A life in the day at Emmaus South Lambeth
Our day
After a shower, muesli or porridge breakfast (which can sometimes turn into toast and marmalade if I’m honest), it’s time to start the day. Virtually the only common factor with Emmaus Communities that I know or have visited is the ‘morning meeting’ at 9am. Usually this just updates any changes to the rota before setting off to our day’s work.
At present I am working with another Companion, who I first met in Emmaus Village Carlton, in the ‘sorting office’ - a polite name for the basements in our shops where non-furniture donations gather - though from time to time I leave him to it to go up to the allotment.
Sorting is an interesting activity, in the Chinese sense! We steam and tag clothes, sort the bric-a-brac - and recycle items which don't meet the grade for sale. From time to time we receive immensely generous donations - such as £650-worth of Wedgewood dinner service; alas, no million-pound Rembrandt yet, but we live in hope.
At other times, we will get a bag of items which we have cause to wonder were actually intended for the rubbish bin, but in the interests of politeness, we will stop exploring those in this public arena! By far the majority of donations are generous and well-intentioned and of course they often tell a story . . . Sackfuls of new baby clothes - just hope it was a shop changing the lines they stocked; box upon box of six tumblers - ‘I meant to order a dozen on e-bay - didn’t see it was 12 dozen, did I?'! And then a bagful of items you recall selling recently- to a lady who changes ornaments on a monthly basis, brings the old ones back and buys fresh (sometimes the ones she brought back to us 2 or 3 months ago!)
The working day flies by when we are busy, and ends at 5pm, giving us 30 minutes to refresh before the evening meal. Evenings may find us playing table tennis, darts, chess, using the gym etc - or just enjoying peace and quiet in our rooms. Here at South Lambeth, we have a regular Games Night - beetle drive, Chinese New Year Evening or similar. And that, pretty much, is a day in my life at the moment!
Elizabeth has also been contributing to the Emmaus Community Blog. You can read her posts, and those of other Companions at www.emmaus.org.uk/blog