I’ve had nothing but a frosty reception from the New Year so far. Let’s hope things will improve.
OU:
I got my third assignment back and scored 81%. Still a good mark of course, but my lowest to date. I’m currently working on my forth assignment, which is about the composer Shostakovich. I’m not into classical music, but i’ve appreciated his work.
Calvin:
Where do I start with the naughty little dog to put it politely! Three times this week he’s got into his food! He managed to remove a big heavy box, catalogues and the lid in order to delve in. It’s been an absolute joke and now the food is being stored on the dining table out of reach. Punishment has involved a cut in his portion sizes this week, but it’s also been a punishment for me as he’s been really thirsty from eating the dry food and needing to spend more regularly.
Argh, when will the frost and black ice disappear! I’ve only managed to work Calvin twice this year. Once in London for my Moorfields appointment and to be fair to him he worked well in the busy city. The other time was when I went sale shopping last weekend. That wasn’t as successful as he walked under a table in a shop and my hand scraped across the metal, which swelled up beautifully. My road is still bad so not sure when i’ll be able to work him again.
Athletics:
Has been cancelled most of this year so far due to the weather. I think I’m having serious withdrawal symptoms that isn’t helping my mood! I decided not to run in my first indoor competition last weekend as I felt I hadn’t trained enough with my guide runner.
Conclusion:
Let’s get January out of the way and start afresh in Feb!
Saturday 16 January 2010
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!!!!!!!!!!!
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!!!!!!!!!!!
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