By the time I got to Carol she was naturally shocked and very upset and in quite a bit of pain so we swiftly took ourselves up to the cafe for support. My immediate concerns were around infection and so the quicker she was seen to the better; I suppose I was also really concerned that the incident hadn’t marred her day out too much or worse still her holiday but I wasn’t going to find that out just yet.
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(Carol with her war wounds)
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The minute we walked into the cafe the staff were immediately attentive in coming over to us, steering us to a table and ensuring we were all as comfortable as possible; the first aid box was swiftly brought to our table and Carols wounds were duly cleaned and checked. Before long the ‘Head Honch’ appeared from somewhere and (although a bit irritating in the way he tried to laugh the incident down) he did reassure us that these ‘small’ attacks were common and not too much to worry about. Just at the point he looked as though he was about to perhaps question Carol on her common sense in wearing a short-sleeved top I think he caught my eye and offered us all free drinks; to which I suggested perhaps a biscuit would be nice too?
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Not long after the drinks had arrived we were all a lot calmer and Carols wounds (though still painful) were at least well cleaned and unlikely to become infected. As we sat chatting (and slowly getting round to smiling about it all) the Head Honch returned to check we were all okay and we thanked him (and his staff) for his support.
Actually I thought he was a very funny man (which always endears me to people) but what was even funnier about him was his almost ‘Manuel (of Faulty Towers fame) approach’ – or how he could stifle his laugh and appear serious and professional whenever he realised he had overstepped the mark and his customer not thinking he was funny. When I told my granddaughter about him she responded by saying “LMAO” whatever that means.
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After tea we left the cafe and went straight back to the apes for Carol to take more (close up) photographs of the apes???!!!
“Are you sure!” says I. “Has it not put you off?”.
In receiving no answer I gathered that it hadn’t put her off, it hadn’t spoiled her day and hadn’t spoiled her holiday at all and that was good enough for me.
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In the cable car on the way back down the Rock the lady looked happy and chilled; she had faced her nemesis and mastered her cable car fear, she had taken the close up photos that she was really happy with and most of all could almost smile about her incident. And as she smiled so did the apes as they waved us off.
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