collingwood offerings

i've been ill for the past 2 days and only just managed to get to collingwood by lunchtime today. i was feeling a bit sad and sorry for myself until i popped in to see bobbi from The Wellington.

They run a fantastic program there - multi-purpose church and hall like it ain't no thang - she showed me through the place, told me about all the programs they're doing there, introduced me to some regulars and volunteers (including my gal wendy who is going to teach me to play guitar soon).



thankfully i also got to meet alan, who made my day by giving me 5 PC speakers. alan has parkinson's disease, but is still sharp-as. he told me he was taking the speakers to parliament, because god knows they need some there. in return for my taking them, i offered to speak in parliament instead, to which he replied that i couldn't be worse than what they've got now.

best compliment i've had all week!


then, on the way back, i met nahad. nahad is from lebanon and has been here for 4 years. he's quite lonely it seems - he invited me to his place to drink tv, watch dvds, etc. i'm not so sure about the ethics of doing that (or my personal safety), but i did take nahad's phone number. he may be interested in the listening booth i'm hoping to set up in a few weeks' time, for that precise purpose: so that people can come and drink tea, talk to me, maybe practice their english with me and my role is just to listen.






then, just when i thought the gods of collingwood couldn't smile any wider on me, i went to get the studio key from the key box (our system for accessing the underground), someone had left me a step so that i didn't have to reach up quite so high!

i have a sneaky suspicion it's one of the builders who are hovering about, waiting to de-asbestos-ise the place, so to mr anonymous builder person, from one ms short-arse: thank you.


this post is cross-posted at aura project