A month in the life

A little over a year ago I wrote a post about a "typical" week in my life, or if not a typical one then at least a randomly selected specific one. It occurred to me that it might be interesting, a year or so on, to repeat the exercise, but as life is so varied, and every week so different, this time I have gone for edited highlights of "a month in the life". It's probably too long to be of interest to anyone but me, but for what it is worth, this was my November: 

Week 1: Tuesday 1st - Sunday 6th November  

Tuesday was an odds and ends jobs sort of a day including a trip to my old haunt St Chad's Sanctuary to pick up school uniform: it was nice to see a few familiar faces I hadn't caught up with for a while and I did also fit in a cup of tea in a coffee shop with a friend. Then I had back to back zooms in the evening which used to be normality but is very rare these days. Wednesday took me to London with some of the stories group for the "Lift the Ban" coalition gathering. By some minor miracle everyone arrived on time, it was a lovely but long day: extended even further by the fact that the person who told us they knew exactly where the restaurant they wanted to eat at was, and that it really wasn't far, may not have been as confident in their London geography as they thought! Thursday was another pretty busy day as I had a Birch Staff Meeting in the morning before going directly to run the Birch family drop-in, followed by another meeting, but Friday was a bit quieter with only admin to do in the morning ahead of the Stories group session which was an art workshop with Celebrating Sanctuary. It was particularly nice to see one or two people who hadn't been able to be around for a while. From there I went directly to see friends for a very lovely evening chatting and, due to the train strike that wasn't, ended up staying over. I had deliberately kept the weekend fairly empty ahead of what I knew was going to be another busy week ahead.

Week 2: Monday 7th - Sunday 13th November

Even by my standards, this week was set to be exceptionally busy. We had two school visits all day Monday and Wednesday: one in a primary school, one in a high school; one in a school who are already good friends of the Stories project, one to a school we were visiting for the first time: both went really well and I was, as ever, humbled by the incredible people I get to work alongside. From Monday's visit it was straight in to the evening Stories session where we began exploring the peculiarly British cultural phenomenon that is panto! Between the two, on Tuesday, a group of us went to Liverpool for the Churches Together in Britain and Ireland conference where we led a workshop, and contributed to the panel as well as to lots of informal conversations, and one of the group did an outstanding job of selling a box full of poetry books! Expected travel disruption meant the NACCOM conference on Thursday had moved online and while I was disappointed not to be meeting people in person, in the midst of everything else going on this week perhaps it wasn't such a bad thing. It did make for a very intensive day of screen time, and by the evening I had realised I definitely should have done other things during the breaks rather than trying to fit in other computer jobs! I was back out all day on Friday, including a meeting with my supervisor for Birch, and our second art workshop with the Stories group. We were due to be going to Doncaster on Saturday but I think it was the right call to do that particular encounter by zoom instead. On Saturday evening Welsh National Opera who we had worked with last year had given us tickets to their Opera "Migrations" which was absolutely stunning as well as deeply meaningful; and a small group of us went to a classical concert at the town hall on Sunday afternoon too so a very cultured weekend! 

Week 3: Monday 14th - Sunday 20th November

This week was, at least partly by design, much quieter. It is the nature of my life and work that some weeks are exceptionally busy and that is made manageable by the balance of the weeks with a bit more space in them: both to relax, and to catch up on the much needed admin tasks. On Monday I spent several hours meeting lots of newly arrived families and collecting information for the next round of helping with accessing school places; a task which took up a good chunk of Thursday morning as well. On both Monday and Friday we were playing with panto in the Stories sessions which involved a whole lot of fun and laughter! The Birch drop-in session was quiet but did include offering some much needed emotional support to some of the mums. And on Friday I had a meeting over doughnuts and another over delicious falafel wraps which was most excellent! Tuesday and Wednesday were both days almost entirely spent at home, partly catching up on jobs that desperately needed doing but with a very relaxed rhythm. I also had a friend staying throughout throughout this week while he recovered from an operation he'd had the previous week, so it was good that I was around a bit more and I very much enjoyed his company and many good conversations. A couple of evenings other friends popped round too, to see him or me or both. Saturday was a fairly busy day with an early start for a (sadly not well attended but you can but try) coffee morning about hosting, then lunch with prospective hosts, and then I had a really lovely afternoon having been invited to the birthday party of delightful twin girls who were turning 13. After a lazy Sunday morning the week was topped off by an afternoon of comedy and a visit to the beautiful Birmingham Progressive Synagogue.

Week 4: Monday 21st - Sunday 27th November

It was a thoroughly dull, grey and wet start to the week so in a way I was glad I had a meeting on Monday afternoon that forced me to get out of the house, because even if I got rather cold and damp, on balance, I always feel better when I get out and about. Usually, the Stories group would be meeting on a Monday afternoon but our venue isn't available for a few weeks and as there are plenty of other activities to keep us occupied we are taking a break from that regular session. On Tuesday, among various other things, I was at St Chad's Cathedral for a planning meeting for the next edition of pray24brum, and having not been able to get to the last meeting, it was lovely to be back in person with this little group. There were as always, a million emails to catch up on, conversations to have, things to organise and various meetings to attend, both in person and online: including the Migration Forum meeting, a "cathedral conversations" event, a meeting with a councillor and another about school admissions. I also went to not one but two poetry / spoken word events: the wonderful Steven Camden, aka Polarbear, who we worked with last year; and one of my all-time favourite poets, Brian Bilston. Plus on Saturday we had tickets to see nativity at the REP which I very much enjoyed even if I did spend a lot of it shushing small children! In the midst of all that, probably the most significant thing to happen this week was handing in the notice on my current flat and setting things in train for my next move which, all being well, will take place just before Christmas.

Week 5: Monday 28th November - Wednesday 30th

Monday was a fairly full day of mostly school related shenanigans as I continue the process of trying to help lots of newly arrived children into school. The absolute joy and excitement of the children at the prospect was well worth the slight sense of overwhelm when I was surrounded by families! But I was glad of a walk home in the fading sunlight to clear my head. I was expecting to spend a chunk of Tuesday moving a Birch guest in with their hosts but, as can sometimes happen last minute, the need for emergency accommodation was averted, which meant I had more time for a few other jobs, including continuing the school mission, but with an intentionally slightly less busy feel to the day. I rounded off the month with a day that included a helpful conversation with the person I meet to help me to reflect on and process the many experiences and stories I hold with my friends in the Stories group, then called in briefly to Carrs Lane before a fabulous school visit in the afternoon to round off the month.

And now December awaits. Bring it on!