Drive-through vaccination

Drive-through vaccination, October 2022

I had my Covid-19 booster, the fourth injection, at the same time as my flu vaccination. My invitation came from the GP, and now that I'm not in NHS employment I had to book an appointment at the vaccination centre whose address was given as the nearby National Agricultural Centre. I imagined that one of the buildings had been repurposed as a clinic, but no, after following the signs and driving for what seemed like miles around huge fields I reached a large awning where the cars were directed through in two lanes for drive-through vaccination. Leaflets were given and information taken through the car window, and although the picture shows a car in front of me with the door open, my vaccinator said she'd just jab me through the open window.

UJ and I were visited by a representative of the County Council Homes for Ukraine scheme to make sure everything was going well and we had the information and support that we need. We were seen together and then separately, and passed with flying colours, which means that my 'thank you' payments should start arriving soon. UJ is feeling sad at the moment because her Biometric Residence Permit has not yet arrived, which means she can't leave the country to go to Kyiv for her mother's 60th birthday. But on the whole she's doing OK, I think.

Then I went on retreat again - just a long weekend this time for the 'Groups & Pioneers' retreat, aimed at teams supporting small groups like ours. There weren't many of us at all - only four groups were represented, but as usual I came home with a load of ideas that I've got to try and run past the rest of the team, except that it's half term so they aren't looking at messages much and I've only had one response out of six. It's never easy when people are busy and volunteering in their spare time.

Through foreign eyes

Pat the dog, October 2022

UJ has been settling in nicely, and I find we have quite a lot in common. It was a little disturbing, however, to discover that I am only two years younger than her mother. She came with me to the Mitra ceremony at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre, and she would be interested in coming to our local meetings except that she has a group meeting on Zoom at the same time each week. She has started the dialogue with JobCentre Plus about employment and benefits, and has been exploring the delights of Leamington, including the sports centre, the library and the many charity shops. We went for a long walk with Pat the trainee Guide Dog at the weekend, and happened to meet a couple of Ukrainians from Kyiv with their dog. UJ told me that Leamington seems to have all the benefits of a city but with countryside just 20 minutes walk away. I completely agree.

Her family and many friends are still in Kyiv, and the last couple of weeks have been difficult after Putin decided to send his missiles further into Ukraine. All are well, thankfully. UJ started to inform me more about the political situation there at the same time as the Conservative conference in Birmingham was taking place with the omnishambles that is our Government, and I think Ukraine is winning every sanity point at the moment. But interesting to find that UJ is quite favourably disposed to Boris - I had forgotten that he had led the way in supporting Zelenskyy at the start of the war, although cynically I suspect that was in order to get away from what he was facing at home. The recent bombing of the land bridge linking Russia and the Crimea went down very well with UJ, with jokes and memes appearing almost instantly (e.g. that the bridge could be repaired with that weird long table that Putin used to see foreign diplomatic visitors).

I returned to the periodontist, who pronounced me "healed" at which point I waved my hands and shouted "Hallelujah", an instant later thinking "I hope he isn't a religious man..." My concern disappeared when he replied "Praise the Lord!" in similar vein. Unless he was serious? He wasn't serious. He is quite a funny man. Anyway, I was due to see my usual hygienist the next day, which would have given me a more objective view on how things are, but she was ill and I was brutalised by the main dentist instead. His assessment was not quite as brilliant as the periodontist, but still good, and the consultations about teeth-straightening will start soon.

Meanwhile UJ and I ventured to the town recycling centre with its incredibly cheap charity shop - UJ is every bit as keen on second-hand goods as I am, but our choices are somewhat different. Not surprisingly she is delighted by knick-knacks costing 25p that will be ideal for Christmas present for the folks back home. She pointed out a fancy phone cover for 50p, which would have cost many tens of pounds when new, that was actually made for my phone so I could replace my broken one. We have managed to coordinate a couple of evening meals, with me adding vegetables to her mainly protein/carb combinations. This seems to be my role in a number of settings...

