Well unfortunately I have no recall and photos of their dogs, so we may as well give up now
But narrowing it down (information about your flight departure and arrival cities might be helpful), it could be
Bryce Lindores, as he is the only blind current paralmpian that I can find that meets your description...
It was CNS-BNE last Saturday morning. The guy in the link may have been him........or not! Sorry, I just have no idea. He was a well spoken sort of bloke too. Certainly not shy, but at the same time, not "
in your face" either.
I once had a friend who was blind, (sadly passed away now) and the guy was very amiable.....mostly, but could spin on a dime and be very aggressive. He was possibly one of the funniest people I have ever known, but at the same time one of the most problematic. Living with a handicap must be incredibly difficult as you're in the spotlight constantly, whether you want it or not. I choose to remember the better times we had together, rather than the problematic times.
For instance, I recall one night we were going into a certain nightclub in Surfers and there was an all in brawl on the stairs (hey, I only visit the classiest clubs on the coast). He comes tapping up the stairs with the cane and like Moses parting the Red Sea, the brawling louts moved to the side to allow my mate Roger to pass. We got to the top step and he stopped and turned back to face them and said (I think citing Ray Charles) "
I might be blind but I ain't no pacifist....get into it", and with that the brawl started again!
Another time, we were at Indy and sitting on the little block wall outside the ANA (well it used to be the ANA) with the stairs going up and over the track. I was talking about something inane when I happened to notice this georgous lady in the skimpiest of skirts walking up the stairs......I was chatting away while watching this sight from the Gods when she reached a point where I suddenly realised that there was very little (in fact nothing) under the mini skirt! For some reason that I'll never understand, my conversation trailed rapidly off to nothing as some kind of paralysis gripped my jaw (which was locked in the down position with dribble oozing out one side). Roger immediately picked up on this faux pas of mine and got all flustered and demanded "
what are you seeing you mongrel...what am I missing out on"? Of course in true mateship style (and some degree of torture) I just had to descibe the sight for him! :mrgreen: You see Roger only went blind at thirteen, so he clearly remembered what he could no longer appreciate.
In Sydney once, I recall catching a cab with him from one watering hole to the next. The cabbie honestly had no idea where he was going and Roger (to his credit) offered to help and had his white cane out the window tapping along the road as he declared he'd have a better chance of finding the pub than the cabbie had!
Even the cabbie, with little or no English, saw the funny side. Roger was a tad short for the rest of the night as he had worn the little ball off the end of the cane and apparantly they're expensive!
At another Indy (my wife dreaded Indy, as she knew that meant Roger was visiting and she had a very real chance of having to bail both of us out of the watchhouse), a group of us were walking along pit straight and a group of the most georgous Indy girls walked toward us. When Roger realised what was happening, the ladies had already passed by, so he wheels around and says to them "
hey girls.....all these desperados were just perving at you and I find that really unfair as I'm blind! Do you think I could have a cuddle?" Well. They were in a pack (wise ladies I say) and they all came straight back and just engulfed him! I have never, ever , seen so many georgous girls converge on one guy! We, no sooner got over that and we bumped into Peter Brock. Well all of were wispering....."
hey look, it's PB, man the legend is right there in front of us".......of course too shy to actually speak to him......except for Roger of course. He pipes up with "
Hey Peter, I think you'd probably like to shake my hand", with which PB comes straight over and not just shook his hand, but chatted to us all for quite some time. I'm a bit of a Ford fan, but that guy certainly had the talent for making you feel comfortable.....at least at that particular moment in time, he did.
I could go on and on about Roger......and the strife he got me into, but suffice to say, I do miss the guy....occassionally, but not when he changed. He'd go from being the funniest guy to be around, to being the worst guy to be around and usually his spits were at women...and very cruel at times. What it showed me was that everyone has to deal with problems, but handicapped people have to deal with everyday problems as well as raft of other specialised problems and be very much in the public eye (they are....walk down the street with a blind guy and you'll see what I mean). It would be no easy task and they have to do it while trying to keep everyone satisfied.............Roger died at a youngish age and I suspect it was from the same (or related disease) that caused his blindness. Sydney is a lot more sedate since his passing, but I've learnt that we can certainly respect paralympians possibly moreso than olympians, but we should never underestimate the struggles they have learnt to deal (but not always cope) with!
).
