By: Blonde Two
On Wednesday night, Blonde One and I had an exciting time. She had a suspected heart attack and I had nyctophobia.
If you instantly knew what nyctophobia is without having to look it up, I am either impressed or feel very sorry for you. It is a severe fear of the dark, and, you guessed it, we Blondes were back out being casualties again with the Ashburton Dartmoor Search and Rescue group.
I was told that my nyctophobia would manifest itself in panic, nausea, hyperventilation and a raised heart rate. My acted role manifested itself in an overload of coffee (to make me jittery), some silly breathing and a lot of screaming. The end result was an overfull bladder, a round of applause and a complete loss of street-cred!
The team, as ever, came up with a fantastic solution to my debilitating problem and got me to walk back to base with a yellow storm shelter over me which they floodlit with torches. If anyone had come upon us along the path, they would have been forgiven for thinking that they had seen a visibility conscious ghost.
Of course, all of these shenanigans had a serious side to them. The team have to deal with all kinds of injured, lost, upset and generally confused people. I have to say that, as ever, their approach was professional, calm and competent (which is more than can be said for mine). If I ever am in a deranged mental state (more and more likely each year) then I would like the guys and gals from Ashburton Dartmoor Search and Rescue to come along and sort me out!
I have said this before, and I will say it again: These guys are volunteers. They had call-outs five days out of seven last week and were still out training on Wednesday night. On top of that, they do their own fund-raising for essential equipment. So … while you are spending a lot of money for Christmas, put your metaphorical hand in your electronic pocket and donate here http://www.dsrtashburton.org.uk/donate/