Then I journeyed to London, where I was house sitting for a week while Mr M and Lola II are away on their huge adventure. (They have been reporting in daily, and some of the photos are stunning.) One day I had a lovely time in Kew Gardens with Sister D. Another day I visited the British Library, the Wellcome Collection and the Grant Museum of Zoology at UCL. I'd never been to this museum before, and it is essentially one large room with cabinets around the sides and in the middle containing thousands of specimens, mostly skeletal or preserved in jars but some stuffed examples and a few dissected. The lighting is poor and the cabinets go up to the ceiling so it isn't actually possible to see everything that's there.

Grant Museum of Zoology, October 2022

UJ also went to London for the first time ever, which she told me is her dream destination. On the first day she went to the National Gallery, and reported excitedly that she hadn't realised that all the good museums in London had no entry charge. The next day she was planning to see the Changing of the Guard, join a free walking tour based on Harry Potter, and go to the British Museum. She sent me a message to say that she was coming back on a two-storey bus. It is delightful.

Meanwhile I was present for the installation of the parents' new motorised garage door, which will make the storage of the mobility scooter easier. It went well and looks good, except the workmen didn't bring one of the agreed parts and will have to come back all the way from Luton to install a rubber threshold. Now mum has the bit between her teeth and is coordinating the sale of the car, as well as the choice of scooter, finding a new cleaner, helping the new neighbours to settle in and advising the woman over the road about options for her garage door. And she seems surprised that she is sometimes tired.

Kew Gardens, October 2022

What I've been reading

The Children of Men
by P. D. James

narrated by Daniel Weyman

"The year is 2021. No child has been born for 25 years. The human race faces extinction. Under the despotic rule of the Warden of England, the old are despairing and the young cruel. Theo Faren, a cousin of the Warden, lives a solitary life in this ominous atmosphere, until a chance encounter with a young woman leads him into contact with a group of dissenters."

I thought that P. D. James wrote detective mysteries and hadn't realised that this was one of hers - I saw the film that was made of the book, which I seem to remember I thought unremarkable. So is the book, although as usual I read the story as just a story while other deeper messages are probably concealed within it, about the tendency of power to corrupt and the attitude of a population reflecting on its demise. I'm sure I could make some allusion to the current political situation but I can't be bothered and it's all too depressing anyway.

Gautama Buddha: The Life and Teachings of the Awakened One
by Vishvapani Blomfield

"Whilst many accounts of the Buddha's life mix legend and history, this biography discriminates between fact and fiction to reveal Gautama, the remarkable human being behind the myth, and sheds new light on his teachings."

A useful book for me that fills in some of the gaps in my knowledge of the history of Buddhism, but also gives some idea of how accurate the records might be. It also made it clear that also going on was the usual territorial conflict between kings and provinces, the wandering holy men begging for alms, Hinduism and Jainism in the ascendant. And interesting to realise that he probably lived only about a hundred years before Socrates, and it was the time of the Jewish prophets.

Treasure Island
by Robert Louis Stevenson

narrated by B. J. Harrison

"Following the demise of bloodthirsty buccaneer Billy Bones, young Jim Hawkins finds himself with the key to a fortune. He has discovered Captain Flint's map, which will lead him to the fabled Treasure Island."

It's been a long time since I read this, and not much to say about it except that I hadn't remembered much more than the bare bones of the story. It was fine.

That Old Ace in the Hole
by Annie Proulx

"Folks in the Texas panhandle do not like hog farms. But Bob Dollar is determined to see his new job as hog site scout for Global Pork Rind through to the end. However he is forced to face the idiosyncratic inhabitants of Woolybucket and to question his own notions of loyalty and home."

What an interesting experience this was. Nothing much seemed to happen for 80 percent of the book, except that she introduces all sorts of characters with really good names (Freda Beautyrooms, Hugh Dough, Ribeye Cluke, Tater Crouch) and describes the scenery, atmosphere and activity of the Texas/Oklahoma 'panhandle' so you can see it and hear it and feel it and smell it. Then at the end she just pulls everything together and ties it up with a bow and it's glorious.

Living with Awareness: A Guide to the Satipatthana Sutta
by Sangharakshita

"The guiding principle of Buddhism is that things change - we change - and that we have the capacity to direct that change towards spiritual growth and development. In being mindful, therefore, we recollect not only the breadth of our current experience, but also our purpose in attending to it."

