Looking back over my blog I realise that i have given the impression that my life has been a crock of sh*t, a pile of poo, a waste of oxygen................!! But it hasnt ALWAYS been!!
One of the happiest memories I will always have is of one summer about 3 years ago......things were going badly at home with copper (ya didnt think it was all gonna be roses did ya??!!) and I need some room to breathe, time to get away........well copper wasnt into holidays, he didnt see the point, so I invested in a 2 man tent from Asda (19.99 - bargain!) and some sleeping bags and told him that one Friday night, when he was working (he wouldn't have let me go out for the night if he had been at home) my son and I would go to the beach at Sandgate to look for Dave.
DAVE, I hear you asking?!.......this is where the magic happens............!! All my life, I have wanted to see a dolphin in the wild, and all my life I have told people (most of whom think im crazy - whos to say whos right?!) that there ARE dolphins off the coast of Folkestone, although I had never seen any (and neither had anyone else, apparently!). I cant explain this, other than I have always been dead stubborn - so if I decided there were Dolphins, then there must have been, never mind what anyone else said!
So you can imagine my surprise one day when if I spotted a post on a wildlife forum that I stalk (http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/ - its awesome - check it out - very knowledgable and friendly people there) from a lady who said that she had been walking her dog on the beach at Sandgate (just down t'road from Folkestone) and that she HAD SEEN A DOLPHIN!.
Well, I had to go, so with Coppers permission (!) and my son in tow we got the no 10 bus from Park Street in Ashford one Friday night after work and travelled the 1 hour journey to the beach.....and im not joking ......I swear to you, this night sort of changed my life. We pitched up our tent (ignoring the "do not camp overnight" signs :0/) and bought some burgers from the burger van, cracked open a bottle of coke and settled down to wait for this magical dolphin. And we waited and we waited and we waited..........and it got chilly, son got bored, I got bored....but we were in it for the long haul (we had to be - we had missed the last bus home!!!)
I dont know how many of you have been lucky to spend nights on the beach, but despite the chill and the no show dolphin, it was, well, FANTASTIC. The air turned pink, and it felt "soft" and there was only the odd passing car and the waves as they broke on the shore.....and I just felt complete.....like I was meant to be there.......very strange (maybe it was the rush of carbs from the coke?!)
Anyway, at 9.10pm exactly -my son pointed to a fishing boat that was just offshore and said "whats that splash" and sure enough.......nothing happened for another 10 mins...........then I saw a splash ................and another............and it was a bloody DOLPHIN!!. Before I knew it we were running down the beach whooping and clapping and cheering!!. Im getting emotional just typing this - incredible feeling to be having such a tough time at home and then see something that you have waited your whole life for - to literally have a dream come true.....we watched him for about half an hour, then it got too dark too see anymore.......but I will never forget it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRrT33Os6HU
So overnight, "Dave" become a celebrity - google "Dave the Dolphin" he's there.......pages and pages of him and that Friday night camping trip became quite regular and we spent many happy early (5am ish) mornings watching him on the snuffle for fish around the rocks as well.
Of course, people being what people are, in the end it all got a bit much for him and he left town. Some stupid kids (who got prosecuted, by the way) were going out in their jetskis and speedboats and doing "donuts" around him and eventually he got injured, part of his tail was ripped off - words cant describe what I feel for these twats, so i wont even bother blogging them.......
One of the worst idiots, though, was the guy who swam up to Dave and put his toddler ON THE WILD DOLPHINS BACK...........he actually made the Sun Newspaper, although I think JAIL would have been more appropriate.............if Dave had been a Wolf, or a Tiger, would he have done the same then..............??
Later on, whilst treating Dave for his injured tail, it was discovered that HE was a SHE!! A sort of effort was made to change her name to Daphne, or Davina, or something like that - but to me she will always be Dave, the magical dolphin.
I dont know where she is now - she has moved on somewhere and I hope she is OK and has met up with another group of Bottlenose Dolphins and it living the life of riley - coz she deserves it....
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