Winding Down and Gearing Up

It may be due in part to the irregular but frequent appearance of sunny weather, but there's definitely been a feeling of lightness to this week.  On Monday morning we had the last of our men's breakfast gatherings until mid-September, finishing early this year because our leader's sons are all home from university (some for the last time!) and they're taking the opportunity for a family holiday before the boys go off to do their own thing.

On Tuesday, work at the hospice warehouse was a little bit slack to begin with, because there was no one sorting the books and electronic media that I spend my day scanning for sale.  However, after a brief lull when I came to a complete standstill, sorters had arrived in both departments and a steady trickle of work enabled my prayer to achieve something in excess of £100 for the day to be fulfilled for the third week running.

The home group that I lead on Wednesday afternoons has two more sessions planned before it, too, finishes until September, and I've already sown seeds for my alternative use of the six-week period.  I've presented a challenge to the warehouse manager to come up with a project that can utilise my Excel skills.  She is clearly giving the idea some positive thought, because she came up with some probing questions when we were chatting on Tuesday afternoon.

In many ways, therefore, life is winding down for the summer.  The progress is not all in one direction, however.  Looking further ahead, my favourite football team - along with countless others, I imagine - is already into pre-season friendly matches in readiness for the 2019-20 campaign.  They played one match this week.  I also had advice of another that has been re-arranged for the first Tuesday in August and has now been added to one already inscribed in my diary.

Now I'm going to risk alienating some supporters by early mention of 'the C-word': I've spent some time revising the church's plans for the 2019 delivery of Christmas cards.  Last year we started the campaign far too late, and some streets just didn't get delivered at all.  There were also complaints that the number of cards in each bundle was high enough to discourage otherwise willing helpers from taking part, so some of the larger areas have been split and the average bundle is now about two-thirds the size of last year.

That's two references to campaigns; here's a third.  I'm preparing to spend two days next week helping with the parliamentary by-election campaign in Brecon and Radnorshire in the same way as I did in Witney in 2016 and at St Albans in the general election in 2017.  While not willing or able to go door-knocking myself, I can at least help with the clerical work in the background, releasing someone else to do so.  It'll also give me more of the driving through the countryside that I still miss in retirement; it's the going, not just the being there that's part of the attraction!