Things are hotting up here in the Quirky Museum in more ways than one. I am being “head hunted”, did some training, had some physio and we are scavengers once again!
Yes we are scavenging once again, this time for firewood. As Rachel wouldn’t let me buy a chainsaw (and I can imagine why) I have bought myself a cordless saw which apparently is safer. This has allowed us to fill the car with wood, although I think it’s more like a giant Jenga game. All good fun but the reality is we need it with energy prices going up and up. There’s something nice and comforting in having stacks of firewood dotted around the garden. The bugs and creepy crawlies will also like it.
On Wednesday we went for lunch in the church hall. One of those charity do’s and just as I was tucking into my soup I was joined by a very nice lady we happen to know in the village. I won’t name her here (although if you imagine Miss Marple you might get close) but I can tell you she is very charming, persuasive, terribly well spoken and very eloquent. All this adds up to some serious arm twisting and I find I’m being head hunted for a few little “jobs” which are, of course, voluntary. We’ll just have to see what happens…. it might be very hard to say no.
Speaking of extra little “jobs”…. on Saturday I was again hired by the firm of interpreters who I had known through work, before I retired. They run a Diploma in Public Service Interpreting course and I do a session on the criminal justice system. The students are taken through the case of a serial offender, who breaks the Public Decency Act by wearing odd socks. Actually I sometimes used to wear odd socks in Court, as did some solicitors, and we used to dare each other but they were never seen or in contempt of court.
I digress.
This session was conducted by Zoom, so I didn’t even need to drive anywhere or pay to use petrol. Having said that, I do prefer doing this kind of thing in person, so it must be another sign of me being a dinosaur and from a world which is fading away rather quickly. That is also illustrated by the high tech visuals which I had concocted. At least it raised the occasional chuckle.
My crumbling body!
I have had my second physiotherapy session on my foot. James, the physio, thinks it will be successful but did say it is likely to take a long time before my foot is completely healed. Turns out a ligament is damaged, these are the strands which connect the bones to each other.
I now know how to massage it myself, which is helpful. Also the treatment involves standing on one foot and clenching my toes, so I can easily manage that and it if works, great!
You might remember I had my ears pierced early this year. Yes I know, I’m the most unlikely person etc etc. Some people I’m friendly with are still prone to looking a bit shocked. Never mind that, I can say my ears have healed nicely and I’m enjoying them. So with this in mind, I took them out for the first time to have a quick look – and needed Rachel to help me get them back in. I was rather surprised to see that I could look straight through the hole! I didn’t expect that. Is that normal?
Toddington People
Perhaps this subject needs its own blog post, suffice to say I’m getting busy with my latest project: Toddington People. See the next post, in a few days time, for more information but for now please allow me to say what a pleasure it was to photograph Rebecca and Russell. They totally get the project, what I’m trying to achieve, so I couldn’t have wished for nicer people to start the ball rolling!