Somebody Answer The Phone!

Today has been a totally unproductive day in many respects for me. I have, again, tried to get in touch with Jennie at the Rottweiler Welfare Association and have, again, left a message for a return call but heard nothing in response. I have also tried to get hold of Simon, the guy who reckoned he had a newspaper lined up for us. His phone has been diverting to answer phone all day.

I’ll be honest, if there was a Rottweiler charity on Just Giving right now I think I might be tempted to change my choice of charity to them – it feels like the RWA are not even bothered about all of the effort I am going to at times. All I ask is a return call just to give me an update on where they are up to but I have been trying now for at least a week!

I’m also starting to wonder whether this Simon was just a wind up. If it was then well done mate but you’re not funny. If it isn’t then why can’t you answer your phone to me so we can sort something out? I feel really frustrated with the way things are going tonight – every time I seem to make a little progress I seem to get a week of absolutely nothing and can’t seem to speak to anyone!

I rang Lucy Gregory from the British Red Cross earlier today – someone who did answer the phone, I’m sure you’ll be pleased to hear! – and she was able to clarify for me that everything had been organised for any donations made on my Just Giving page for them will definitely be segregated and sent off to the Abruzzo Appeal at the Italian Red Cross. At least I have been able to tick that one off my list.

I have still not heard back from Natalie from P&O Ferries so will send an email off to her in the morning to see if she has managed to get anywhere with the free ticket for our crossing from Dover to Calais. As I have said before, it’s not massively expensive but any help we receive will really help as I am trying to fund this myself – if there any millionaires reading feel free to offer to cover our expenses, we’d be very grateful!

Roman has had a couple of 5 mile walks today and seems fine still. There did seem to be a hint of a limp on our walk this evening but it disappeared within about a minute or two. I think I may be looking too hard at times and maybe seeing problems that aren’t there. He generally seems to be fine and I am sure he is now better. We will be doing two 5 mile walks tomorrow morning and early afternoon and then a 3 and a half mile walk in the evening.

My sister is over from Qatar at the moment and I don’t really get to see her that often. She is visiting my dad with one of her sons tomorrow evening so I thought I would pop round to see them – it will certainly be my last chance before we set off to Rome and I am not sure how many times I will see her again after that depending on how things work out.

I have been trying to persuade a friend of mine to come with me on my adventure – I am not expecting him to walk though! I was thinking it would be really good if I had someone with a car who could transport all of our stuff from one stop point to the next as it will be difficult trying to lug all of Roman’s food plus all the equipment needed around! I’m not sure I will be able to persuade him but I think it would be a good move for him too if that’s what he decided to do – he’s young, doesn’t have any real commitments like a mortgage or kids or anything so it would be a good time for him to have an experience like this. Time will tell whether I can persuade him or not.