I could see now that the light was coming from a fitting attached to the corner of the house and there was also some light coming from a window. As I drew close I peeked through the window to see a man with a thick mop of black hair slumped in a big brown leather looking armchair in front of an open fire. He had his hands clasped over his belly and his chin was buried in to his upper chest. He looked to me to be asleep. I move my position slightly so that I could see more of the room and suddenly a dark blur of fur and teeth flew at the window. I recoiled back instinctively half expecting the flying sheep dog to come bursting through the window. I could see the man stand up as I gathered some sort of composure. He came to the window and put his face close to the glass, so I directed my friendliest wave towards his gaze thinking maybe he wouldn't be best pleased that I had woken him up. Although technically speaking it was his dog that had done that. I heard the man shout something at the dog who immediately shut up. He didn't acknowledge my wave but instead looked around the yard before walking away from my view. This was enough of a grandfather welcome so as to cause me a little concern so I waited where I was. Soon a light came on in the glass enclosed porch and the man stepped from the house in to the porch where upon he proceeded to scan around the yard once again before setting his gaze upon me. I at this point was wondering whether I was wandering in to a Texas Chainsaw massacre type scenario. Maybe I would have been better spending a sneaky night cuddled up with the cat in one of the barns. I guess it was too late now though as the man opened the door to me and asked what was going on. I took a step forward and explained that I was from the ------ ------- estate and had been out on the hill with my grandfather and that we had become separated which subsequently caused me to become lost. I'm such a kind forgiving person. In reality I thought the whole truth of the situation might complicate things. I also went on to ask if he would allow me to take shelter in one of his barns for the night.
"Och! you're kiddin, are you alone then?" he asked once again scanning the yard.
"Yes," I replied.
There seemed to be room for some doubt at this point in proceedings as to who exactly was the threat, if indeed there was any threat at all. I got the impression from his attitude of amazement and yard scanning that he thought I was some sort of decoy for a mass gang raid or something. I on the other hand was still unsure whether he could be trusted not to take advantage of the lone soul predicament that I found myself in.
"So why would you want to sleep in the barn, would you rather not come in the house?" he asked.
"Well yes of course, I don't want to put you out or anything though." Was my reply.
He went on to say, "I can assure you I would be more put out knowing a wee young lassy like yoursel' was in my barn freezing to death while there was a perfectly good couch going spare in front of the fire."
I thanked him for being so kind and stepped into the porch when beckoned to do so. I took off my wellies with difficulty as my left wrist was becoming very painful. I left them by the door. It's no wonder my feet were so cold, they were soaking, my whole lower legs were wet up to my knees. He reached past me to pick up my boots saying he would put them to dry and what a carry on it all was. He led me through the door and in to the house where there was a small hallway with a stairway in front and a door to either side. He indicated to go through the right hand door, however I remembered all the teeth and fur flying towards me when I first arrived so thought it was worth enquiring if it was safe for me to do so. He assured me that the dog would be fine and to just ignore him. He was right, on opening the door the dog just came and gave me a sniff and deciding that I wasn't tasty enough so went and settled down on the sofa. The man, who I now know as Jim moved the dog along so that I could sit directly in front of the fire. He said to get myself warmed up while he went to find me something dry to change into. I wasn't at all cold except for my feet and legs which were starting to get the hot aches as the circulation returned to them. I looked around the room from where I sat. The dog who was watching me while curled up beside me looked so cute and I was tempted to stroke him but thought better of it. Directly behind the sofa was an old wooden table with four chairs around three sides, the fourth side was pushed up against the back of the sofa. Against the wall to my left was a large dresser crammed full of all sorts of pottery. At the back of me beyond the table was the door through which we had entered and to the right of that, under the sloping stairs was the kitchen area. In front of me at either side of the fireplace were floor to ceiling cupboards, two at each side. There was no TV in this room but there was a radio on the floor by Jim's chair. That was more or less it really apart from pictures on the walls and some ornaments dotted here and there.
Jim returned with a blue dressing gown and a package which he started pulling apart.
"I haven't really got anything in your size." he informed me.
"Mum bought me these for Christmas, they will be much to big for you but at least they haven't been worn". He added.
It didn't really bother me whether they were worn or not but he seemed to think it was important so I played along.
He said he would go over and make a drink while I got out of my wet clothes and also asked if I would like something to eat as he had some vegetable stew left over from his dinner. I told him that I would love some and thanked him for his kindness. He assured me that he wouldn't look until I told him I was ready. That touched my heart, he seemed really sweet.
Getting changed proved to be quite a problem as my left hand was virtually unusable now, the back of my hand and wrist were swelling up like a balloon. Jim was at least three times my size so you can imagine what the pyjamas looked like on me. Luckily they had a draw cord waist so I was able to get them tight enough to stay pulled up. I let Jim know that I was ready and when he came over to inspect me we had a bit of a laugh and a joke before I asked him to roll up the sleeves and legs and also had he got a bandage or something for my wrist. He pulled a face then left the room soon returning with this great long bandage which he used to expertly strap up my hand, wrist and lower arm. He seemed to think I've broken something. I have to say it did feel better bandaged up even though I couldn't do much with it.
Before dinner he made me call Ms Oliver to let them know where I was and that I was safe for the night. I didn't want to but he said I had to because people would be out looking for me - I never thought of that, not sure why. I didn't phone her in particular but I didn't have my phone so didn't have the numbers of anyone. Being a neighbour of sorts Jim had the number for the estate which automatically goes through to Ms Oliver. I told her what happened and she said she would send someone to fetch me tomorrow if possible. I said not to send grandfather as I wouldn't ever be going anywhere with him again. She returned with a load of excuses which I couldn't really be bothered listening too. The main gist being that he was very upset and concerned and that he thought I had returned to the safety of the Land Rover as instructed by him. Apparently we are going to talk about it all when I return!
We spend the rest of the night chatting and at one point he got a detailed map of the area and lay it out on the table to show me where I was, where he thought I walked from and where the estate house is. Also he pointed out to my disgust that where I stumbled my way along the tree lined river bank, around five hundred meters to my left there was a proper track and that he thought that is probably where grandfather left the Land Rover. I probably wasn't too far away from it at some point but when you can only see about ten meters five hundred is quite away I guess.
It might seem strange to others but although I did get in a bit of a sweat when I first realised that I had lost the Land Rover I never actually considered how serious my predicament really was. I think maybe it was because I never gave up thinking that I would get somewhere. It wasn't until we were looking at the map and he pointed out what was around, which was basically nothing, I realised it was a miracle that I ended up where I was. I felt quite sick when he pointed out that if I hadn't found his place I would most likely have died from exposure out in the open sometime during the night. Even now I don't know whether I would as I was always warm enough, too hot most of the time actually.
I think that's about it for New Years Day. If I think of anything else I will add it later as a back entry.
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