When all is said and done…

…more is said than is ever done.

Yes, I’ve found a new formula for titles, though I have to admit that it’s tinged with the same old cynicism. I’m sure that anyone who has ever had to work with groups and volunteers will be familiar with the sentiment behind the title.

It is possibly best summed up by a statement I once heard at a meeting. They used to love meetings on the farm and had a great capacity for attracting people who were distinguished by a talent for empty talk. One of those people actually told us that their talent was for having ideas. I hadn’t, until that time, thought of that as a talent. Volunteers with ideas are ten a penny. Volunteers who actually carry their ideas through have a price beyond rubies.

To be fair, I’ve worked with some great groups of volunteers. Obviously, today was one of the days when I found my thoughts dwelling on the ones who weren’t so great.

It’s been that sort of day, but least said, soonest mended.

I had an unexpected day off today, as I worked yesterday. We are still not back to full time working.

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Poppy

Things started to go badly when Julia couldn’t find her keys to the gardens. It led to half an hour of muttering and moving things. I couldn’t help, as I (a) couldn’t remember where she’d had them and (b) when I advise her to try to remember her movements she goes ballistic. She could, if I’m honest, be better at taking advice.

To cut a long story short, I gave up a portion of my day off to borrow a set of keys and get a new set cut. Then, because I clearly hadn’t had enough fun, I went back to get two of them re-cut. You’d think cutting keys properly with a modern machine would be simple enough, but clearly not.

It was too late to do much by then, so I made the decision to give up on the rest of my day off, made Julia share her sandwiches, waited round, did a few odd jobs and generally wasted the rest of the afternoon until it was time to give her a lift home.

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Poppy

To be honest, I have had better days.

Guess what happened on the way home?

That’s right, Julia remembered where she had put her keys…

 

 

18 thoughts on “When all is said and done…

  1. Pingback: A Simple Sunday | quercuscommunity

  2. Helen

    As others have said, the purple poppy is amazing! Shame about the keys – at least you shouldnโ€™t need to get anymore cut for a while!

    Reply
  3. Lavinia Ross

    Those are beautiful purple and red poppies, and the bee behind is nice too. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Keys do seem to have a way of getting misplaced. ๐Ÿ™‚

    I am too busy doing things here to have ideas for others. I wish I could run myself through the copy machine. ๐Ÿ™‚

    Reply
      1. Lavinia Ross

        I still have my stereo paper frame stereo glasses from the movie theater where I saw “Creature from the Black Lagoon” and “It came from Outer Space”, long ago. ๐Ÿ™‚

      2. quercuscommunity

        You probably need to enlist the help of a camera-using cat. Along with the glasses (how fortunate you keep things which may on day come in useful – as they just did) we could be onto something.

  4. Laurie Graves

    That purple poppy is a beauty! At least you have lots of keys. And I have no patience with volunteers who are all talk and no action. Son of a biscuit!

    Reply
  5. tootlepedal

    Love the poppy pic. It is good to be really useful so I expect that you enjoyed the day more than you imply in your post. Keys never seem to work when they come from the key cutters these days. I don’t know what the problem is.

    Reply
    1. quercuscommunity

      It’s the first time I’ve had a problem with keys for about 20 years – I thought they were getting better. I was wrong.

      Some parts were better than others, I admit, but some were worse than I have written.

      There is an Oxfam bookshop near the key place, which I spent ten minutes in. Found two books.

      Reply

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