It has arrived.  Time off. 
These last few months have been crazy busy.  Apart from our normal church activities we have had a new kitchen built, a granny flat (cabin) built, trip to hospital, a cruise booked that did not happen, the bathroom altered, and the place a shambles while work was being done.  At the lunch on Saturday a stranger commented to me that, “you never stop.”  I reckon that is right as I tend to be go go go when there are things to be done.  But I did notice I was running out of steam.  Things I would normally do I noticed others were stepping up and doing, and I was ok with that.
Merril was talking to someone Saturday who was saying places they normally book into for Christmas lunch were not doing it this year.  Their reason?  They felt staff needed time off.
So we are looking forward to time out ourselves.  Time where we can get to the things we had in mind to do, to get the place the way we had planned.  There is a huge new to do list, but it is without the pressure of activities we need to attend.  We love all that, but we also love the thought of a rest.  It is weird how doing all this other stuff at home, we consider a rest.
We do have a washer/dryer arriving today.  We looked up various places to find the best price and local was one dollar cheaper for the item, but we needed to add on delivery and instillation charges.  We found a place in Sydney we have used before, and they would delver the item free of charge and install in.  The saving at face value was around $150 dollars.  When I mentioned it to the builder of our Cabin his comment was “why wouldn’t you?”  My thoughts exactly really.
Apart from that the day is ours.  Oh and making sure an industrial bin we are looking after is unlocked for clearing tomorrow (it is normally Thursday).  There will be no clearance next week.
This activity does not have high excitement value at face value, but it does to us.  Hopefully we use the time well, but it is nice to have a time of working at our own pace without the usual deadlines.

I had no idea what I was walking into yesterday.
We had a Christmas lunch for the community.  Anyone who wanted a feed and knew what was happening was welcome.  I had set up two days before.  I put out the regular tables and was told that a group was coming, and another table should go out.  I had set up enough tables and chairs for 65 or so.
Merril had spent time cooking for the event.  She was providing the glutton free food.  They were put on separate tables with a different server.  We had four other tables for the rest of the food.
The event was due to start at 11.30.  We were encouraged to be there earlier to ensure all was good to go.  There was to be singing and a brief Christmas message and then everyone eat at noon.  After main course was to be an item and then dessert.
That was the way it happened.  But people kept on coming.  Someone said to me before everyone had entered, they had counted 106.  Tables were put out everywhere.
The atmosphere was great.  It was like no other lunch we have held in that it seemed everyone was there to have a good time and talk to complete strangers.  As usual the food was unbelievably good.
The helpers were terrific.  I found it hard to believe how good.  No sooner did more people arrive, then tables and chairs appeared.  Any new set up was like the ones already there so no one felt they missed out.  My role in such events is to ensure anyone who comes is catered for with a place to be.
Boy was I busy.  Normally I sit with people and chat.  Yesterday it was impossible as I along with many others was busy the whole time serving.  There has to be some perks of the job and the lunch I had on the go was prawns on bread.  I was amazed how some people asked for particular prawns.  One guy told me how he had been to different places comparing the price of prawns.  They had been donated to us and were free.
The set up for the next day was seamless.  Personally, I cannot thank people enough.  That to me is the most fraught part.  If people fail to help it can take hours.  As usual I need not have concerned myself.  So many people got in and did stuff and we left at the usual time.
It was busy but good.  Everyone would have enjoyed the time.  We were satisfied tired, and will look back on the time fondly.

It occurred to me the other day that it seems to have only taken a generation (a generation  seen as 70 years) for humanity to descend on a slide of no return.
For sure I felt it but then read this which I think sums up my outlook pretty well.  “Profound evil has always existed, but usually, after it ran its course, …there was the renewed hope that, with enough introspection and personal accountability, each one of us would aspire to a higher level of humanity especially towards one another. It seems that we cannot help ourselves, because, although we may be able to hold it together for a few decades, we always seem to gravitate back to the basest of behaviours…  Each person does what is right in their own eyes – the true definition of anarchy.”
I do feel sorry for the Syrians.  I rejoice with them that a non-caring regime has gone. Yet I feel sorry for them that, if history is anything to go by, their hope will prove to be unfounded.  For centuries mankind has sought to create its own utopia, but the closer it seems to become, the further away it is seen to be.
I will do what I can to bring about the best for another, but I reckon I would be in denial to think that overall things are getting better rather than worse.  I have often said “if these ideas are so good, why is the world not a better place now?”  It seems to me mankind would like to say “I’ve got this” but evidence shows he would be lying.  I am a creation and not the Creator no matter how much I would like to be.
I can’t help but feel the genie has been let out of the bottle and cannot be put back in.  Someone said something like, “A lie can travel halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.”  The point for me is there seems to be a spreading contagion.
But “where there is life there is hope.”  I have a hope built on something often rejected but never dis-proven.  Others have had and still have, that hope.  I rejoice in good examples and am disappointed in, and learn from, the bad.  Others are not me.  I will do what I can.  The choice is mine.