We were studying this material in the last module I did with my group, but I didn't have the book then - I borrowed it from the Birmingham Centre's library and mostly read it while I was on retreat. The book is perfectly readable but not inspiring, and it would have made much more sense to be reading it while studying instead of a month afterwards...

The Journey and the Guide
by Maitreyabandhu

"The journey starts with our mind, particularly when we begin to look into the truth of things—the truth of the friend in hospital, the coffin we carry to the graveside. What we find in our guide, the Buddha, is a man with a fit, healthy mind. To get fit, we need to work on becoming a happy healthy human being."

This book is aligned with the subject of my recent retreat, so I took it with me alongside the other recommended reading material. I've read the book twice before, once along with other members of my Buddhist group, but this time it seemed like a completely different book. Of course, it's me that's different, but it made so much more sense this time. So the main message I gained from the reading was how I've progressed in my understanding of Buddhism.

The Rainbow Road: From Tooting Broadway to Kalimpong: Memoirs of an English Buddhist
by Sangharakshita

"Long before thousands of Westerners flocked to Asia in search of themselves, Dennis Lingwood set out to search for the Buddha’s teaching in the land that gave birth to Buddhism."

I picked this out of the library at the retreat centre, where luckily we were encouraged to read, albeit with the retreat ethic in mind (i.e. not slasher thrillers). The centre had a really good selection so that when queries came up during discussion they could be investigated without resorting to phones or computers, which would normally be where we look for some obscure Buddhist reference or discover the meaning of 'inchoate' and 'chthonic'. [The retreatants from Poland, Netherlands and Sweden who were in my group did astonishingly well given the level of unnecessarily complex language in the reading material.] Anyway, this book is the first of a number of autobiographical memoirs written by the founder of the Triratna Buddhist Order, and is very readable and completely absorbing. He was wrongly diagnosed with a heart complaint when he was 8 years old and was not allowed to move from his bed or even sit up on his own for 2 years, so that when the diagnosis was questioned and he was released from bed he had to re-learn how to walk. He ended up in the British Army during WWII, was posted to India, Ceylon and Singapore, and when the war ended he didn't come back. With a similarly-minded Indian friend he renounced passport and possessions and travelled around India as a mendicant Buddhist, ending up in Kalimpong, Nepal. I've already borrowed the second volume from the Birmingham Buddhist Centre library.

Arrival

Tiratanaloka, September 2022

I've had absolutely zero time for blogging since coming back from the retreat. It took me three days to get through all the WhatsApp messages and unimportant emails so that I could look at what wonderful and exciting things Lola II and Mr M have been doing in the Far East. I've still got 12 emails that I can't bring myself to engage with, but I'll have to do it soon. And my desk is a mess.

The main thing to report is the splendid news that Ukraine Jane (UJ), my refugee guest, finally made it to Luton on a flight that was only 3 hours late (but that meant we got home at 4 a.m.) There is so much to talk about, but I don't want to overwhelm her so up to now we've covered the recycling bins, kitchen cupboards and the hoover. The thing that really made her day was the fact that I've got a piano - she said that after missing her cat she was missing playing piano next.

Aside from that I've managed to get started on a new job for Mr MXF, which involves converting a large and complex Word document into a different format using an interesting tool called pandoc, at least at the moment that's what I think I'm supposed to be doing. I never can tell with Mr MXF. Plus my car insurance needs renewing, and there are messages from my utility company that I haven't looked at yet, so if I can get those sorted today I'll be ready for my visit to mum and dad tomorrow.

---

It's now the day after tomorrow, the parental visit went well and we got closer to choosing a mobility scooter, and I have tackled the outstanding emails. UJ has been settling in - today she has a Zoom piano lesson with her teacher, which warms my heart. She's been to Birmingham to make a start on getting her biometric residence permit, got very lost on the way back from the train station when her phone battery ran out (so she's finally adopted my paper-based A-to-Z of Leamington), texted me excitedly to say there was a squirrel in the garden, and has borrowed my umbrella and my hair dryer (which probably hasn't been used for 20 years except perhaps to dry glue). She's been into Leamington to the JobCentre and around the shops, and asked me where to find second hand clothes, at which point I enthusiastically listed about ten different charity shops.

