My Car

Uuufff! Gosh, I have no idea how many hours of sleep that I managed; it was now 5am, and I felt like I most definitely had been hit by a bus in the night, and as for my mouth, someone had definitely shit it during the night. As I was having a sit-down shower as it was the safest option, I didn’t have the energy to cry anymore. It sounds odd, yet this is what happens you become so numb. It’s like the world actually stops; it stops for you yet not for anyone else.

Back to Work

Bloody hell, it was Monday again, so it meant work; it meant inputting orders and meeting TNT. So, that is what I did, normal life had to carry on, and my babies also needed me. I decided to walk all my dogs across the field to the lady’s house where the photo was taken, basically giving the boys a walk yet a search at the same time. Then after meeting TNT, I would begin putting up more posters. I had to stay focused and plan each hour of my day.

The First Strange Call

Today was my first strange phone call; I say strange as it’s better than saying nasty. “Are you the lady that has lost her dog?” asked this stranger. “Yes,” I said. “Well, you are sick; I see you are giving a reward of 500 euros if someone finds your dog. This encourages people to steal people’s dogs, you should never have lost your dog, and all you are doing is encouraging people like me that are responsible people that keep their dogs on a lead to have their dogs stolen,” said the stranger. “Fair point,” I said. Then she was kind of lost for words, and she hung up.

New Message, New Hope

Yet next came a message: “Hi, I saw your Facebook post and yesterday I saw a little dog in Sierra Gorda; here is the photo.” At last, someone had actually taken a photo. First glance at the photo, I said in my head, no, that’s not George, as the tail looks brown, yet the tail looked all fluffy, and the body looked the same then I saw how the sun in the photo was distorting the colour so it could be him. I sent the photo to everyone on the find George WhatsApp group. The first reply was Gordon: “No, it’s not George,” yet then there was doubt from others as the sun reflection in the photo could turn a black tail into brown. So, off I went to Sierra Gorda, and off Claudia went as well. I met up with Claudia, and we both agreed unless someone calls me immediately and we go immediately where ever we go looking, a dog would be long gone.

Smoke and Worry

On my way home, I noticed smoke coming from my exhaust and remembering Sue and me smelling smoke the other day in my car, I started to worry. So as soon as I got home, I called Craig. Craig had always sorted my car for me, a very good friend of mine, well that’s a kind of lie he is the husband of a very good friend of mine. I parked my car outside of the gate as I was still waiting for TNT to message. Craig arrived within half an hour, and I had the bonnet up. I explained how I saw smoke and how Sue and I had smelt burning the other day. Craig then said how it could be the head gasket or an engine problem; I then started to cry as I knew if it was the head gasket and what with my car being so old that we might as well throw the car away. Craig then said that if it is the head gasket that it won’t cost much. I was so baffled.

The Verdict on the Car

As in all my years, I have had 2 cars repaired head gaskets, and wow, it’s so expensive. TNT then messaged to say that he was on his way, so I said to Craig how I had to go; he said that’s good as if he can follow me he can then see the colour of the smoke and he will have a better idea of what is wrong with my car. So, off we went; as soon as I had loaded TNT, I then looked at Craig, “So did you see the smoke?” I said. “Yes, it’s so not good, as I saw some blue, so it’s definitely engine problems,” he said. I just fell into a complete mess. This wasn’t about money; this was about not having a car when I needed to find George. “How soon can you fix it?” I said. “It could take days as I need to start stripping the engine,” said Craig.

One Pushbike and Some Kindness

I then went on to say how I would take the car to him, and I would ask Gary if I could borrow his push bike; Gary had a spare push bike I say push bike it’s an electric bike. Craig just said OK, no sadness that I had no spare car or that my dog was missing. I also said all this with tears streaming down my cheeks. Sometimes men can be so heartless, but hay hoe, I was grateful that he was going to fix my car. He also then organized for his son-in-law to meet me at his house and to take me home.

So, I was now at home totally carless; gosh, I felt so lost as what if someone called with a sighting of George. So, I called Claudia. “I am going to need to borrow Gary’s bike as I have no car,” I said. “No, you don’t, I am on my way to get you, and you can borrow my daughter’s car as she is in Germany,” said Claudia.

Pizza, Beers, and Maxine’s Car

Amazing as that is what happened, I was now at home with a car, Maxine’s little black car all shiny and clean, and then 10 minutes later, Gordon and Kermit turned up. They walked straight in, turned the oven on and started to cook pizza and chicken nuggets. Gosh, what a day.

This was the first time that I actually felt hungry, and my goodness, the taste of the dirty chicken nuggets and pizza went down so well, followed by a few beers. I now felt so full and so very tired. I instantly knew that tonight I was going to sleep more than just a couple of hours, and after Gordon and Kermit left, I can honestly say I don’t even remember passing out on the sofa.

Another Retching Morning

It was 4am, and I was awake, uuuuffff, the taste in my mouth, uuffff I was still in yesterday’s clothes. I staggered up the stairs and checked the computer; oh god, so many emails and so many orders to print. Time for another sit-down shower, holy moly; I then looked at my hairy legs, yes, very hairy. All I could think was… oh well, they will keep me warm. Shower done, I then began cleaning my teeth, and a wave came over me….no no no I then gagged… thankfully I turned at the right moment. My mouth aimed at the pan; it was all going so well until I did the last retch; yes, I pissed myself, obviously as my mouth was over the toilet, my bottom end wasn’t, and the flow continued all over the bathroom floor. So, with a few rounds with the kitchen roll and disinfectant, I then took an actual stand up shower and got ready to start my day.

