Following last night's high winds this morning started with some clearing up. Nothing broken, but a few things on their sides and battered. I gather it was extreme in other places, with even trees down near Minffordd. Trees in full leaf are not made for such wind!
Catching me out, Steve's physio arrived 15 minutes earlier than expected. Such a lovely lady and initially today she got Steve walking with 2 sticks, but as he was wobbly she suggested he tried with one, well there was no stopping him then. So the crutches will be going back, but for now it's the walking frame for most things, but some exercising with the stick around the house and build up from there. She has now referred him to the "falls clinic" .. I didn't know there was such a thing.
It was then down to Tremadog, I decided to walk Ross and Beti on the footpath along the base of Alltwen. Having gone through the first gate I opted for a photo on the log. With leads draped behind them (leads not edited out of the photo ) I stood back to take the photo. I looked up the track and saw a man approaching the gate. I called out to him, "let me just get their leads." I got hold of Beti, but Ross for a second time in just a couple of weeks let the side down and shot up to the gate. Now please realise this man and his dog were the other side of the gate, so I didn't panic much until the Cocker went into attack mode. I called Ross back, he came to me, I got hold of the lead but with my grip being so poor I let go, he ran back to the gate where the Cocker was now in a frenzy of nervous aggression. I called Ross back again and he came back, this time I was able to get hold of the lead properly. The man stood by the gate and shouted at me to get going, I decided I did not want that dog behind me and told him to go first as I wanted to take photos. He shouted, "will you just get out of my way." I moved these to the side and he went past, the whole time his dog was growling and lunging. Not a thank you, not a word of acknowledgment, and through the whole incident neither of my dogs said a word! Beti just stood there, tilting her head from side to side, I could almost hear her saying "What's his fecking problem?" I continued to walk, both on leads and I dillydallied to let grumpy get out of the way. A woman walked towards him and I saw him stop her and point up at my dogs. I could then see she was cautious as she approached me, I just couldn't help myself and I asked, "Did he say anything nasty about my dogs?" She replied, "Oh I don't want to get involved," which proved he did. So I told her what happened, Of course Ross shouldn't have run to the gate, of course I should have got hold of him, but I have very little grip, and yeah, as I told her, accidents happen to the best of us and I dropped the lead. But of course as mine are GSD's and his was a Spaniel, well mine would automatically be at blame, even though neither showed aggression, and Beti didn't move from my side. I found myself getting emotional as I chatted to the lady, but she then replied, "well I can see they are good dogs as they have both been calm and relaxed whilst we've chatted, don't let it upset you." The thing is, the incident was probably something and nothing, but I was at fault dropping the lead, but I'm afraid it was very much six of one and half a dozen of the other ... and as I said neither of mine showed any aggression at all. My emotional state of course was not just down to this incident, there's been so much going on that currently everything makes me cry!
So it was Aldi, then to mums. She "forgot" to tell me the lady was coming to assess her for Attendance Allowance yesterday and got quite stroppy about the whole thing. My god she and my dad have worked all their lives and paid into the system, now she needs help and she should get it. This is not means tested, no one will pry into what she's got, or hasn't more likely, but to be honest I'm not sure that bothers her. I think mostly it's just selfish pride and though I understand it's hard to come to terms with the facts that maybe we can't do things like we used to, I think asking for help shows strength not weakness. I came away so bloody emotional and arrived home to discover Meerah had had a party with one of my shoes in the yard! It can only get better ... I hope!!!
