Weekend warbling...

Foreman Dave...

At the Habitat for Humanity house we have three of us who are on the building committee looking after the running of the build. One is a retired carpenter, though not as energetic as he used to be. Another is an architect, used to managing projects, building regulations and building projects. The other is me, a one time plumber, now a church minister who has done hundreds of hours on 13 Habitat houses. I do not have anything like the knowledge and training of the other two. Yesterday the architect was looking after overseas grandchildren in the country for a short time. The retired carpenter was ill, so I ended up being foreman/boss for the day at Habitat. I am happier being a support person to the foreman. 

Days and nights before I stewed about the job and how I was going to keep thirty volunteers going, happy and doing the right things all day. Would they end up making complete muck ups on my watch? It was so frustrating for me. I like getting a project and working on it and finishing it. But there was little I could do. All day people were coming to me looking for more work, wanting tools, materials, guidance, or problems solved. I did manage to install a meter box in the wall for the electrician, but only because I took time out during my lunch hour to finish the job. I was pleased though because as each came with a problem, I managed to sort it through with them and communicate reasonably well. A couple of times I looked, and panicked. "What on earth can we do to fix this muck up?" But with thought, some fudging here and there we ended up sorting it out. I came away frustrated because there was little I could look back on and say, "I did that!" But as I think on it now, I was pretty good at dealing with the issues as they came. I will be more confident next time.

Value what you've got

There are two deaf volunteers who come. Have you ever tried to explain a complicated job to a deaf person? They sign away to me, asking questions by pointing, shrugging and gesturing. One had a few grunty sounding words. They were so patient with me as I tried to explain things. We gestured away, and everything ended with the thumbs up sign. I knew that was appropriate when they had done a job well. It was funny, at one stage from a distance they were gesturing at me. One was giving the "cut throat" sign... dragging his finger across his throat. I wondered what it meant, scared that they had really stuffed something up. But what he meant was that they had finished with that job, and wanted another. They left at the end of the day with big smiles on their faces, giving me the thumbs up sign. It made me value my hearing though.

Failed...

As I drove into town this morning I saw preparations for the Moro half-marathon which was run today. I had aimed to run it early in the year, but had not stayed on track with my training. Today I felt a failure. The Masters Games are on January 29th - Feb 7th next year so I am aiming to do stuff in those. Maybe even another (maybe my last) triathlon? I did have a reasonable short friendly run tonight with my running friend, while scolding each other for not doing the half. Its a start of the new fit me.... I hope. Keep me up to it!

Photo: Me (in the blue) trying to look like I know what I am talking about.