Thank goodness its half term, its been a stupidly busy week for me! My eldest daughter passed her driving test on Monday, and my youngest is now half way through her GCSE exams, she has 23 exams over four weeks, when I was at school, you had 9 and that was that, maybe we did more course work back then, things change, but all that was overshadowed by the bombing in Manchester, to aim this hate at young children, teenage girls is beyond any words, it has entered the thoughts of every single person across the country through this week from every angle, I have looked at my children, my nieces and nephew, my friends children and thought...this could have been you.
I know I have cried for the pain those children felt at the time and the lasting effects this will have on them, for the families left without loved ones and for all the emergency services, the doctors and nurses who dealt with the casualties and their families and for their individual personal pain that each and everyone took home with them that night and the thoughts and images that they will be reminded of for weeks to come, for the singer whose concert it was, for her pain, the guilt she feels, she is only a young girl herself.
Out of all this despair, anger and devastation, there was glowing proudness, all the taxi drivers, all those hotel owners, the general public opening their hearts and doors to help people get off the streets, making people safe, providing warmth, food, drink and a hug, this country is built from hero's, and Monday proved that the hero's are still out there, it is just a pitiful shame that things like this happen, deliberately aiming at children is a all time low for these monsters.
So, all this has been rattling around in my head all week and it has meant that I have been struggling to stay 'on the ball' so to speak. Wednesday I went to a Audio clinic where I looked at various gadgets to help me, but more importantly I was informed of a event that is taking place in July, 18th and 19th, in Birmingham called Sight Village, I have never been to one of these events before, but have been told I must attend because it is amazing, so I will let you know how it goes.
I struggled through Friday, and totally relaxed yesterday with the knowledge that I have a whole week off to catch up with the house work and stuff so I may as well have a slow lounge about Saturday, I woke to brilliant sunshine at 5am and thought bugger I cant stay in bed when the weather is so beautiful, so I got up and did some tidying, put some washing on and emptied the bins, when the hour was a bit more civilized I decided to take Ralph over the fields before it got too hot.
I seriously believe that has got to have been the worst mistake of the week!
So, there we are, strolling along, Ralph is off the lead weeing and sniffing everywhere, it is a short five mile loop and we hadn't walked this route for weeks so I was busy concentrating on where I was walking and trying to sort though my muddled emotions from the week. We had done three of the five miles and had turned to walk the last two back, I hadn't even noticed the sky darkening, it was sunny in front of me and I stopped to let Ralph have a couple of minutes rest in the shade of a tree as it was the last shade for about a mile, then we set off again...that's when I heard it....a rumble, Ralph was slightly ahead of me but we both looked round at the same time to see huge black clouds rolling towards us, and then a flash of lightening in the distance. My instant thoughts were not ohhhh I better put the dog on the lead, but..ohhhhh F**k I am walking in the middle of a open field if lightening hits me I am fried, so I step up the pace, as does Ralph, he was getting slightly further ahead than I felt comfortable with as I couldn't see him if he was too far away, so I called him back, just as I was about to get a treat out for coming back a massive ear splitting crack of thunder hit right over our heads and that was it, Ralph turned on his heel and was gone. This then lead to pure panic, I am running (funny how you can run when you have too) calling Ralph back, and crapping myself, not only is there a busy road at the bottom of the track, but do I use my mobile phone to call for help or will it attract the lightening as I am in a completely open field! I decided to head for the trees and then the rain came, by the time I had got to the trees I was completely soaked, there was about another mile to the end of the track and then about another mile walk home. I phoned my daughter and told her to start walking toward the train station as Ralph might be on his way home and he would have to cross the train bridge, someone might see him or try to stop him.
I couldn't let all the typical 'what ifs' get to me, what if he gets hit by a car, what if he runs straight onto the train line, what if someone steals him. I started to run again, not a easy thing to do when you cant really see where you are going and are tripping over, the rain was hammering down and the thunder and lightening was right above my head...and I am not built for running!!
By the time I had reached the top of the track my daughter had phoned to say she had him, he had run all the way home, he wasn't even wet, although he was very frightened, I, however had to deal with his aftermath, as at the train station there was chaos, everyone had tried to catch him, there was two little boys crying their eyes out because they were so worried about the little dog, other people were telling me which direction he had run in, others wanted to have a conversation with me about how clever dogs are to know their way home, all the time the rain is pouring, its dripping off of my eye lashes, my clothes are stuck to me showing off my very unfit body, I just wanted to get home. I thanked everyone, gave the little boys lots of reassurance and stomped home, mesmerised by the squelch of my very wet trainers as I walked.
Ralph was like a mad dog when I got home, he didn't know where to put himself, running from room to room, I stood in the kitchen, stripped off my wet clothes and grabbed my dressing gown and stood quietly and waited for him to calm down, after a few minutes of madness he came and sat beside me and wouldn't leave my side for the rest of the day, which became a bit annoying after a couple of hours....today I hope for a much calmer day, I am so lucky not to have two very upset girls and a massive vets bill to pay today, well done Ralph for finding your way home safely, but what a prize wimp for being afraid of the thunder!!
Have a good week everyone xx
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