Better on our own - English

Chatting with Friends

I spent every free moment since Sunday evening browsing Sarah and Mandy's website, reading the reports they had written, watching the short films they had made and examining every photo carefully. I couldn't say how many photos and videos they had published alone of the fire station and it's team, but at least 80 percent of them had Sam and Penny in them.

It wasn't as if the two amateur reporters had only focused on the two team leaders. There were also countless pictures where only Sam or only Penny could be seen with one or more of the old team. But in fact, in most of the pictures it was always both of them - standing next to or side to side to each other, working together, laughing with each other, or just being near each other. But even in these pictures, it always seemed like one of them was always looking at the other, and I was amazed at the sparkle in both of their eyes when they looked at the other, which only seemed to get stronger when their eyes met - not to mention when they obviously annoyed or teased each other. So if they weren't meant for each other, who then? But their story almost made Romeo and Juliet look pale!

I found a video that introduced the members of the fire station and played it. Scenes from numerous missions could be seen, while Sarah's childlike voice reported on each one. It started with Mr. Jones climbing, jumping out of a helicopter into the sea, skiing out of a helicopter and onto a moving train, hanging in the harness on Wallaby2 and doing one breakneck maneuver after another. He could be seen as a driver or passenger on Neptune, as a driver on Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Juno or Hydrus, and at the fire cannon on Titan. This man was simply amazing! There seemed to be nothing he wasn't afraid of and whether it was just saving a cat from a tree or putting out a major fire, he had always mastered everything and was not above anything, while Sarah had boasted the deeds and talents of her uncle.

The video was about eight and a half years old and I realized how old Mr. Jones had become in such a short time. According to a previous page where Sarah and Mandy had written short profiles of the members of the Pontypandy fire station, he was just 39 years old today. Looking at him now, with his sullen face and slightly gray temples, you'd think he was at least 10 years older.

Penny's report started and countless pictures of her were shown too. She drove Venus and Titan, Jupiter and Neptune, but also Hydrus, Mercury and Phoenix. She did operations in the harnesses on Wallaby2 or Fireswift just as courageously as Mr. Jones, climbed perhaps even a little better - or at least more elegantly - than him, she skied and was supposedly the undefeated champion in target shooting on the fire cannon on Titan. Was she still that today? But the most impressive thing was that Penny was also an excellent mechanic and always kept the vehicles in good condition. Now I understood what she had meant by the offer she had made to Mr. Jones.

But what amazed me most were the shots of her diving and in the caves, while Sarah praised her for being the only one of the rescue team who had scuba training and no one in all of Pontypandy was that good at the caves and mines and also knew about underground rescue, like she did. Whether on the sea, on land or in the air, under the sea or underground - Penny seemed at home everywhere and I was amazed at how wide-ranging her area of ​​interest was when the title of inspector was added as well.

She had changed little. Although she often seemed more thoughtful today, she had apparently already been the calm one in the team back then, who was also good at having fun and was obviously never short on kindness, patience and composure. Her current age, in her mid-30s, was hardly noticeable and she only had a few more wrinkles around her eyes, but they were clearly positive - they only showed her friendly nature and that she often laughed. Did she have Cody to thank for that and without him would she have become just as much of a curmudgeon as his father?

The rest of the video was also interesting to learn about the other three, especially Ellie's specialty in the form of Hoovercraft and Arnold's thirst for knowledge and sophisticated knowledge of technology of all kinds.