Day Eleven

The night walk with Ishka was last night, something that I was not looking forward to! The thought of walking around in unfamiliar surroundings in the dark made me feel nervous as being in the dark is when I can see the least.  Having a dual disability is not easy ─ I know that I am unable to collect all the important clues from my surroundings with my remaining vision and that it is not possible for me to rely entirely on my hearing even though I wear hearing aids ─ this in the day-time. I know, you must trust the guide dog, Ishka but that was not the case, it was simply a fear of being in the dark, I have not been out in the dark on my own for at least forty years. To be honest I rarely went out at night unless I was with someone.

 Kevin went out first and as I sat in the van, I admitted to Simon that I was nervous but I was  going to do the night walk as I hoped that it would conquer my fears of going out in the dark.  Simon went next and then it was my turn. The trainer came round to my door and asked if I was ready and I replied that I was. We went round to the back of the van to get Ishka out ─ that was the first hurdle for I could not see her but she came up to me when I called her name. I put her harness on and then it was time to go. We did the walk with the trainer talking to me as we went along and me trying to praise Ishka who walked slowly en route and then it was all over. Ishka was brilliant and I cannot thank the trainer enough for her encouragement but I was pleased that it was all over. Will I do a night walk on my own ─ I plan to in the near future in familiar surroundings, it should be interesting!