This is all very positive, although on the second day when I hadn't heard any movement whatever from her room by 12.30 p.m. I actually sent her a message asking if she's OK. We're living in slightly different time zones as I've usually had my lunch before she has had breakfast. But she's asked to come with me to the Birmingham Buddhist Centre tonight where a Mitra ceremony is being held. 

It's very interesting to see your life and community reflected in someone else's eyes - I hadn't really noticed that road signs commonly use yards, which I don't think are used in any other aspect of British life nowadays. She is still going to the wrong side of the car and laughing about it, and told me she'd never seen a letter box in the door of a house until she saw them in the Harry Potter films. And my front door, which caused quite a bit of trouble for my Commonwealth Games guests, is being no less troublesome for UJ. She'll get the hang of it eventually.

My week

Caddie, May 2022

A couple of portraits of the lovely Caddie in this post, to keep you going because I'm just about to head off on another retreat, this time for two whole weeks. A fortnight offline, no phone or Internet, and I'm ready for it. There's been altogether too much going on (entirely my own fault) so the opportunity of a break is very welcome.

The Queen is dead, long live the King. I found out on the way to badminton, where we didn't cancel the session out of respect - I'm sure the Queen wouldn't have minded badminton, or football, or any of the other events that didn't happen. The England National Bowling championship, however, must have felt a lot of respect because they cancelled their final weekend of competition. In previous years the security level at the end of the road felt a little intrusive, but the bored security man (who couldn't quite be bothered to get up to move the cones but reached out from his chair) felt very low key indeed after the armed police at the Commonwealth Games. I'm glad to be on retreat when the funeral happens, and hope that everything will be very much back to normal when I get back, not that normal is particularly satisfactory in the current UK society and politics.

Lola II and Martin are about to take off for a big adventure in the Far East, and I went to stay with them for the weekend before they went. We were mostly doing things outside because they want to minimise the chances of catching Covid, but we did lots of lovely walking, some of it with Lola II's new dogfriend Reggie. On Saturday while Lola II went swimming I had the opportunity to visit the site of the Grenfell Tower fire. We ate at the Portobello market, visited the passport office in Victoria, walked from Kew to Richmond and back, and watched one of the films on my list.

Lola II and Mr M are very accommodating when it comes to films on my list.  I compile the list from reading and listening to reviews, particularly by Kermode and Mayo, but it's often difficult to tell exactly what you're going to get. There have been some wonderful ones, but more than once they have sat through some very 'interesting' offerings - 'Tale of Tales', 'The Worst Person in the World' and 'The Dog Who Wouldn't Be Quiet' spring to mind immediately. Memorable, but not in a good way. This time it was 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' and we're still not sure what was going on half of the time. A world where humans have evolved with frankfurters for fingers, the need to swap right and left shoes, and why did he have to give himself paper cuts? All very strange.

Anyway, that was the weekend, then all three of us went over to see mum and dad on Monday and did various jobs including swapping tables in kitchen and dining room, more research into mobility scooters and garage doors, introducing mum to the website where she'll be able to track Lola II's and Mr M's progress around the world, gardening, and photographing mum playing her button accordion because I'd met someone at Shrewsbury Folk Festival who was interested in buying it. I met him on Wednesday and handed it over, but he says "Unfortunately the accordion is, as I suspected, an Eb/Bb model which was apparently popular in the 50s/60s. A good key for singers but no good for folk sessions." So I'll be getting it back next time I pass that way.

My optician appointment this week confirms what I already knew about my near vision getting worse, but at least it's five years since the last new pair of incredibly expensive specs. Due to my complex prescription I get a voucher with a discount, welcome of course but contributing only a fraction of the cost. Luckily the children's range of frames fits me so I can choose a frame for only £40 rather than the other ranges which start at about £150...

And that's it for now. Normal service should resume in October.

