…. When your visually impaired even good hearing wouldn’t have helped.
This beautifully hot summer that is killing the grass and creating havoc with everyone’s sleep is also creating issues for us guide dog owners, I am seeing friends arrive at work for 6am and getting taxis home as they must have their dogs with them. I have been taking Fizz out early morning or late evening.
But I still have things to do. Appointments to attend and meetings to sit in on.
Today was one such day.
Today’s meeting was at 10am, by which time temperature was already mid-twenties, knowing that I would be travelling home again by lunch. Fizz was left with daytime tv and a cool house (all my curtains were drawn-the neighbours must thing I am sleeping all day!)
Anyway. With my faithful hound limited to her work, I too have been limited to how much I have been walking also ….. And it’s starting to annoy me!
So today on my way home after my meeting I decided to get off the bus earlier and walk the 25 minutes home (instead of getting a second bus)
Using my cane I am walking slower, taking more time crossing the road and ‘scanning’ my route more; which is creating eye strain issues as-well.
All was going well, I was even managing to navigate the bins left precariously after the bin-men had done their rounds.
Then before I knew what had happened I felt a sharp pain in my left thigh & hip. The moments that followed are a bit blurred and also a time that seemed to last for too long.
I must add that I am ok. I am after all writing my blog about this.
But today I was hit by a car.
It was low speed, the car was reversing off a driveway and as the title suggests….. it was a hybrid so at such low speed wasn’t omitting any sound.
The man driving the car was quickly by my side as I found myself falling down. I suffered bad bruising and scratches to both my thighs (one from the car, the other from the pavement) and some soreness in my hand where I put it out to push against the car.
No lasting damage and thankfully no damage to my cane or the contents of my bag (which included my iPad) from being on the side of the impact.
Bruises will fade, grazes will heal and for now I won’t be wearing any short shorts! (Although my leg looks pretty colourful!)
But for me, my confidence has been knocked.
This evening as I headed out for another meeting I found myself fearful walking past houses with driveways. I stopped at each and every one as if it were a road crossing.
I found myself doubting my ability to do this.
I found myself wanting to turn around and go back home….. But I didn’t. I got the bus into town and sat in the sun with a cold glass of water, pottered about getting some shopping and found myself writing this.
Hybrid cars do have their place and I am very pro them.
However the law in the EU about them having a ‘white noise’ added doesn’t take affect on new built cars until July 2019 and retrospectively added to older models until 2021. As detailed in many newspaper articles earlier this year. Such as this one I have included below:
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