time passes

It's been more than two weeks since I wrote anything in this blog.
Why's that? I just didn't feel like it, I suppose. It's autumn here at last - after a summer that spluttered and fizzed and then came back with warm shirt-sleeve weather in October. Today it's April showers with the added ingredient of dead leaves.
I suppose what I notice is that the last two weeks have been full of stuff - teaching the two classes a week, with a bagful of admin hindrances; rediscovering what fun it is to take a great photo; capturing the moment over and over again. I've just splashed out and bought myself a better camera - it's digital and I have a whole new vocabulary to learn. Plus I've discovered another TLA - "LBA" - apparently it stands for Lens Buying Addiction (or something like that).
And I discovered how addictive ebay can be; that rush when an auction is about to end - with the doubt "is this really something I want to pay real money for?" Several times in the last week I've ended up with an intact bank balance but a hole somewhere where that must-have item would have been.
And then the shock of finding the same thing cheaper elsewhere - and the reassurance when the ebay snipers jump in and pay even more than I did (or would have done)!
It's like they used to say in the old Soviet Union - if you see a queue, join it - even if you have no idea what it's for. So, is this the Union of Soviet Ebay Republics? or the United States of Ebay? or the Ebay Union?
Then, to cap it all, my old PC that I still keep for backups started its favourite trick of stopping just when I needed it. Which led to my PC guru advising me on yet another chase round for something to buy to fix it.
And the net result? A focus on now - on technology - and no creative writing. I just hope it won't last this way.
So, at least, here's some writing. And I have put a couple of photos on the website.
http://www.facilitator.demon.co.uk

Simon

thoughts from the chair

Last night I went to the first dinner of our barbershop club - actually it was their 30th dinner, but I'd not been before. The reason I went this time is that I've just taken over as chairman. I used to think that people only became chairmen of clubs after years of service or because they were bringing some special skills to the party. I now realise it can be because everyone else who is qualified has already had their turn and the committee wants new people around. Or it can be because no-one else wants to do it.

Yes, I've chaired meetings before; I've been a club chairman before - the first time I was 17 and it was our church youth club. I remember that my best friend was also standing for election as chairman, and he somehow got the idea that candidates were not supposed to vote for themselves. I don't remember the voting, but I think I'd still have won even if he'd voted for himself.

I noticed just how long some of our members have been part of the barbershop movement; and how much it means to them. I suppose that any hobby can be like that. These blokes really enjoy getting together and singing. But it's the easy laughter that I noticed most last night.

Some of our members have been with other choruses and have won medals at national level; at least one has been a quartet medallist. Some have been national chairman. Some have participated in the national organisation in other ways. So this small club has an impact greater than its size would suggest. And today we have a concert to give - at a village harvest festival. Let's hope we remember our parts well enough and don't over-sing.

But the question that's really hanging in my mind is this - what does the club really want from its chairman? Is it a steady hand at the wheel? Is it a source of inspiration - or is it the impression of approval for a course of action? Maybe I'll find out. Maybe I'll ask. Or maybe I'll just be me and see what comes up.

Simon

trust

Trust is a five letter word. Lack is a four letter word. And it seems to me that it's the lack of trust that rules so much of what happens in the world.
If I think of the least popular occupations - estate agents, insurance salesmen, used car dealers, itinerant roofers, emergency locksmiths - and there are probably many more - it often seems to come down to a lack of trust. We tend to think "they're just in it for the money; they don't care about us". And yet these are often the people we call on when we are stuck or when we want something for which trust is an important component.