On the first day of my schooling (many years ago) I was pushed into a stone wall resulting in a lot of blood and a scar which I still have.
The person who pushed me later became my best friend.
History may be about to repeat itself.
This week I attended the regular training session for Glenorie Rural Fire Service (RFS). For some time I’d been talking about joining the RFS but had been put off because we’re constantly on the move. Having discussed this with a representative of the RFS, at the monthly Glenorie Markets, I’d decided to get actively involved.
Given the early start of the fire season and severity of the fires experienced so far, I felt I really needed to contribute as a volunteer fire fighter.
For the Monday night training session I’d parked the car (our lovely new one which we’ve only had for a few weeks) and was out the back of the fire station. A bit later a gentleman came out asking for the owner of the Toyota Prius.
I immediately started wondering if I’d parked in someone’s special spot and so was getting ready to apologise and go to move the car. While I couldn’t imagine why anyone would have a specific spot there, there’s no accounting for some people.
Sadly, I’d got it seriously wrong. Indeed, I was in the wrong spot, but it wasn’t because it was his special location – he’d just run into our car.
While, I can’t say I was happy about what had happened, I was more concerned about how he was feeling than the state of the car. After all, the car could be fixed and he would be paying for it.
We got talking about what work he does and he told me he’s an industrial chemist. Since my degree is in Biochemistry it’s an area of interest for me and we chatted happily about the things he works on, many of which are quite fascinating.
In the discussion it came out that he & I were at the same university at the same time and there’s a good chance we crossed paths.
So, we seemed to connect well and I’m sure we’ll become good mates.
There is, of course, another way to see this. As Milo Sturgis, a gay detective character in Jonathon Kellerman’s thriller novels, says: “No good turn ever goes unpunished”. Perhaps this is punishment for my good turn of attempting to contribute on a community level.
It’s up to me how this turns out. I think I’ll opt for the developing friendship option.
That was the start of the week. It went downhill from there.
That same day, one of the household dogs had had to be euthanased. While this is a reasonably common event here (this is a rescue home for geriatric dogs) it’s still very upsetting, especially for the owner.
The next morning (very early) we had a visit from the lady with whom we share the property. She’d just had a call from a mutual friend saying that the dog she’d rehoused with our friend had killed the family cat. Not just “the family cat” but “THE family cat”. Also, the dog hadn’t simply killed it. It had torn the cat to pieces.
Lots of guilt and very upset people. Interestingly, the children were very blase about the whole thing.
So, at 7am on Tuesday morning we were digging a grave in the pet cemetery (one of the endearing features of the property we’re on). This was followed by a moving little ceremony.
Wednesday, the killer dog was euthanased.
It’s been an intensely emotional time. I attribute it to Mercury being retrograde (along with Uranus, Neptune and Chiron). Then again, perhaps it’s got nothing to do with the planets and it just happens to be a rather intense set of co-incidences. Whatever the cause, I hope it settles VERY soon.