. Some people
just freeze when it comes to guiding blind people when we just need an arm to
link or voice to follow. I loved the feeling I had with her and if we lived
closer, we would be great shopping buddies, haha. If she ever comes here, I
will introduce her to my friend Di, and the three of us will have a great time.
In and out of the taxi and that is when the fun started.
It was raining; we entered the porch of the restaurant. I
was told on the phone, if we came early, we would be able to sit and have a
coffee or drink of something. Well, the doors were locked. There we were the
three of us plus LC, stuck in this tiny porch and I said, well, this is cosy.
Hahaha
The funny thing was, the staff were looking at us, we were
looking at the staff and we still stood there, no one came to let us in. we did
laugh.
Well, I decided to phone them. It was so funny we could hear
the phone ringing.
A lady answered and came to let us in. Well, did she think
we were just sheltering from the rain?
The restaurant was really big and we were taking to a booth
Oh
My
God
Em. How can I put this?
Let’s just say, when
they were building/designing the booths, they didn’t make them for large Mafia
men as when I got in, you needed to get a tin opener to get me out. Magda and Hub
thought this was really funny as they had plenty of room between their slender
frames and the table. Haha. Shall I tell you, there was no reason to put a
napkin on my knee, as nothing was getting between my mouth and my knee. I told
Magda that if I went blue, to tell Hub, so he could do his first aid on me.
Bless her; she gave me my birthday present. Wow.
I received the most beautiful bracelet which I will treasure
forever as she made it herself. She makes jewels.
Its blue shells. I love it so much.
She knows I love Elephants, and bought me a beautiful scarf
with them on in blue. The gifts kept coming; they were from her and her sister
Marta. I got some lovely Polish chocolates and a box with lovely cosmetics in.
Now, then, after receiving something she made, something she knows I love,
something to say where she originates from and a girly gift which smells so
lovely, she handed me a birthday card. Can you believe this?
She found a company who made tactile and Braille cards.
What 21 year old would even bother to do such a kind thing?
My friend Gabriel was so caring making me tactile pictures
and now Magda’s kindness? I am so overwhelmed by such wonderful souls.
Oh the meal was delicious. Magda’s Mum picked it and what a
lovely place it was. The food was stunning.
We talked and talked. It was so very natural.
Two wonderful days with my new friends.
Hub listened to stories about Magda over lunch and he came
away touched to the heart and soul.
He says he has never met such an amazing person and to be so
young too?
We came to the station after the meal and said sad goodbyes
but I know I will be seeing Magda for sure again. She invited us next time; we
will meet with Magda’s family and eat Polish dumplings. How great will that be?
Just like the old days when I used to visit the Russian Dacha’s. We would eat homemade
jams, nuts and drink tea.
I love the family thing. I am so comfortable with that lifestyle.
I am not really into loud brash parties, I just love cosy feelings and close
families which we struggle to have in the west.
I would love to have waved bye bye to Magda, but the glass
window next to our seat on the train, was just a polished partition, with no
light or picture.
Just like the picture/mirror in the hotel room. What was it? A mirror or a picture. It’s glass, its sand
and water.
But in my mind, I saw a little girl, with a sad soul, an
older than her years memory mind and heart, with a painful past, a tough
existence and a prosperous future, though with commitments beyond her youthful
years.
I know one thing; I will be there for her for all of my
life, as she has found her way in my heart for sure. A true friend, who never
asks for anything material. Who never expects anything from anyone? Who is so
positive, clever and committed? She has a hard life, she really does. She cares
for her three siblings with disabilities. Her step Father also has a disability
and her poor Mum some days cannot get out of bed. Magda, cooks, cleans irons,
helps her brother with his homework, and takes him to a group which she helps
to run for autistic children, takes her brother’s to swimming lessons as well
as has a part time job and attends college.
She translates for her Mum, fills all forms in for the
family for schools ect and does a whole host of other things which I won’t go
into but what an amazing person. So selfless. So real, an yet so from another
world. A world far from here. A place where kindness is their first language.
Hub and I sat on the train, num. Sad to have only a short
time with our friends, but numb with disbelief.
The train journey was like the ghost of Christmas past. Our
lives passed by us. The weeks we have had of late where things have gone rather
bad for us, where answers we were not getting and stress was building up. Just
went past as though to say, you know what?
Look at your lives. Brush yourselves down and hold your head
up high. You have visited another land from the world you are used to. Your
life is alive and your past visited you and your future is open. It was a
journey we were meant to have made.
And you know what? As we made that journey of three and a
half hours, we received a call from my friend Di, who said she was waiting for
us at the train station to bring us home.
My God. What kindness. I really feel honoured, blessed and
so very humble.
As soon as I got home, I contacted my other poor friend
whose fiancé had died that day.
Crushed
Excited
Dark
Happy
Worried
Overwhelmed
Compassionate
Honoured
Complete
For Debbie, Elisha, Magda and Marta. To my Husband who gave
me the best gift for my birthday, the complete journey. X