Scoot

Taraloka, November 2021

I sit surrounded by junk. If only I could just throw it all out, but some of it is important and some of it is useful and I need to go through what has been accumulating for many months and make sense of it all. It has been delightful to unearth a replacement phone charger for the one I lost, and to find the lights I was going to use for my tent over the summer, but all the pension administration is much less attractive and no less necessary.

In the meantime, mum and I have been having adventures with mobility scooters. We went together to try out a second hand one at someone's house, and then to the local shop to have a go on a new one. Mum was slightly nervous but I whizzed about on the pavement. We have learned much - the top speed of different models, how they can be dismantled, the insurance and servicing requirements - but the main barrier to immediate acquisition is storage. The garage would be perfect but the door isn't all that easy to open and close and there is a half-brick lip which is too high for the scooter to drive over. Mum is thinking about a motorised door and a ramp or knocking out the brick lip, and further thinking about making this the accessible route into the house that is needed.

Apart from this I have been enjoying the freedom from volunteering and other responsibilities, meeting Buddhists for walks and meals and films, and badminton is back on the agenda at last. But now I must knuckle down and try to make some impact on the junk that surrounds me.

October 2021

More volunteering

Pat, August 2022

Straight after the Games ended, I went north to celebrate Sister D's birthday. It was a lovely break, and we visited some National Trust gardens while I was there, as well as lots of other enjoyable activities with the family. Immediately after that I took charge for a few days of another trainee Guide Dog named Pat, who was quite early in her training but much more well behaved than many of the other dogs I've looked after. The weather was too hot to go out much during the day, but we spent some  quality time in the garden. I also arranged to visit a friend's cat while she was away in Edinburgh, and there was a walk and a meal out with the Buddhists, and the boiler got serviced, and the car needed a bit of work done, and I tidied up the garden, and altogether there was lots to do.

I also spent some time with Radio Man - remember him, from Warwick Folk Festival? We had lunch in a cafe, we went for a walk, we watched some badminton at the Games, we played with Pat in the garden, and we visited Bletchley Park. Then I put a stop to it, as kindly as I could. I found that it was very difficult spending exclusive time with someone else, which means that welcoming UJ is going to be a challenge. Yes, she's supposed to be coming over again, but without the cat which is staying with her parents. She keeps postponing her arrival date - at the moment it looks like it will be early October.

Then it was time for my next stint at volunteering, at Shrewsbury Folk Festival. This event is similar to Warwick's festival but much bigger, and I was assigned to something called the Task Force with no further information other than how to report for duty. It turns out that the Task Force's job is to do whatever is asked for by other teams - for example, to move a piano, to take up the striped plastic tape that delineates camping, parking and other designated areas, or to patrol the site making sure everyone is happy and trying to fix it when they are not.

Fourteen hours on duty divided into seven two-hour shifts is requested in exchange for the price of a weekend camping ticket, with the option to arrive before the masses so as to have the pick of the camping locations. I had a look at the programme and tentatively circled a couple of acts each day that I'd like to see, and when I got my shifts nearly all of them coincided with something I would have liked to see. I got one changed, and for one shift I patrolled the stage where the performance was happening, but I missed a few acts that I would have liked to see. And nearly all the shifts seemed to coincide with mealtimes so I ended up eating at strange times of day.

It was hard work - much harder than for Warwick, and more tiring than for volunteer stewards in other teams whose job might be sitting at the side of a marquee watching a performance for four hours. But at least it was more interesting than sitting at the top of a tower watching out for fires and more pleasant than picking up litter. After patrolling the site for four hours, or spending an hour hammering in pegs to secure metal barriers, I wasn't fit for as much dancing as in previous years. On one shift I had to deal with unhappy campers who had been directed to places where there didn't seem to be any space and so had been driving round for quite a long time. They all appreciated that I was trying to help them but it didn't make the job any easier.

I met quite a few of the volunteers who had been at Warwick, and some new volunteers who were unexpectedly connected to my family - two musicians who live round the corner from H+B, and a shop manager who knows Cousin Y as they work for the same organisation. But missing acts that I wanted to see because of shifts or fatigue probably outweighs the benefit of the free ticket, so I may not volunteer for this one next year. And the event itself isn't as good as it used to be pre-Covid, so there's even a chance I'll try a different festival next year - I've got my eye on a couple of them.

