An outing to Hajógyári (Shipyard) Island

There was a fantastic atmosphere on this year’s third outing on Hajógyári Island, which was organized by our guide dog owner friends this time.

Dóra Pozsgay, one of the organizers talks about the trip:

“May 10, 2015 was again a day when we went on a trip with our guide dog owner friends. We planned only a small outing, but in the end we managed to bring together nine pairs with dogs.  However, let’s not forget about the volunteers either who came and helped the team with or without their own dogs. With their dogs there were 11 dogs altogether. As an assistant organizer, I was again responsible for gathering the participants. As had been at other times, we agreed with Sanyi, one of the participants, to meet at the bus stop on Bosnyák Square and from there we went on together to the Western Railway Station.  We were to go to Blaha Lujza Square by bus, then by tram and replacement bus to the Western Railway Station as before. However, it had not been conceived yet how to get there, because we still had to pick up Anti and Dia, two other participants. Anti was coming from Baja, so I had to go down to the underpass of metro line 3, to where I can get more easily from the tram, but I knew that there is a staircase somewhere beside the railway station, which Ében found easily. Meanwhile I asked Sanyi to stand in front of the station, because if Dia arrives, the dogs can recognize each other. I mean if Ében notices a familiar dog, he takes me straight up to the dog and this is what was running through my mind when I left Sanyi there. While I was making Ében look for the stairs, a woman came up to me and said that there are a few of us at the bus stop, but, just like others, she also mixed us up with Barbi and her dog, Demi. After we had discussed all this, I went down the stairs, but no one had arrived yet. This is why I like modern technology: I just took out my cell phone and through Messenger I could help Anti, who had just got there by metro with his dog, Balu. A few minutes later I could hear Balu’s bell ringing on his neck, so having found each other we went back to the others together. By the time we got there, photographer Gyöngyvér and her husband had already joined our team. A few minutes later Dia arrived as well, so the whole team could go to the bus stop. As we boarded the bus and settled in, I discovered familiar voices from far away, so I left my place behind and joined the others. It was better this way, because with friends sharing good stories the journey appears much shorter. Not everyone was there when we arrived: we had to wait for Zoli and his dog.  We had agreed that if they or we arrive earlier, we would await each other. Actually it was Zoli who was more familiar on the island; I would not have started out alone with such a big team on a terrain unknown for me. So it was better to wait for them for two reasons. We did not even have to idle that much before they got there. Once they arrived and everyone found a pair, we could set off. We walked on until we reached the river bank, where the dogs sprang into the water without hesitation.

In the picture there are three Labradors playing with a stick.
Playing

In the meantime, some of us took out some food, while others simply enjoyed the sunshine and the noise made by the dogs running around happily and tried to escape the water splashed on them. Nevertheless, everyone was sweating and felt cold at the same time. On the way back, pictures were taken as usual and we got back to the bus station. Some travelled until the Western Railway Station, but there were some others who cut down the way home and got off. We – Anti, Dia, Sanyi, Csilla and I – travelled until the railway station, where the team finally dispersed and everyone went home on their own.”