Tuesday 1/21/2020
My plan today was to go down to FOPAL mid-day and see how the carpet tile laying was going, and to help moving stuff around if needed. After a relaxing morning reading the internet, I did that. The carpet men had started on the sorting room and would clearly be at it for several hours. I chatted with long-time volunteers Frank and Matthew, but then went home again.
I ate lunch at my desk and added 1100 words to the novel, which gave me a lot of satisfaction.
About 2pm I went back to FOPAL. For an hour we stood around and then, out of boredom, I took on the job that I’d told myself I wouldn’t do: breaking down the mountain of cardboard boxes outside the entrance. People bring books in all sorts of boxes, almost never the banker’s boxes that we use. So we toss the boxes in a heap beside the entry stairs, and people who want a box are free to take one. However, the mountain is unsightly, and the bottom layers had been rained on. So I started breaking them down and putting them in the big dumpster-size recycle bin. It took less than an hour to clear the pile, which was satisfying in its own way.
The carpet guys finished up the sorting room near 4pm. Then I assisted Frank and Matthew in moving a lot of stuff, including 30 boxes of books, back into it. My back was a bit sore after that, so I headed home for “two ibuprofen and a nap”, only I didn’t take the nap, as it was supper time.
Codgerville 