What I've been reading

Free Time! from clock-watching to free-flowing, a Buddhist guide
by Vajragupta Staunton

"Investigating our experience of time, and considering our relationship with it, can be deeply and powerfully transformative. Noticing the feel and texture of our time can help us see more clearly, and understand more profoundly, the anxiety and restlessness that so often dominates our minds."

The latest book from my favourite Buddhist writer, and he doesn't disappoint. A fascinating delve into concepts of time, with just enough science to satisfy me that it isn't all just hokum and just enough Buddhist thinking to keep me interested.

The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling

by Henry Fielding

"A foundling brought up by Mr. Allworthy on his country estate, Tom Jones is deeply in love with the seemingly unattainable Sophia Western, the beautiful daughter of the neighbouring squire - though he sometimes succumbs to the charms of the local girls."

This is a really long book, and what with all the volunteering and other things I've been doing it's taken weeks to finish.  Fielding took two years to write it (1746-8), and despite the 18th century language and references it's more accessible than some later works I've read recently. Of course it does go on a bit, and I won't be reading it again, but it's not bad.

The Games - part 2

Victoria Park, August 2022

While all that badminton stuff was going on at the Commonwealth Games, or 'Birmingham 2022' as it was known in the press and on all the logos, Lolatastic life continued apace. There was a bike service, a comedy gig, a stay in hospital, visitors to Lola Towers, the putting up and taking down of the Lola Towers garden extension (aka the tent), a trip to Lockwoods outdoor supplies shop, Ukrainian news, and the Games in Leamington Spa.

On that last subject I would like to direct your attention to two articles in the press. The first article is the more staid, traditional form of reportage by the staid, traditional BBC, especially notable for the quote from the 'general manager' of Pub Next Door. I put his role in quotation marks because to me he seems little more than a teenager, but I expect he's at least 30. The second article is from The Guardian and is much more amusing but no less accurate for that. Bowling in Leamington Spa has never felt more exciting. I happened to pass the main entrance at one point, where I encountered a very jolly volunteer with a megaphone sitting atop a high chair, whose job was to welcome spectators to the park by shouting interesting information about Lawn Bowls and the Commonwealth Games in years gone by.

I've already described some of the disruption in my local area, but that was during preparations leading up to the start. When the event actually began the level of security escalated enormously, particularly at the end of the road, where a number of the huge lens-shaped obstructions that I've seen protecting Parliament were installed a couple of days before the start, and then additionally a large and heavy horizontal barrier was constructed. I regret not taking pictures (I was too busy and kept forgetting), but as well as the orange-and-grey-clad volunteers there were stewards and security in hi-vis, Army chaps in camouflage, ordinary uniformed coppers and policemen WITH GUNS, all milling about at the end of the road as visitors arrived with their tickets for the bowling and residents wandered through with pushchairs and shopping bags and dogs.

My first guests (JW+JD) arrived by car as they were stopping on the way to their holiday in Cornwall, and I made sure to be at the barrier brandishing my resident's credentials otherwise they would have been turned away by a ruthless official in hi-vis jacket. Later in the week I received one of my frequent incorrect delivery attempts (intended for a house in the Road instead of the Street) from an Asda delivery man, wearing an Asda shirt and carrying heavy trays of Asda groceries whose Asda van had not been allowed past the barrier so had to deliver it all by hand.

The evening that the first guests arrived was also the evening that dad was taken to hospital with sepsis. Lola II just happened to be visiting at the time, so she was able to go with him and make sure all was well. He was in hospital for nearly two weeks, but home now.

JW+JD had tickets for the Rugby Sevens, Squash, Badminton, Cricket and Athletics; the next guests to arrive were Lola II and Cousin Y who had tickets for Hockey and were accompanied by Mr M who didn't have tickets for anything. I took up the residents' offer of free tickets for Lawn Bowls so he went to that. JW+JD headed off for Cornwall, Cousin Y went back to London, Lola II and Mr M had an extra night before they went home and then Mr MXF and BL2 arrived ready for Cycling, Diving, Athletics and Lawn Bowls courtesy of another pair of free tickets. By the time they all went home the house seemed very quiet.

