As I said in my previous post, things have been pretty hectic for the past six weeks or so, and a good bit of that was in connection with the old fogies club. The club meets every Tuesday afternoon for about four hours where they play cards or scrabble or whatever and then every so often throughout the year they organize lunches, day trips and once a year a longer trip. This year it's to Seville in September and as I'll be going I'm really looking forward to that one. The thing is, every "extra" event involves a lot of work for the committee, with the Mothers' Day/Fathers' Day lunch last week meaning we had to spend Thursday afternoon setting up tables for around 100 people and then washing up and putting the room back to rights after the lunch, in addition to organizing the caterer, the band, the tombola and so on. It's a lot of work but that isn't what bothers me so much as the fact that the "extras" cut into my free days during the week so often. Well apparently I'm not the only one who feels like that because we had a committee meeting the Friday before to discuss future events and how that would look for the committee. Monique, the president, is feeling pretty overwhelmed at the moment, as is Martine (the secretary - who really is the mainstay of the whole club) because there is very little help from anyone other than our small committee of eight. Soooo, long story short, we've decided to cut back on the number of lunches per year and use the services of a local restaurant who not only serve excellent food but also come in and set up/tear down the place too! While we will still decorate for Christmas it was decided that nobody was going up any ladders to decorate anymore and since the average age of the club members is probably nearer 80 than 70, and no-one is exactly knocking the door down to step in and help, we are going to simplify as much as possible - and if anyone complains (they will) well, they're very welcome to step up and pitch in! I mean, some of us have actual lives outside the club!
That being said, the lunch on Friday went very well, with just a few initial tensions because this one wanted to sit with that one and there weren't enough seats together, but they'd been warned to get there early if they wanted to reserve grouped seats. Martine does an excellent job of chasing up payments, the cheques never being cashed before the event because people inevitably get ill or drop out the day of, and then we have one or two who always pay in cash (which tends to make my job more difficult keeping track of the finances), but still, it went well and looking ahead to a somewhat calmer future has eased the tension within the committee to some extent!
I sit and people watch once the dancing starts and it's really nice to see the avid dancers having such a great time. There is one man who fascinates me because he is always on the dance floor and while he does indeed have teeth, he "gurns" while dancing, by which I mean his mouth takes on the aspect of someone without teeth and he seemingly counts to the beat of the music with his mouth looking like a goldfish struggling for air! Still he's a nice enough man and it's good to see him having fun - I just wish I could stop staring!
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| Comedian Les Dawson "gurning"! |
Towards the end of the evening, birthday girl Georgette (she just turned 95) asked to sing and proceeded to sit alone on the stage and sing in a surprisingly strong voice what must have been popular French ballads. People started singing with her and she started to cry but I'm afraid I don't know what happened next because I had to dash off to Charlie's end-of-school concert, which started 30 minutes later!
The theme this year was "the sea and all its mysteries". The kids did really well (hats off to the teachers again) but I had to laugh when a bunch of "pirates" stormed the stage looking for treasure. I guess the parents must have been asked to provide pirates' hats because one little kid's hat was so big and floppy you could barely see his face and when I commented to my neighbour that he looked like a mobile mushroom, we both got a fit of the giggles because she was seeing exactly what I was!
At one point André's girlfriend's ex walked over to her dad and put out his hand. Dad promptly pointed out very loudly that as the man who had abandoned his daughter with a five year old, a newborn and a wreck of a house to chase younger tail, he had no desire to shake his hand and he could just "toodle off dear chappy" (or swear words to that effect)! I didn't know where to put myself, but I guess if that's the way you feel, why put on a show just to be polite (and I can't say I really blame him)!
After club on Tuesday I had the prospect of five entire days with no commitments - which was such a lovely thought I decided to take myself off to do a hike I'd spotted on FB. It was classed as "easy" (although I should know better by now) and being pleasantly shady, so I punched the address into my GPS and by midday I was starting my climb up to the Cascade de Morette! I think under other circumstances (ie not so hot) it might not have been too bad, but given that the reason it was shady was because it was in the middle of a forest, I should have realized that tree roots would be like some kind of death trap triffids. Oh I can get up there, even if it means climbing over some pretty high rocks, but the tree roots really were potential death traps, and it occurred to me at one point that it was a pretty stupid thing to do to go up there alone. In the end I found the waterfall, sat there for a while to cool off, and then decided to head back down to the car park (downhill being potentially more of a death trap than the uphill part). So yep, I'm glad I did it but it did make me realize just how unfit I am and that if I want that to change I need to up my game!
