Wildewire

I work for a community centre that was once a large school. Much of the school was demolished when it was closed but the site remains; ringed by a sturdy fence. The site is used only once a year; for the Bonfire Night Celebration which last year attracted 4,700 people. As the manager I felt it was a poor use of this resource to use it only once a year so I hatched plans for outdoor events.  The first additional event we're hosting is a funfair. I've aspirationally christened it "The Cowgate Carnival" because next year I want more of a programme going on with parades and performances etc.  The weather has been a bitch! We've had rain, sleet, hail, snow all on one day several days this week, though after a shaky start, its has been a nice day. We've not exactly been overrun with punters, but it does feel like it has been worthwhile. Whether the funfair people are making enough to justify their participation is another thing, but they said they're willing...

My last post mentions some irritations with my job.... The people for whom I work are the nicest I've served for a long time. Until VERY recently, I have felt valued and very positive about being here and about what I have been doing. Unfortunately, I work for a charity, bound by charity law. Unfortunately, after a year of work, it has been discovered that my job is outside the 'Charitable Objects' of the organisation and therefore illegal [technically].  This revelation understandably sent the Board of Trustees into a bit of a flap. They began talking about "mission drift" and the whole raft of decisions that brought the organisation to the building I manage for them have been questioned. Since then, I have been marginalised. I expect my boss to be shocked by me saying that, but I will point to the fact that I haven't been invited to meetings or included in emails etc pretty much since the board meeting where I shared these problems. Consequently, the...

I wrote a series of posts when I was at the Albion Faeries' spring event at Featherstone Castle. Here's one... I drove a guy  here on Saturday who  I’d met through theatre and Facebook but he had to go back to work so I drive him back today. -It’s a 45 minute journey.   He is coming back on Thursday, I’ll be collecting him from Haltwhistle station. When I dropped him off I had no desire to “pop in” at home- if I’d seen anything upsetting it would have influenced my holiday! I did contemplate going over to Garry’s but when I called him he kept saying he was in Chester Le Street (as if I should know why and what he was doing there etc). I drove through Cowgate and stopped off to have the car cleaned. – Last time from those bastards! I think they’re Eastern Europeans and middle eastern geezers and I think they give not as good a service as they do their white clients! Passing Acomb on the way back to the castle I had this burst of anger and very nearly turned of...

I was getting into blogging till someone who reads this blog complained about something and I thought "fuck it"! This is a hard one for me: I want to write about what happens to me in my life but just keeping names out of posts isn't enough when people recognise themselves in them. The particular person in question has ALWAYS been incredibly certain that everyone on the planet is deeply interested in their business and trying to find out what is going on with them. They're particularly keen that various people don't know what's happening for them, whilst I don't give a shit... Someone getting my bank accounts etc would be upsetting (less so since I've invested into my company the last of the money I inherited from the sale of my mother's house: so the bank account is bare) but generally, I have little to hide. The knack is not to do things I'd be embarrassed being discovered... I do indulge in something that could get me on the wrong side o...

The biggest night in the calendar of the community centre where I work went off surprisingly easily- thanks to the excellent event management company we hired. I was told that previous years had attracted around 3,500 people, we counted 4,700 people onto the site and a conservative estimate of the people who watched in large groups from nearby was at least another 500. It should be noted that only 2,500 people live on the estate. The last two weeks have been quite tortuous as things I'd been promised since May evaporated. Some of the grant aid was refused- but reinstated on the day of the event! I had become so worried that I began to reduced the programme to what I was confident could be done well. In the event I was walking all over the site passing information etc all through the event and had to wait to the end to lock up. My boss had asked how I was going to capitalise on so many people coming to the centre so we could pass information to them about the programmes etc but...

My godson returned to his family on Friday and I have been through a storm of feelings since. When I was away a couple of weeks ago, I found myself moaning about how unhygienic the was boy to a friend who said that all 17 year olds are like that. Well, I wasn't! I won't go into details here as I am trying to shed the baggage accumulated over the last four years, but there is one detail I WILL share: The boy has long hair. I had no objection as long as he kept it clean etc... He didn't. His hair is EVERYWHERE in my house. When I left him at the airport he thanked me and said he really appreciated what I had done for him, but if that were true he would have made SOME effort to clean his room before he left. He may have been sincere, but I have struggled to accept things that he says because he thinks he should say them rather than because he believes or feels them. As it was: in under TWO MINUTES, I had to switch off the vacuum cleaner because it had begun to smoke: There...

I drove a guy I’d met through theatre and Facebook here on Saturday but he had to go back to work tomorrow so I drive him back today. -It’s a 45 minute journey.   He is coming back on Thursday, I’ll be collecting him from Haltwhistle station. When I dropped him off I had no desire to “pop in” at home- if I’d seen anything upsetting it would have influenced my holiday! I did contemplate going over to Garry’s but when I called him he kept saying he was in Chester Le Street (as if I should know why and what he was doing there etc). I drove through Cowgate and stopped off to have the car cleaned. – Last time from those bastards! I think they’re Eastern Europeans and middle eastern geezers and I think they give not as good a service as they do their white clients! Passing Acomb on the way back to the castle I had this burst of anger and very nearly turned off to march into head office and demand to know what decision they’ve made and when the appropriate people will be in...