Why busy? Well, mostly because I did about 7 ¾ extra hours for the Trussell Trust in one week. Tesco had arranged a collection for the foodbanks for Friday, Saturday and Sunday and it was also the week that all the Christmas boxes had to be checked so they could go in the truck for Bulgaria on the Monday. That can’t be changed as they have a deadline to get there for Christmas! They knew it was crazy to have both in one week but there wasn’t anything that could be done about it…….
Monday and Tuesday were in fact much as usual, but they are my busy days anyway. I spent a couple of hours checking Christmas boxes on Wednesday morning – there were only 3 or 4 of us at that time – and it was quite cold in the warehouse where the sorting was happening.
Our housegroup were then checking Christmas boxes on Thursday evening, instead of the usual meeting. Checking the boxes involves ……..
……and taking them back to our workstation. We then open the boxes and check the contents…….
…..removing anything inappropriate, either because it is on the “no” list or because it is not suitable for the age or sex stated on the box. In some cases extra items are added to fill the box and an age appropriate book in Bulgarian is the added. The list is stuck on the top of the box, a rubber band put round it and it is then taken to the table at the end of the room and……
The boxes are then packed into larger boxes and the appropriate category marked on these which are then placed ready for loading on the truck.
That was another 2 hours, but it was instead of housegroup so wasn’t really any extra hours.
On Friday morning I went to Tesco’s at about 11.00 to help with the food collection. I found I was on at the same time as someone from choir, so we worked together for the first 1½ hours. We were inside the store handing out the “shopping lists”, accepting the donations and trying to answer any questions. We weren’t that busy so had plenty of time to chat and get to know each other better, which was good.
For the last half hour I took over on the door from several hunky firemen who had been doing the same as us, but outside by the entrance. They had to leave to go elsewhere. I get the impression that they were rather more effective than me!
I am always impressed by the generosity of people, but there are different styles of giving too. As a terrible generalisation, older people often ask what is most urgent, young mothers often give nappies but teenagers give too – often chocolate. One can never judge those who don’t give – who knows which of them are only just coping themselves or who gives in other ways or to other causes.
I spent another couple of hours checking Christmas boxes on Saturday morning. There were lots still to do when I left……
Apart from all this extra for the Trussell Trust, I went from the café to town and did an afternoon of Christmas shopping and made a reasonable start on that, considering that I didn’t have much idea of what to get……. That was my only spare half day, when I wasn’t at the gym or doing my usual things.
On top of all this, people at choir were wanting any of the wool that was left so I had to finish the scarf I was in the middle of in rather a hurry. I was only about half way through it and I also had to sew in most of the ends and put on the tassels. That filled up the spare evenings!
So was it too much? Probably…… I have been tired since and have written a list with 25+ “things to do” on it as I couldn’t keep up with what I haven’t done. And the house drastically needs cleaning. I hope I don’t get any unexpected visitors….