Friday 1 January 2010

2010 Already?!

I don't know where the past few weeks have gone. Time to catch up!

Calvin:
What fun we've been having getting lost every other day and near death experiences. Calvin hasn't quite grasped he's meant to work curb to curb for some reason and finds it funny to cut corners so he can get an extended walk. Of course when we have gotten lost it's been a nightmare trying to find a single person on the street. It has knocked my confidence a fair bit regarding working him and is something I'm going to have to bring up with the trainer when she calls next week.

Calvin's other favourite thing to do when working other than growling at the dogs playing on the park, is refusing to go the long way around. I.e. we always walk over the bridge by the train station instead of walking across the track in order to prevent killing ourselves. Well, Danger Mouse doesn't want to walk over the bridge and merrily trots along straight pass the steps. Bribery has failed with meat and cheese treats, which surely isn't right! We recently had a near death experience as I cued Calvin in to find the steps. The siren began indicating that a train was coming and suddenly I feel the track under my feet. I go to turnaround in panic, but the barrier behind us had already come down. Some guy shouted at me to go straight ahead and we got through before the barrier came down in front of us, but it was a petrifying experience. Another thing I need to bring up with the trainer.

On a brighter note the sniffing has calmed down, but he is still a nosey parker and takes detours up peoples drives. On Xmas Day I fell flat on my ass thanks to Calvin spotting a cat, no consideration for the black ice!

Free runs have been fun at the time, as we've found Fosse Meadows where he can go wild and play with loads of other dogs, but somebody has a liking for mud baths. This has resulted in 2 baths since he stunk!

Open University:
I got my second assignment back a couple of weeks ago. I equalled my first score with 85% again, which I was thrilled with. I just submitted my third assignment yesterday. But not certain I'll be able to keep the great marks up.

Scrooge:
Was the latest musical I saw at the theatre. It featured Tommy Steels who is way before my time playing the lead. It wasn't the best of musicals, but I guess it was all in the Xmas spirit!

Athletics:
Now there's something I haven't blogged about in a while. I've taken Calvin a couple of times now and the first was so embarrassing. The cute little Guide Dog barked his head off insisting I had forgotten him and was sure he was meant to be running around with me. The trainer came out just before Xmas to sort this problem. He's still not completely relaxed at the track yet, but hopefully he'll get used to it soon.

Speaking of running, it is going quite well as far as I can tell. I should be entering my first indoor competition later this month and the summer season starts again in April.

2009:
Is history! The year began pretty slowly with a hundred and one rejections for jobs, which I eventually gave up on and started my degree with the OU. My birthday was fairly good, but since I spent my 16th in Miami and 18th in Italy it was always going to be hard to beat. I have travelled around from Blackpool, Bognor, Hartlepool and Turkey for fun times. Then, all of my athletics competitions took me to Ireland, London, Wigan, Bristol and Nottingham. I achieved 15.1secs for the 100m and 32.4secs for the 200m. Other sports wise Ferrari had an unlucky season, but the GB Team in Berlin did amazing at the athletics World Champs. Last but not least to finish off my year I finally got that all-important phone call. Calvin came along all bushy tailed and puppy dog eyes and we're having a roller coaster of a time!

2010:
Is going to be a good year for sure! I'm off to Mauritius next month, athletics comps start in April until September and I'm definitely getting the World Champs qualification times. I'm seeing Westlife in concert in May, I'm hoping to go to Paris for my 22nd, I intend to keep working hard on my degree and to round off the year I'm seeing JLS live. I'm also going to fix my Guide Dog, priority number one!

I would just like to thank everyone who reads my blog whether you comment or not. I've enjoyed writing and receiving feedback. Here's to the best year to come!!!!!!!!!!!

6 comments:

torie said...

Hey Selena. Prob got the spelling wrong again lol.

I'm glad everything is going well.

Calvan needs a good kick up the arse!!!!!!!! I thought his job was to guide you, not kill you!!!!!!!! That really is bad bad bad. Shouldn't really have that attitude of him needing a kick, but my god!!!!!!!!

Anyway, on to happier news, i hope you have a good year ahead of you.


Happy new year, and tell Calvan that he needs to get his act together!!!! Xxoxox

Jen said...

Happy new year Selina.
Sounds like Calvin is still being a troublemaker! Hopefully he doesn't try and get you killed again.
Mauritious sounds lovely! Who is going to watch him when you go there? I still haven't got a passport for O.J. I can't decide if its worth it, and can't afford it at the minute anyway.

Roshni said...

This is one of my favourite blogs: always funny, yet realistic and happening and informative. A very happy New Year Salina, to you and yours, and yeah: do sort out your dog: my heart was in my mouth while reading about the train experience! That has to have been the most frightening thing ever! 2010 looks very promising for you and I really hope and pray it is. Have fun, be safe and keep up the excellent work.
xx

Selina Litt said...

Torie thanks for your comments. I know when I write Calvin does sound like a little buggar, but I believe you will always have teething problems when you get a Guide Dog. Obviously, he doesn't get us lost on purpose or try to kill me intentionally, but if you think throughout training with sighted people, they can see exactly where they're going to control the dog. I know they do a blind fold walk, but I bet it's on a route the dog has done a hundred times before. In Leamington Calvin knew exactly where he was going. So by cutting corners he's actually trying to be clever and assumes he knows the way.

Jenny, must read your blog since I haven't in ages! Guide Dogs have agreed to provide a border for him this time because we're still new in our partnership. Do you know much about the dog passport? Is it required for the Eurostar? I know it's not needed for the UK.

Roshni, i'm glad i'm not the only one who finds myself amusing! Thanks for reading and keep commenting!

Jen said...

That's good they are boarding him for you. The UK is very good at helping with that anyway.
I'm not sure if the UK is exactly the same as Ireland for the passport.
you need a pet passport to enter any country outside the UK. The dog gets blood tests and the rabies vaccine, and has to wait for six months until it can travel. I think you have to update the vaccine every year or two years, and if there is a break in between this period, like if you leave it for too long, you have to go and do the whole thing all over again.
It sounds like a lot of hastle, paperwork and costs a few hundred quid, but if you want to travel with your dog a lot then it would probably be worth it. I still haven't got one.
Maybe UK guide dogs can help financially, as they are more helpful than Irish guide dogs.

torie said...

Oh cool. I'm glad you are still being realistic though Selena. I hope your partnership isn't still as troublesome in a few months.

What will the border do? Is that when you go to do athletics?

Take care, xoxox. I think it is bound to be stressful on the dog too as well as the owner. He has probably never worked with a blind person before, so he's prob seeing how far he can push you. Xxoxo