Voluntaryism, and taking one's ease

1 The first meeting began at 1100 in the familiar (RBL) room, the upper room, remember. There were 17 people in the room, including two women. All 17 were over 60; about 14 were 70 or over. It was the AGM of the local branch of the RAFA, the best-attended AGM for some years. The business was completed according to rule. Come back to the room at 1730 for another meeting. Seven people were seated round the table; four of them had attended the earlier meeting. An agenda, notes of the previous meeting, a planning document - the impedimenta, together with the tea and biscuits, of a well-ordered meeting. All seven were over 60; one was over 80. Those seven were planning the event which will mark Armed Forces Day in the town. Volunteers all.

1.1 And all so familiar. The volunteers are elderly. They meet each other in one group or other. They concern themselves with serious matters, including the welfare of local residents. They handle their businesses according to rules which require professional behaviour. They conduct their business in unpublicised meetings. They tell each other that additional members would be welcome. Sometimes they tell each other that 'we really must recruit more members'. But the numbers remain low whilst the ages remain high. Today in East Grinstead, in the upper room, the voluntary spirit was alive and well.

2 So, like those who are paid for their labour, the volunteers think of recreation; they think of time away from their voluntary labours. One thinks about a week on the Dorset coast either in spring or in autumn. That same volunteer thinks about walking or cycling in Pembroke or walking or cycling in eastern Kent. There, the coastal cycle route remains to be completed. From Sandwich all the way round to Herne Bay. Add some transit journeys and the completion of the route will be a three-day activity. So the volunteer would be ready to take his active rest in Dorset, there to explore the Jurassic coast, in Kent, or in Pembroke.

3 Meanwhile, the volunteer in the Black Hills will be enjoying her family time. A change of location; no change in activities. (Well, some change.) The young man will have no recollection of the amiable days inland or on the coast. But the adults will. Constant bonding, constant stroking.

4 Here the volunteer is about to go to bed, there to read (for a while). The morning will bring its weather - of course - and there is a particular interest in what tomorrow morning's weather will be. Snow, the volunteer has heard, has been forecast. At lunch today, in La Farola, one of the diners reported that our weather 'was coming from America'. We could expect the snow, as it had been snowing in New York. American snow - I wonder if it can be distringuished from any other geographical kind.

5 There is time, though, to report that a commentary from England has appeared on a websiste in deepest Canada, where, as it happens, the snow is deep and may remain so for another month.

6 And the tall man with the whiskers who has a couple of whippets will collect for SSAFA.

Continue to cherish, continue to bond.

Stayathome.