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| Cascade de Morette |
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| I would have loved a dip in this pool but I don't think I could have climbed back out! |
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| I only just realized that I could ask google what the beautiful wild flowers were - this one's part of the geranium family apparently! |
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| "Here in 1793 was the insurgents' camp in memory of Marguerite Frichelet-Avet and her companions!" |
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| If you look closely, you can see a (live) butterfly on Mary's right hand! |
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| "Thank you Mary, 1932"! |
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| Lac de Thuy! |
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| Technicolour beehives! |
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Good call on using a catering restaurant- volunteers often get more and more on their plates. The hike sounds scary but exhilarating. Gish, that was drama at a child's concert. My only drama is figuring out the cast in my sons condo building. He's a curiosity to his new neighbors it seems.
ReplyDeleteThe administrative work is done by just three of us, but the other committee members pitch in with the physical side of it - even so, it is a lot. Can you imagine trying to organize a trip to Spain for a bunch of 70-80 year olds? No, me neither. Still, I quite enjoy it for the most part, it's just been a bit heavy going lately! And the hike was ok-ish. Some parts were very steep and even though it was mostly shaded I was still puce by the time I made it to the waterfall. Oh and I bet your son is a real curiosity too. It's hard figuring the dynamics out when you first move in but if he's anything like my oldest he'll have just made himself a whole new set of friends!
DeleteFor years I volunteered to help with quite a few organizations, the American Red Cross, Cumberland County Democrats, etc. Many people would offer to help, but then none of them would show up, and after around 10 years I grew tired of being one of only 3 people who were doing the work and resigned out of everything. My life became so much better.
ReplyDeleteAs I mentioned above there really are only three of us doing the admin work, but the others pitch in when it comes to setting up the hall and so on. We also have a few non-committee members who help out/clear up, but it's the administrative work that is really the heavy load. I couldn't imagine trying to organize a trip to Spain for 35 oldies and their last minute changes, so I take my hat off to Monique for that (although I do think it's getting too much for her). We talked about what would happen if Monique resigned and both Martine and I have already said "nope" to becoming president, so I guess the club would just have to go into abeyance until something could be sorted out - and that would be a shame as it's been running since 1978. Anyhoo, we're not there yet but hopefully things will improve with a less packed schedule!
DeletePerhaps the expectations might just be tempered if she resigns. No more planned trips, but coordinate with a tour company instead...similarity going with catered lunches. For your group, age of potential volunteers might be the issue ( been there, done that don't want to anymore...)
DeleteMoniqiue is working with a travel agency but even so there is a lot to handle AND this travel agency seems to still be in the pocket of the previous president who, as I'm coming to find out, might not be as "above board" as she made out. First off I think the club needs to set up a new email address so that the previous president has no more access to what's going on - if you get my drift! Additionally, if Monique resigns and no-one steps in the club will be put into abeyance as associations over here have to have, at the very least, a president, if not a full committee. We'll just have to wait and see how it goes I guess!
DeleteIn theory a lot more people want to help than actually show up to do so in reality. You are one of the good ones who follows through. I admire you for that. And for the hiking!
ReplyDeleteI always felt that I was privileged to be accepted into France and therefore needed to show my appreciation. I'm happy to pitch in and have met many great people as a result so yep, putting up with a few cranky oldies isn't actually that hard. As for the hike - yikes!!!! My thighs still hurt!
DeleteWow! That ex-father-in-law didn't mince words, did he! And in a public place, no less. But hey, that may have been better than pretending it was all okay between them, as if abandoning your family for recreational purposes is just fine IF YOU'RE A MAN. Hmph. -Kate
ReplyDeleteWell said Kate. Her ex has had some problems with his business too and wanted to sell her car to split the money but, as she said, how the hell am I supposed to get to work without it AND I have to transport the kids!!!! I get that he wanted out but he most certainly could have done so BEFORE they bought the house to renovate and she could have stayed in their old apartment. Now she's living with dad while waiting for social housing so I guess dad gets a first-hand view of what her life is like. Thankfully she and André seem happy and he is great with her kids so I guess that's a positive - and I'm happy to see him happy (and not so much out on the town partying with his mates anymore). Whoever thought I'd see André getting up early to take someone else's kids skiing - not me!!!
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