I used to love my job. Part of my job used to entail helping some of our international students with their assignments. I didn’t write their assignments, obviously, though I did help some with their grammar, and show others how to use a Word document. One student in particular was going to fail due to his presentation skills, or lack of, and I took great joy in showing him how to format his work correctly, and how to present it. He passed :) I don’t seem to do any other that anymore. Now we just set up for classes, help out with kit if needed, and generally be expected to know everything about everything, yet still get paid less than half what most other staff are on. It’s not just the pay; our grade is aligned with the gardeners and kitchen staff. Now I have nothing against them, they do a valuable job, but to be thought so little of that we’re in the same category is a bit hard to swallow some days. And who’s the first person they call when things go wrong? It isn’t the gardeners or kitchen staff I can tell you.

On to the title: On Saturday I met up with my friend as usual, we had a coffee, then I stayed with him for a few hours whilst he met with, and set up, a group of guide dog owners and volunteers to raise money for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association. About 8 people turned up for the collection buckets, and despite the heavy rain, the money was soon coming in nicely. The sun came out, town was very busy, and I spent a very enjoyable couple of hours handing out balloons and stickers to children, and generally talking with people who were keen to pat the dogs. We had about 6 dogs I think, and people were so generous with their time, talking, and giving money for the association. I was so pleased that the weather cleared up as I was afraid they wouldn’t make much money given the appalling weather first thing in the morning.

After a few hours I left, got some shopping for both of us, took it home and got on with some chores at home. I went back to town around 3pm and around 4pm they decided to call it a day. The buckets were so heavy and loads of children were wandering around with balloons and smiles, so it was a good day. I took my friend, his dog, and the money home and we’d arranged for me to stay over. We were up until almost 11pm counting the money for him to bank. People had been so generous, and I was genuinely surprised at how much money we all raised. I enjoyed it so much, that next time they do a weekend collection I’m going to stay all day with them. His friends are such a great bunch, and so full of the joy of life, that they’re an absolute delight to be around. I’ve met a few of them before, and they always ask after me which is lovely of them.

I can’t work for free; I have a dependant, only my wage, and big bills but I’m happy to help out when I can. I’ve started looking at the Guide Dogs web site for a job with them as I feel it would so much more satisfying raising money for them than my current job. In the meantime, helping out like I did at least makes me feel like I did something worthwhile with my time. Everyone was so nice, we had a good time, and it cheered me up no end. Hope you all had a good weekend too.