Emmaus South Lambeth

I received an very warm welcome from Leeds Community - in addition to meeting up with Staff and Companions who had visited us, or I’d met at Assembly, it was nice to meet others for the first time.  It was a good week to arrive, for a Companion had volunteered to cook Sunday Lunch - roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding (of course!) - delicious.  It enabled me to have a recce of the City before lunch, then descend upon the Henry Moore Gallery (showing an exhibition of horses by Stubbs), the Leeds Institute Museum (heaving with families, so I decided to try again on a school day) - and the Library.

It is marvellous how technology has transformed museum visiting for children
- in my day, the only ‘interactive’ part was when dust floated onto you from the head of the dinosaur!

Unfortunately, I didn’t make that return visit, nor did I get to the Armories or Roundhay Park.  Instead, I discovered that I’m really rather rubbish at Holidays… in May when I visited Gloucester, I could barely see for hayfever - this time, I got flu-with-laryngitis and a temperature of 102 in ‘old money’.  As a result, I turned out to be a very unsociable guest, and my anticipated excited tales of my visit when I returned were about 3 sentences in sporadic whispers!  However, so warm was Leeds Community’s welcome, they have actually offered to welcome me back in the future, so I can catch up on what I missed…. thank you for that, Leeds!

I spent quite a time recouperating back here (the bug managed to block my ears so my balance was slightly suspect for a while) - and seem to continue unsociable, as I haven’t yet mentioned that we had a new Companion join us while I was away - welcome, Sean, I hope you’re very happy with us once you settle in.

On Saturday I did get up to the allotment and  had a nice surprise to find that the onion sets have already started to shoot up;  I didn’t think there’d be any visible growth for some time yet.  I just hope they won’t get too big to survive any silly old cold snap we might have - even while I personally would quite like a bit of ‘proper, old-fashioned winter’, with snow for a couple of weeks.

And talking of onions, that’ shallot, folks!  Enjoy your week,

Best wishes
Elizabeth

Happy Birthday to Us

One of Emmaus’s reknowned tag-lines is “Giving People a bed – and a reason to get out of it”.

This time last year, four Companions had to take their beds upstairs and assemble them first, and it’s hard to credit that 366 days have flown by since then!  It’s been an – eventful year, and I count myself fortunate and privileged to have been a founding Companion..

Memories of the early days were evoked when a familiar van parked outside the house again on Tuesday;  it was the builders, who seemed ubiquitous – and of course always in the way of where you wanted to go!  We had actually taken occupation rather sooner than hindsight would have considered ideal – all that was in our rooms that first day was carpeting and fresh paint, whilst the only item in the main kitchen was a fine layer of plaster dust over the gleaming acres of units!  Furniture, and a fifth Companion, arrived the following day, and my life changed dramatically from that day forth.

We are celebrating the anniversary with a gathering of Volunteers and Trustees representing the folk we were to get to know over the following months.

As to the present, a clutch of new Companions joined us this week – Hew on Monday, Philip and Tony on Thursday.  A warm welcome to them all.  Before the gathering of the builders and landlords took place to discuss the ever-lasting snagging issues, we hosted a meeting with residents of the other two blocks in our ‘courtyard’.  A combined list of ‘niggles’ which continue to lower the quality of life here was discussed;  the bin area (regular readers may be glad to know I’m NOT going into further detail here!) – noise, car parking, lack of lighting in the car park, etc.  These were presented as a ‘surprise extra’ package when the landlords visited.

As to the rest of the week, mine has been dominated by ‘De-Mob Happiness’, as I’m off on holiday to Leeds for a few days.  Then I’m going to have 5 happy days pottering on the allotment.

So it’s over.  My excuse, that is.  Up to now, you see, I have leaned happily and heavily on the ‘Learning Curve’ excuse – well, I could have done it better, but I’ll know for next time…”  Not any more!  Meeting celebs, going to the Assembly and Salon, public speaking, learning how the shop till works and how badly the books need sorting, discovering Google Calendar and the booking system for collections and deliveries, catering for 30+ (at least for a festive occasion – by next year that will become routine, once we are full!) and 15-20 regularly, preparing an allotment, rearing prize-winning onions – been there, done that, regularly wear my tee shirt!   And the extraordinary fun and enjoyment I have found the whole adventure seems to expand day by day.

Onward and upward – here’s to a bright future, health and joy for our second year.

Enjoy your week,

Elizabeth

I’ll spare you the rant (well, most of it at least - I could go on till midsummer…) but Companions on a small allowance who want a tv in their rooms have to pay the same for an individual licence as a millionaire with a dozen tv’s in their 25-bedroomed mansion.  We’re lucky - the Trustees agreed to pay for them - but I was so incensed at the unfairness that I decided not to have one in my room.

My son delivered one I inherited last Saturday!  Then on Wednesday, Mike’s new all singing-all-dancing widescreen with inbuilt digibox arrived, and he passed on his old digital box to me!  Aren’t I lucky?

Simon arrived when I was up to my elbows baking cakes for the Dulwich Run the next day.  Yes, Sunday - that rainy day.  Yes, we manned the water stations, with Mike selling umbrellas almost as fast as (by then not-so-) hot cakes! Companion David managed to complete the full 10k run in just an hour, whilst Trustee Lorna joined Majonne and Chris in the 1 mile Fun Run - congratulations to them all.

I’m glad to say Mike treated us all to a meal at a local restaurant after we had cleared up and changed, a very welcome and delicious event, with much merriment after a successful day.  Companion Harry and Deputy John started it at 7.15, in order to get the gazebo up etc, and Harry was back on scaffold-building exercise again, for the finishing line tower.

I had hoped it would divert him from thinking about Monday, when I escorted him to King’s College to have some teeth extracted - but its effects wore off too soon - or the anaesthetic wasn’t strong enough to knock him out.  Net result, he gave the whole Department of Dentistry (and me) a scare, which saw me and a dozen doctors, specialists, nurses, auxiliaries and the dentist.. escort him off to the Resus Unit in Accident & Emergency.  I’m pleased to report he is fine now, came home on Wednesday having been bored to tears, and of course he still has the teeth!

On Tuesday one of our Volunteers sweetly brought me some freesias to cheer me up after Theo’s departure, but the serendipity didn’t even end there, for on Wednesday we received great boxes of lovely gifts from the Harvest Festival collection at St. Peter’s, a local Church, which were wonderful.

I got up to the allotment for the first time in ages on Friday, and prepared another bed for onions which will be planted on Saturday.  Then I will have to devote time to the original allotment which I’m hoping to terrace - but I’ll be drafting in help through the next few weeks for that.  It involved clearing  the runner beans, to the delight of a robin who stood on the boundary post and sang to me as I worked;  I found myself searching for worms equally eagerly - in order to bury them again before he spotted them! 

Have a good week till we meet again,

Elizabeth