Chris and I have
now done a second 'dry run' of my planned solo blindsimming outing,
a reaction to the absence of my bird-watching friend, Tony, for six
months in Australia.
You will have
read last time of our first effort in some (boring, I expect) detail.
I have adopted
the term 'dry run' defined as - a
practice event that is done to prepare for an
actual event that will happen in the future –
with tongue in cheek since this second
trip was a bit different.
We
followed the same plan
as far as the first trip I described
last time, until
meeting up as I got off the bus Chris
had left his car in the nearby village, as there was no place to park
at our eventual meeting place, and hurried
along to help me off the bus just
in time again. It
had been lovely hot summer days since
the beginning of the week and I hadn't
thought to check the weather forecast
the previous evening. So, as I was travelling with Chris anyway, I
had not bought my hooded
raincoat which I nearly always wear on
the train and out of the town on these
trips, and
carry later, so that I can be incognito,
unrecognised, when blindsimming in
public anywhere near home where
people might otherwise know
me.
As
I had been blind since before even getting on the bus, I had not
noticed the big black clouds building up over the Downs towards the
sea. Luckily Chris did see them just as he was parking the car and
had thoughtfully brought along a couple of umbrellas from the car in
case we did get a bit of rain.
Just as I got off
the bus and grabbed Chris's waiting arm, I heard the thunder which I
hadn't heard before in the noisy bus. Don't worry, said Chris, we are
alright, it is some way off.
I found my own
way to the gate at that end of the
laneand got through it and started up
towards the reservoir,
tapping my way along the left-hand verge. Less than five minutes
later there was an enormous clap of thunder right over head, preceded
by a flash of lightning which I even saw, my
non-vision glasses being not quite that, as I have explained before.
Then equally
suddenly, down came the rain in torrents. We were soaked even before
Chris got the umbrellas open.
There was no
shelter to hand, so we just kept going. My blindsimming skills seemed
to disappear. I found I could not manage my white stick at all well
while holding an umbrella over my head. And the sounds, which I
depend quite heavily on, disappeared in the hiss
of the rain and the noisy pattering
on the umbrella. It was an experience I had never had before. On the
few outings where it had rained, there was always shelter of some
sort or a car close to hand.
We kept going and
thankfully the clouds rolled away (Chris told me) and the sun came
out (I didn't have to be told that) and we soon dried out. So much
for a 'dry run'!!
On the whole
though, I managed the walk quite well, most of the time Chris walked
slightly behind me telling me if I was heading for any obstacles,
which now included some quite deep puddles to avoid. The same
procedure as last time when we eventually returned to the main road,
although no way devised yet to resolve crossing that busy main road.
He went off to fetch the car, picked me up and I spent a pleasant
afternoon on the beach reading, while he was at his meeting.
Jane
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