More volunteering

Adhisthana, March 2024

I know you are due a blog, but I've been busy. I have experienced several sorts of busy since leaving formal employment, and I think I have mostly found the right balance. With too much to do I become tetchy and uncooperative, and with too little to do I become lethargic and antisocial. At the moment, I have about the right amount of busy-ness, but also I have temporarily found the right mental attitude to try and avoid the tetchiness and lethargy. I hope it lasts.

I did some more volunteering at Adhisthana, the retreat centre, where I happened to catch some snow - the only snow of my winter this year. I do like snow. Anyway, they wanted help in the kitchen for a large event over a weekend, and part of my my role is to focus on the restricted diets. Most people are allergic to or intolerant of just one thing - gluten or wheat, soy or nuts - but a few have a whole list. This weekend had been planned without any gluten or wheat, and the main things I had to think about were alliums and tomatoes, but two people had a whole string of intolerances to so many ordinary foods, like cauliflower, mushroom and courgette. They got a lot of carrot, sweet potato and squash and probably went home tinged with orange. And somehow I managed to get something wrong every time and had to scrape something off a plate and apologise, or ask someone to pick out the seeds please.

Despite this, the team there are very welcoming and have taken me up on my offer of volunteering for three days a week during April, May and June while someone in the office is away getting ordained. I stayed on to shadow her for a day and learn a bit about what she does for publicity and marketing. It's not as comfortable as kitchen work but I'll do my best, and what's the worst that could happen? At least it's not anaphylaxis.

Because my study group has moved to Wednesdays online, I've been able to go back to Monday badminton, and the folks there are lovely despite me generally being the only female. Because of the Adhisthana volunteering I'll be taking a break from the Thursday badminton, so it's nice to have Mondays back.

We had a Lola day when Lola II invited me and Sister D to a secret event, which is still secret because once we'd settled on a date we could all meet there weren't any tickets left for whatever it was. So we met in Clapham and watched a film instead, about the gardens owned by impressionist painters, like Monet's lily pond. It was nice but a bit long, and I think all three of us had a small nap at some point. Lunch was at a Georgian restaurant (Asian not American Georgia) where the cheese-stuffed bread was a huge hit.

With mum and dad all is as well as can be. The work extending and renovating the downstairs bathroom is finished and it all looks good; mum has got me to list various items on Freecycle and I'm happy to oblige as long as it's only one at a time. We've also met the manager of a new care agency, so we're hoping they'll be able to replace the lunchtime carer who has moved away.

After my regular U3A Friday walk I drove on up for a weekend in Nottingham with friends, where we walked the dog and set the world to rights and had a generally laid back and relaxing time. This week is set to be much more exciting, because my next volunteering opportunity is taking place - I'll be at the Yonex international badminton tournament in Birmingham. I have no idea yet what my role in the Event Control Room entails, but I shall find out soon enough, and hope that it isn't too stressful.