While all this was going on, I was also in communication with Ukraine Jane 2, who is from Kherson but taking refuge in Poland. We introduced ourselves to one another, had a short conversation via WhatsApp, applied for the visa, the visa was granted and we worked out when and how she would get here, all within the space of just 8 days. Then two days later she announced she wasn't coming here after all but going to Slovakia for family reasons. And then, the very next day, the first UJ (the one with the cat) got back in touch to ask if the room was still available. I'll be speaking to her soon to find out her current situation.

The only other event of note was the visit to Lockwoods where Lola II wanted to buy some proper waterproof walking boots. Not only did we confuse the shop assistant by both of us being called Lola, but aside from the boot purchase the most notable aspect of the visit was that despite being over 50 years old, Lola II and I learned how to tie our shoelaces in a useful new way.

The Games - part 1

End of first shift, Commonwealth Games, July 2022

Before the day that competition started, I was listed for two days of Venue Specific Training and induction to the role, at the actual location for the badminton in the NEC. Information about this was slow to arrive, especially as the train strike meant that plans probably had to be amended at the last minute, but thanks to an email the previous evening I got to the car park where I intended to park in good time, which is no mean feat at the NEC.

It was a long walk from the car park to the first queue, which was for the accreditation to enter the venue. The next queue was for airport-style screening, where they only had one gate in action to start with. Then they announced to the long line of people that they had opened a second gate, but didn't have any more of the trays so it didn't speed up all that much. That got us inside the security fence, but it was still another long walk to get to the assembly point for us volunteers, where we started to line up for our lunch tickets but were told we should just go and sit in the break area where there were hot drinks and biscuits for us. A bit later we were asked to line up again for our lunch tickets, and then immediately told sorry, could you sit down again?

As you can imagine, this gave those people who love to complain a great deal to complain about, as well as the train strike, parking, the uniform and everything else that was actually working very well considering the size of the enterprise. This was fairly useful in that I could easily identify the people to keep away from. By this method I was hanging out in the break area when I discovered sitting next to me one of the nicest badminton players in a club where I was a member ten years ago.

There seemed to be about 50 volunteers for the badminton, and after we'd been hanging around for some more time they took half of us from the break area to the hall where the competition would take place and we received our training from a team whose first language was not English and who were wearing masks. In fact, they told us we would all be wearing masks on court. But thankfully the main trainer took his mask off, and there were written help sheets, and a presentation and videos, and we went through all the technology and could have a short practice.

The role involves two of us at a time sitting at a table at the side of the court watching the play. One person uses a laptop and the other one has pen and paper. The pen and paper role is the more straightforward: first you note who is serving, then you count the strokes in the rally, then you note down what the score is, and repeat.

The tech role involves much more, and what we do is sent directly to broadcasters, so there is an element of jeopardy too. The majority of the time it is similarly just counting strokes and noting the score, but there are additional responsibilities when old shuttlecocks are exchanged for new, if a Service Fault is called (when the serve starts above the waist), if any penalties are applied (yellow and red cards and disqualification), and if a Video Review is requested. This last is the most terrifying, because we have to record which team requested the review and whether it is successful or unsuccessful, and it is very easy to become confused about these things in the heat of the moment.

Our trainers reassured us that should anything go wrong we just raise our hands and they will instantly be at our sides, but it was still a bit terrifying, especially for the very first shift. My first shift was with someone who'd done it the previous day, and he worked the laptop while I was on pen and paper. It still took two of us when the video reviews happened, because we had to look at a screen that was not facing us and the result came up very small and difficult to see.

My shift pattern kept changing, but in the end I did five shifts on the courtside desk and attended six badminton sessions and one table tennis session as a spectator, sometimes in the company of friends, sometimes on my own. The table tennis was very interesting - it's much faster paced than badminton and much more difficult to see what's going on, and without any experience of the game I didn't appreciate what must be immense skill among the players. I sat near some helpful people who explained the bits that I didn't immediately understand (why they make such a performance out of serving, why the umpire kept raising his hand, how does the order of serving work...)

And to finish this first part of my account, a snap of the England badminton team at the end of the team event.