13.07.2022 [Ear] trumpet voluntary.

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 Wednesday 13th 62F. Bright, but with lots of broken cloud. Moving rapidly from the west. Up at 6am. I haven't mentioned that the grain harvest is well underway. Giant harvesters can be seen all over the place.

 My first day of volunteering for "active manual work" at the farm museum. Yesterday's assimilation wardrobe was relatively straightforward. I wasn't expecting to get my hands dirty.  Today I have to dress for painting and any other task that might crop up. 

 Shorts might be a good idea. If I can find any small enough for my shrinking waistline. I seem to have settled on 70kg and 31-32" waist. With no further weight loss. Fortunately I have my new safety boots. Which saves worrying about what to wear on my feet. My home work wardrobe is usually just any old tattered rags which fall to hand. I have to make more of an effort where the paying public can see me. 

 7am. Time for a walk. Distant mist is making the views very hazy.

 8.00 69F. Walk over. A strange lack of birdsong this morning. There were a few birds about but no singing. The sun is breaking though. It feels very warm already.

 12.40 76F. Just finishing lunch after driving home. I have been helping the boss of the volunteers to move antique furniture upstairs. Plus a bit of raking of hedge clippings. The morning coffee break found more people in one room than I have experienced in well over a decade. It was very noisy but I was able to pick up snatches of conversation here and there. Which surprised me given the level of background noise. Which usually masks the foreground sounds. Often making conversation difficult. We were all sitting at a very long table in quite a long room.

 They are a great bunch. All friendly and cheerful. All about my own age. Though few are as quite as fit as I am. They obviously get a great deal out of their voluntary work. Not only the physical, social and mental benefits but enjoying a real sense of purpose in retirement. I haven't had one person complain that they don't understand a word I say.

 15.30. Hot sunshine. Safely home after finishing my stint at the farm museum and shopping on the way home. I shall be returning next Wednesday. The hours are roughly 9am-2pm, once a week. They all made me feel very welcome. 

 I bought some dressings for my shin. To avoid returning to the nurse at the surgery. It is day three again and I am supposed to remove the dressing. 

 Dinner was a salmon pasty on beans and organic, tinned, chopped tomatoes. With a wholemeal bread roll to wipe up the juice. I had two whole days worth of washing up to do first. Otherwise there would have been no dinner!

 

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