Right now, I’m supposed to be half way through a rendition of Adio Querida, or possibly, I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free. But instead, I’m at home, on my sofa, and very glad of it. First night at home, not at meetings or events, in ages – and the last one for a while as well. So I’m making the most of it.
Things are still going well. I’ve applied for liability insurance, and two more grants, and had a great meeting with Cris, someone described to me as ‘the’ person in the South to talk to about Social Enterprise. I’m set up in my office (though I may need to move into another one in the same building) and can do a whole day of work, uninterrupted – which is more satisfying than any job I have had since working at Dorothy Perkins as a teenager. Money, as ever, is tight and projected to get tighter very very soon unless something miraculous happens. All the money we have been granted is great, but there’s nothing in there to pay me, even part time, after the end of March. Hmm..
Anyway. Happier things. I took some bits out this morning for PAT testing. A generous friend has done this on everything that needs it, for free, which is brilliant. And as I was leaving (the second time, having got half way there and realised my harddrives were still in the office) I saw the chap that runs the building , and the woman from the office next to mine, chatting. I said hello and they stopped me. Turs out her husband has a whole load of office furniture that he needs to get rid of…by next Wednesday. And they wondered if I would be interested.
Yes. Very much so.
The nice women came into my office later, and we talked about what was available, and it sounds brilliant. Maybe we can have some desks, chairs, and filing cabinets – this will be brilliant. As the conversation progressed, I realised nice woman is Welsh, and so after we worked out how far away from each other we grew up (about 18 miles) we talked rugby and home, and jewellery (woman makes jewellery in her spare time) and all kinds of nice things.
A few hours later, sitting in the office today, there was a knock at the door, and a voice said, ‘I come bearing gifts’. Two huge boxes of hanging files, an unopened box of A4 envelopes, loads of the little tabs that label hanging files, files to fit inside the hanging ones, perfect for HR records and the like – treasure!
I have to admit I got a bit distracted from funding bids and insurance and panicking about the future, and spent a wee while looking at all the lovely new things. And then it was time to head off to a Womens’ Forum meeting co-ordinated by the lovely Lepsa, which is always interesting, informative, and stimulating. A few things that came up were that we might try to become more of a lobbying group in the city, which sounds great. It transpired that most of us there have concerns, for example, about getting about in the city – walking feels unsafe, bus drivers are felt to be unhelpful – which means we women sometimes limit our activities, or at least, find things we want to do difficult. The ex mayor Parvin Damani suggested that it was down to us to tell the council – and she is right. So we’ll see. We also talked about the new law criminalising kerb crawlers (which we generally liked) – and what this means for the women who might face a drop in income (which is somthing to really consider). All complicated stuff, but interesting and I really like being involved in this stuff. It’s real, it’s important, and it feels like things might really move.
So, I’m not singing. I got home at 6.30 and was due to leave at 7.10, and I was shattered and hungry. I realised there’s no point going out ‘to do something relaxing’ if I am all stressed out about getting there. Better to conk out on the sofa with my yummy home made apple pie, and watch some trashy telly. Plenty time for funding tomorrow, and financial projections, and all sorts of number crunching.
Night night all
x
Filed under: Uncategorized, Women
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