Today Aitana went out with me for a short walk down the road and she would not go past the turning, out of sight of the other donkeys. As I let her go whichever way she wanted and I gave her more slack on the lead rope, she suddenly decided to start running back up the road. So she was finally finding energy to canter, after all she has been through!
This was not entirely useful when we reached the blind corner near the stable, as the daughter of my neighbour up the valley was driving straight into the bend at her customary 50 kilometres per hour (she knocked a cyclist off his bike a few months ago!) and did not make any effort to slow down when she saw Aitana and I – at least from 200 metres away! – which was totally irresponsible behaviour! I thought it would be a huge irony if we finally nursed Aitana back to health and then we were both knocked down by an idiot road hog!
I wanted to get a photo of Aitana going for a walk, but I was so shocked by the above road incident that I completely forgot and left the camera in my pocket, guiding Aitana quickly back into the safety of El Parral. I think two years of Covid has turned half the population into lunatics and I’ve experienced more than my fair share of them!
Here’s another photo of Aitana from Christmas day. On Christmas Eve I had another full night in the stable with her as she seemed to be very clammy and I wasn’t sure if she had a temperature, so the real danger of catching a chill made it necessary to stay with her and keep her covers on.
This blog is currently closed for comments as I have no internet at home and therefore don’t have any opportunity to monitor and approve comments. Thanks for the good wishes already received from some people. It has been a very exhausting time and indeed the worst time I have experienced in all the time since moving to Spain in 2010. I am hoping to try and put the pieces of the wreckage slowly back together, but at present I feel totally wrecked… Boy are there going to be some New Year resolutions, after what I have been through!
Equus Asinus 