Ellie, mum and I completed are ‘go for 80′ challenge to celebrate 80 years of partnerships in the UK. It was a lovely, warm sunny day and you could hear the autumn leaves rustling in a light breeze. The park was pretty empty just a few people around with their dogs, off their leads.
The council had blocked off one of the bridges we had incorporated into our route because it was deemed unsafe. So we had to do more of an elongated circle, rather than the ’8′ circuit that we had planned. Never mind. We all got a bit bored of this shorter route. Ellie, like most Guide Dogs doesn’t like going over the same route so she kept going really slow and towards the end I was getting a tad annoyed. Still no use in getting moody with a typical toddler attitude. You just try encouraging her, sound positive when shes doing what you want and yank the harness when she’s doing something wrong, so she knows that it’s wrong. Usually a stern voice command will do, ‘Now’ always gets her attention, but I make it a habit of yanking the harness if she’s doing something really wrong, just to keep her in check, knowing who’s boss and that if I need to I will use more than just verbal commands.
The first half hour went really slowly really, the park was very quiet and it was surprisingly warm, we tried to alternate the route, even going through the side car park to jam it up a little. By contrast the last half hour went much quicker, my grandparents came down and did a lap with me and we talked as we walked which made it go much quicker.
It’s going to rain on Friday which was my alternative day if the weather wasn’t good today. I think we would have preferred walking in the rain, much cooler and we can splash in puddles. Ellie and I aren’t good in warm weather, the sun makes my white haze, orange and when you pass a tree or branch it goes black. It’s a really uncomfortable, sick inducing feeling with orange and black flashes. Also it makes me picture big spiders and I absolutely hate big spiders. I think Ellie just doesn’t like the heat because it’s hard work, she’s a long haired golden retriever and her ears bother her a lot, well, wouldn’t yours bother you if you had that much hair tickling them all day?.
After we had finished, we walked to the bakery and got a sticky bun. Mine had pink icing and it was delicious, really should of had it before, then I would have walked it off, kind of defeats the object walking for 80 minutes then eating sugar, but never mind. Was good all the same.
This afternoon I’ve been making videos for this week, sometimes it’s not possible to sit down with a camera each day and talk about a topic, so I try to plan in advance and film them when I can, when it’s quiet in the house or usually when the technology I am sharing and talking about is charged. Because this is my life and I use these things in day to day life, so they are being used and have to be charged and can’t just be plucked from a store room shelf and given a brief overview. I like to go all over the product and make it as if you are in the room with me or you’re using it yourself and it’s just my hands pressing the buttons, but it might as well be yours. Or if I’m explaining how I became blind or what’s happening this week, I want to make sure I’m not tired and boring people to tears. It works best making videos in the morning, editing them over lunch and uploading them while I’m blogging in the afternoon. Then I have the rest of the day to myself plus the weekends of course.
This afternoon I’ve made 2 videos to be posted tomorrow and Wednesday. The first is about how a blind/visually impaired person makes a hot and cold drink safely, the second is about one of my favourite gadgets, The Looky! and I’ll be showing you all around it’s uses and buttons.
Now I’m off to make a pear crumble and another drink!
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