The Car That Wouldn’t Start

Emails done, orders all printed, dogs fed and now sitting with a cup of tea, I began planning my day. It was now 7am, and I thought I would just go now to my warehouse and pack today’s orders, so all dogs in, alarm set, I jumped into Maxine’s car.

So why won’t it start? How the hell have I broken Maxine’s car already. Noooooooooooooooo. Ok, so I might have cried a little bit, then I called Gordon, “Maxine’s car won’t start,” I said. “Is it automatic?” asked Gordon. “Yes,” I said. “You need to press the brake at the same time,” said Gordon. “Obviously,” I said.

Warehouse, Worries, and WhatsApps

After I had finished up at the warehouse, I headed back home, bugger I had left the phone charger that Claudia had given me in my car. So, I was back to being extremely careful with the battery consumption of my phone. As soon I was inside, I put the kettle on and plugged in my phone and began replying to all my messages, Carol messaged every day with words of encouragement, and then I went onto the stranger’s messages. I was receiving so many, and now as well as the normal messages of: “Have you found him yet?” I was now receiving message after message saying, have you checked the dog shelters. Seriously I had to think cool thoughts while replying to them all.

Today looked as if the rain might hold off, which I was pleased about as I really didn’t like borrowing Maxine’s car. It made me feel nervous. I just wanted my car back. I was, however, so bloody grateful as it certainly was better than borrowing Gary’s bike as I don’t think my little legs could have gotten me very far.

Another Sighting… in Coín

After meeting TNT, I received a phone call; it was a sighting of a little black and white chihuahua; the lady gave me the name of the road. I had no idea where it was, yet she said it was in Coín. I immediately punched in the words into the find George group on my phone; I received 3 replies, and off they apparently went straight to the sighting. I was still trying to work out where the road was, and I was becoming so frantic; why; why can’t they just send me a WhatsApp location? I am ashamed to admit that at that moment, I actually hated everyone.

Where Are You, Christine?

My phone started pinging, one message said: “where are you, Christine?” “I don’t know,” I replied. What car are you driving, Christine…. This was the next message. So now I was about to make myself look even more of a tit as I wrote: “I don’t know.” Well, I didn’t bloody know. All I knew was that it was black. I actually had to pull over and get out of the car to look. Next came the messages, no it’s not George. As if I didn’t already know that in my head, yet still the tears came rolling down my cheeks, then the snot dribbling down my nose. Out came the crispy hankie, uuufff I need to do some clothes washing.

Stuck in the Mud

On the way home, I decided to take a turn down a track near a field, obviously forgetting I wasn’t in my 4x4; I was in a girlie toy car. The further along the track, the narrower the track became; in fact, it became so narrow that I had to actually stop. I got out of the car to assess the situation, hhhmmm. As I sank into the mud, I wondered as to what was the point of me getting out of the car, no room for a 20 point turn I had to begin reversing, oh god the track...

Back from the Mud

It was so muddy, then I looked at my phone, and it was on one bar, oh god. I could actually feel my knees knocking as I began reversing, I took it so slowly, and I could feel the concentration on my face; my tears and snot were actually beginning to set just like a clay facemask.

How I made it home was actually remarkable; oh dear though, I got out of the car and wow, Maxine’s once beautiful and shiny girlie car was now covered in mud, not only in the inside, but every wheel arch was caked in mud. I put my finger over the hose, trying to create a kind of jet wash and pointed it at the wheel arch. Then I dropped the hose walked into the house, and told myself she would never notice.

Guilt and Grapes

The dogs were so happy to see me; gosh, it was so cold, yet I still couldn’t light the fire just in case I had to leave the house due to another sighting. So, it was wrap up warm, plug in my phone and start replying to messages. Ahhh, Sue has sent a message, “Ishy died tonight; we were snowed in and couldn’t get to the vets.” Again, the guilt as Sue should have been with Ishy, not here with me searching for George. As I phoned Sue, I knew I had to be super strong for her; we spoke, and I totally switched off from George as I knew that all Sue could possibly think about at this moment was her Ishy.

Tonight, I knew I couldn’t possibly eat, yet I knew I needed to try, and I also needed to get some sleep. So I went straight to the fridge and opened a bottle of wine, and as I did, I said, “Grapes for dinner with added grape sleeping pills.”

The Julie Plan

I then began writing down the list that Julie had prepared for me.

• Put all A4 posters on every bin, sellotape them (in Spain we don’t have our rubbish collected from our houses); basically, we have large random wheelie bins situated in different areas, and basically, you drive to them and tosh your rubbish in them. Personally, I prefer it as you can tosh your rubbish in the bins every day of the week. Ok, so the area is a tad smelly so sellotaping the posters needed to be done rather quickly as gagging for me isn’t an option outside of my home.
• Carry the A5 posters in my rucksack at all times.
• When someone asks if they can help, say yes, and ask them to collect posters from you.
• Share your posts on Facebook to Spanish pages, it was this message that I had to ask Julie for help with, and help is what she gave me. “I need a new post in Spanish, as all mine are in English,” I typed. Bang...... Julie had done it. It was then that Julie became known to me as Me Julie, which we all know from the fictional character, “Ali G.”

The End of a Long Day

The wine was now going down as fast as the rain was pouring outside, I curled up with the dogs with the music playing outside, and that’s all I remember.

🌐 Leer en Español

🌈 A photo. A name. A rainbow. This personalised memorial plaque is handmade for the pets that left pawprints and rainbows behind. A lasting tribute with photo and heart.