Bagpipes at the top of GlenCoe - in aid of Guide Dogs

Lorne playing his bagpipes at the top of Glencoe

Lorne is preparing for a his next challenge for Guide Dogs, by climbing the Aonach Eagach (The Toothed Ridge) of Glen Comhain (Glen Coe) I'll tell you more about this later..but is quite spectacular.  He is 79 and 3/4yrs old I have to point out!!




Lorne Brown finally gets to play his pipes - Just click on the link and you will see what happened when he climbed to the top with his friend  "Sherpa" Greg McShane (the carrier of the Bag pipes)  who was also behind the camera. .
S'math sinn!!  enjoy


to raise money for guide Dogs  just click on Lorne Brown..you will also get a peek as to what his next amazing challenge will be.

Six steps to bed and back or the blind hotel game!

http://www.expresscateringequipment.co.uk/product/Brass_Effect_Foyer_Trolley_W608

Its holiday time, and I thought I would just share my experiences of staying in hotels with a Guide Dog.

My first challenge when staying at an unfamiliar hotel is, finding my way into the building! 

If the hotel has a revolving door my guide dog Renton  will see it as a hazard and refuse to move. I’m left standing on the pavement wondering why he’s not budging. It is only when a passer by mutters something about a revolving door, that I understand what’s happening. I now start to coax and eventually bribe him to step into the gap while the door is slowly rotating. Not easy for a dog to co-ordinate.  Timing is crucial here. (So is a small dog) Unfortunately, I’ve a seven and a half  stone German Shepherd. A bit like trying to get an elephant into a lift. The door flicks us from behind into reception. Paws, luggage, bits of fur and me land in an undignified heap - what an entrance. the first challenge in this game has now been completed successfully.

The second challenge awaits, I’m in the reception area, now to locate the reception desk. You would think after making such an impressive entrance, someone would notice and call over to me. But, no.. Listening carefully I strain my ears for a clue. Nope! May be a doorman will come over and point me in the correct direction. No!  Eventually a phone rings in the distance “Hello, Elvira speaking.” Aha! Renton and I make our way towards the voice.

Elvira asks me for the registration number of my car, I’m standing there with my guide dog – I doubt that she has even glanced in my direction.  A porter takes me along endless corridors, two sets of lifts, and a rope swing, eventually reaching my room. 

The second challenge has been completed…now the third challenge.  The porter opens the door with a plastic card, quickly points around the room and tries to leave. I force him to stay and explain every detail of the room which includes funnily enough, how to open the door. I never know which way the card should go in. I’ve spent many an hour in a hotel corridor trying every possible combination.

I find that I have been given the disabled room. I can understand why they do this, However, the facilities a blind person needs aren’t the same as someone who is a wheelchair user. The room is huge and it takes me literally 10 minutes to find the bed and a chair and another 10 to find the window.  I hear the dog quietly snuffling about, he thinks its a park, I hope it doesn’t have a green carpet or we could have a spillage!

Part 2 to come. . 

"Who is Lorne?" I hear you say...

Pict of Lorne playing his pipes standing on dog sledge

                         I'VE DONE IT! I've got my Husky Dog Driving Licence

                         Joi-JOILLLL!   HREEEIIIEEEIII

Lorne Brown is the guy who draws the cartoons for me, he is Christine's father. A couple of years ago he decided that he wanted to do something different. As you can see by these photographs he succeeded in his challenge and he got his Driving Licence.

 I have pasted an enticing introduction from his website...where you can read more about his experiences. Please have a look in, it makes a jolly good read.

At 78 years of age I don't know if I'm acting maturely or not but I'm combining a trip to East Greenland to attain my Husky Dog Driving Licence with raising donations for the Guide Dogs for the Blind –

Pict. of snowy canyon with sledge tracks and blue sky

Motivation?
In July 2009, I retired for the second time having been a workaholic and always finding something to keep busy. Like many others I never seemed to have enough time in the day, week or year for that matter. Until – sitting in front of a computer screen in the office, I realised that time is finite. Response?

Lorne standing under ice and snow overhang, it dwarfs him

What am I doing here? Pack it in. Go home. I did!Next day, I had my comeuppance with the dreadful thought: What have I done by retiring? I've shot myself in the foot!
I enjoyed working and here I am at my wits’ end after 16 hours. What can be done with all this spare time? I'll go to Ittoqqortoormiit in East Greenland and see how the mushers and Inuits live. I did go; enjoyed the experience and I'm going back this year to obtain a Husky Dog Driving Licence.

Pict. of sledge at base camp, it looks cold snow everywhere clear blue sky

Lorne managed to raise over £3,000 for guide dogs and you can still donate on his

Just Giving page which is secure and can be used from anywhere in the world.

Dog Log Day 5

This weekend Renton was allowed into the restaurant for the first time. Obviously accompanied by me and not on his own, in case you thought that he was sitting at a table expectantly with a napkin tucked into his collar waiting for Sunday lunch. (oh..and there was another grown up there, Christine,..to supervise!) Last weekend was really the first time he had been in and around the main part of the hotel with me only and not on harness, only his lead. So this was my first experience of being with him in a restricted  public area with so many people around. As I said in my first posting, German Shepard’s tend to get a very strong reaction of love or hate  and true to form I had experience of both..

Obviously I tend to be fairly unaware of the inaudible reactions unless people come and actually talk to me or the dog. To be honest, the general public are much more likely to talk to the dog, yep..tell the dog, where my table is..to be careful with the sticking out chair ..honestly!…  So I tend to literally blindly push on, causing chaos, if I don’t know people are there...and Renton and I were causing chaos, as Christine was telling me..although she had a hard time keeping up as she is only wee and had to run behind to keep up!!! 

Heading down one of the hotel corridors we came face to face with a delegation of Chinese visitors. The sounds were incredible, scuffles, hotel cards being shoved in locks, doors not opening, sounds of people literally climbing walls in their terror to get away.

One poor woman was trying to get into a bedroom that clearly wasn’t hers with a card that wouldn’t work. Whilst a man stood transfixed in horror not knowing where to go or what to do. ..But no-one spoke, coughed or made any noise at all!...Renton and I strode through   -  the only thing on my mind was my cooked breakfast!.

Christine has spent a lot of time in China (something that she is constantly reminding me of) explained to me that there is a different cultural attitude to dogs in China which explained their re-action. Plus the average height is 5ft 7 and tiny dogs. (cough.. I'm 6ft with...a biiiiiggg dog) I must have looked really scary to them.  The difficulty is, there aren't many places you can hide in a corridor.

On the way back, just to underline Renton’s gentleness. He came across two small children in reception. One stood with her arms out stretched wanting a hug from the dog. Renton didn’t let her down and very gently put his head on her shoulder and she got a massive hug much to her delight. The little sister seeing this ran around a pillar to head Renton off at the pass, with her arms out stretched. Renton didn’t let her down either and she to got a hug and a delicately nibbled ear, from the dog, the pair of them giggled away (the same dog that only 45 minutes earlier was causing such fear and terror). 

I think I'll need to get used to this!