Julia went for a job interview yesterday. It’s been on the cards for a few months but I haven’t said anything about it in case I jinxed it.
She is now head of a local garden project, working for MENCAP. It’s three days a week, there are very few facilities and it’s going to be hard work. Her first act after being told she had the job was to conscript a new volunteer, so for three days a week I will be sharing her limited facilities and doing my best to do as little as possible.
Be fair, it’s one thing working hard when you’re being paid, but if I’m doing it for nothing I’ll be looking to do a lot of tea drinking, leaning on tools and sounding wise. I’ll probably also be stalking butterflies, photographing flowers and thinking of excuses to sneak into West Bridgford. There’s a specialist OXFAM Bookshop in West Bridgford.
I’m actually looking forwards to it, as there’s only so much daytime TV a man can take. I’m getting out a bit more at the moment, which is making me feel better, but it will be good to get some proper structure back in my week.
English Marigold
I’ll leave it there for now, just wanted to announce the news. It’s good to be doing something again, even if I’m working in the shadow of my wife and being shamelessly exploited by the Big Society. That’s the political Big Society, the one where I volunteer and politicians get paid. Wish I’d thought of that.
It’s tempting to start a Big Society of my own, devoted to sitting round, annoying doctors and searching out exotic cake recipes.
Look at that, I’ve only returned to work in a theoretical sense and I’m already turning lazy, cynical and surly.
It’s better than the alternative, which is slowly becoming unemployable, watching daytime TV and turning into a vegetable.
Congratulations to Julia, and to you!
I’ll pass them on. Thanks.
Congrats, congrats! And onward and upward!
🙂
As you know, I have experience of such projects. You will have much to offer.
It’s good to be doing something useful again. 🙂
Yes
It was either that or write my memoirs! 🙂
Congratulations to Julia… sounds like a really worthwhile job.
Yes, it’s going to be good to get back to something worthwhile.
I’m sure caring for you has been worthwhile!
I’ll put that thought to her… 🙂
Congratulations to Julia! I hope you both enjoy the opportunities this new job will bring, and you manage to cope without many facilities.
We will use ingenuity. It;s not quite as good as a proper cooker or a heater but it can accomplish a lot. Fortunately we have chemical toilets and a very long hosepipe that allows us to get water from the school next door.
Ingenuity is a gift and chemical toilets and a long hosepipe are better than nothing.
We also have heated propagating beds that use electricity from a small windmill. That really is ingenuity!
Yes indeed!
Wow, congrats to Julia, and to you. I hope you’re feeling better.
Yes, much better thanks. Operation next Thursday if all goes to plan.
Congratulations due to Julia then. I hope you both enjoy it – sounds like a positive step.
We have an Oxfam bookshop in Lancaster. Very habit forming – the books there seem to be tidal – every few days some more of them wash into our house which is slowly silting up with them. TBH would like to get a dredger in.
Yes, it’s going to be an effort not to rehome considerable numbers of orphaned books.
Congratulations to Julia (and too you for become part of this work). I like your approach to helping out as it should lead to many interesting posts and pictures.
Yes, I must admit you will be seeing much more of the project as the time goes on.
Hi Simon
This is excellent news! if you need a reference I can confirm that you are a most worthy candidate for the role of “tea drinking, leaning on tools and sounding wise”
I agree, the Oxfam bookshop in Bridgford is excellent I have picked up a lot of nice finds in there.
I would suggest that a good excuse to escape to Bridgford would be to meet me for a cup of tea and a small cake or other such tasty item 🙂
If you like we can pass that off as a trip to the rather good hardware store that is there
Cheers
Marcus
Thanks for the offer of the reference.
Over time we could build up the material for a monograph on the cake crumbs of West Bridgford in much the same way as Holmes catalogued his 243 types of cigar ash.
We could both eat cake and contribute to human knowledge.