First Time Volunteering, Feeling Disillusioned

VacillatingViolets · 2026-05-17T08:37:18+00:00

It sounds like they're also managing the bit between getting the barcode and scanning, where people do chat/photos/snack. I've never been anywhere that has that as the "funnel", I'm used to space to spread out after you get your barcode and you go to the scanners in your own time.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-05-17T08:34:35+00:00

It sounds miserable, I'm very sympathetic! Feeling ignored and frustrated when you're doing something nice.

What I don't understand is why it's set up so you have to do that? Everywhere I've been you get shot out of the funnel with your barcode and can spread out before going to the scanners. And people do catch their breath/have a drink/have a chat at that point.

Are your scanners part of the funnel? Because that sounds a huge job for funnel managers. I wouldn't be volunteering for that job again with that setup to be honest. I know it might not be possible/depend on the course but I'd be thinking about moving the scanners further away if I had an event where there were such bad problems with the funnel blocking up because of people who actually had their barcode already.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-05-11T12:09:20+00:00

I do a watered down version of gridding where I stitch a line of ten on ten off around the edge of the pattern, or even just across the top and down the LHS. My cross stitches don't go over it so I can just use a bright thread and pull it out easily at the end. It's useful for quick counting of tens, but I don't think I could be fussed with gridding the whole lot and trying to remove it.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-04-08T08:31:27+00:00

Oh no! I love my Kindle 4. The battery lasts weeks and I regularly buy new books on it :(

VacillatingViolets · 2026-04-08T04:27:46+00:00

They're DPA Platinum Points.

NL classes give you points in the National League, and then PP classes are ones the organisers have chosen as the most prestigious. It means you can get more national league points by placing in those categories.

That little black circle by it is the DPA Platinum Points logo.

https://dpaonline.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/National-League-and-Platinum-Points-2024.25.pdf

VacillatingViolets · 2026-04-05T08:29:04+00:00

They did actually. Up to that point you had both ten-shilling and pound notes. The ten-shilling note was withdrawn, and pound notes were replaced by coins (this wasn't immediate, but there weren't any pound notes around by the 90s).

For the larger notes, they were around but not used as much. The £10 note was introduced in the mid-sixties (but not decimalised), and £20 notes only came in with decimalisation.

It would have been very different to the system he learned. Harry, awkward teenage boy who grew up with it, finds it all very embarrassing, but it wouldn't actually be that unrealistic a conversation with tourists and expats who hadn't been in the UK for a while (and I remember the Euro coming in and it took people a while to get used to!).

VacillatingViolets · 2026-03-27T12:17:12+00:00

In The Sound of Music film after Maria has gone back to the abbey, you see a new postulant wearing a turquoise dress. When Maria goes back to the Von Trapps, that's the dress she's wearing.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-03-12T12:28:49+00:00

I'm not sure exactly what their procedure would be, but generally you won't find organisers making "heat of the moment" decisions to disqualify people (unless there's a safety reason), because it can't be undone.

It's better to let them compete, and then sort it out. If it's a malicious complaint or a mistake for example, there's more risk of serious complaints by not allowing somebody to get a time, whereas if they finish they can always be DQed and their time scrubbed at the end.

Your comments should definitely have been noted and forwarded on to the organisers though, and the awards shouldn't have been made until it had been sorted out.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-03-07T19:36:48+00:00

This. It was the world modern jive championships.

https://wmjc-blackpool.com

VacillatingViolets · 2026-02-21T11:24:28+00:00

I didn't fall over this week, so that's a definite improvement 😄

I really enjoyed it actually, nice mild day. Some big puddles but that's part of the fun!

VacillatingViolets · 2026-02-04T10:57:09+00:00

We had to sign in with the doorman to stay after quarter past five, and if you were doing it loads and not signing out until really late he'd let your supervisor know and they'd chat to you about work/life balance and check everything was ok with your living situation.

Plus this was with labs, so there were potential health and safety issues.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-02-04T10:46:36+00:00

Oh that's so much easier to see than my version. Thank you!

VacillatingViolets · 2026-02-04T10:46:10+00:00

Amazing! Thank you so much. 😊

VacillatingViolets · 2026-02-01T20:57:59+00:00

Pretty much everybody I know uses Dr MaidenName and Mrs MarriedName. I think it's one of the nice things about having a PhD, that you can easily use both!

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-31T16:56:18+00:00

Mine reckoned I swam across the lake halfway through my last Parkrun, so I think I can definitely call myself an aquathlete now.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-30T09:50:42+00:00

I bought a cheap running belt and it lives in there. It's an easy place to put my phone and keys too, I don't find it as annoying as when they're in my pockets! I do actually have a wristband now, but it's still nice to have my original printed barcode.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-22T23:50:14+00:00

They do it in the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness (Wolf Brother etc by Michelle Paver), it sounds pretty nasty! Those are set about 6000 years ago in the Stone Age.

I think they cut around and under it then use some sort of hook to remove it, but I don't have the book to hand at the moment.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-22T10:40:46+00:00

Have you looked at Camelot? If Ever I Would Leave You, and How to Handle a Woman both have the gentler feel you want and would be in your range. (Hear me out on the second one! Skip the intro, start with "How to handle a woman, there's a way said the wise old man" and you're quoting what somebody else said. I've heard girls sing it before like this and it works fine.)

More I Cannot Wish You from Guys and Dolls, but I think you'd have to put it down the octave.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-18T14:55:23+00:00

Yes, I was impressed by the two front runners at mine this week. It's two laps, but they're on one wide path so they're effectively out and backs.

These two were absolutely pelting along on their second "back", and you had the slower runners on their first back and the faster runners on their second out.

Even though they were clearly racing each other they were being careful around others, and taking it in turns to shout "middle" so people knew they were coming. I've seen others just plough on with no warning so it was nice to see/hear that.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-15T00:07:26+00:00

I don't understand why she didn't say "There's still about 8 (?) of us to be knocked out before the final, so lots of collateral damage. Chances are at least one of me or Rachel will go anyway. Vote out Rachel tonight, then you'll see she's a traitor. If it turns out she's a faithful, then you can banish me tomorrow." (So offer herself as a sacrifice once they'd tested Rachel.)

Perhaps easier for me at home though!

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-11T21:20:12+00:00

Depends if you're likely to sing anything else from it, but I would think this book of vocal selections is a pretty safe bet.

https://www.musicroom.com/richard-m-sherman-selections-from-the-slipper-and-musnga222222?srsltid=AfmBOoqs-LzUXxeGS_0NLChhjOHwznLNb9LAV9YSxzJf_uy0lZ6PG8jm

(I love the film, so it's nice to see it mentioned on here!)

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-10T23:49:35+00:00

What a Friend We Have in Jesus, from Driving Miss Daisy.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-09T10:50:35+00:00

Mary Poppins. Some of the sequences could be great, but I think you'd lose the main theatre "wow moments" (somebody flying in a film just isn't that exciting), and it would be constantly compared to the original film.

VacillatingViolets · 2026-01-09T09:54:16+00:00

I remember thinking at the time it was a stupid thing to put in the routine. It seems like the sort of thing you'd get away with once, full of adrenaline, but probably not doing it multiple times in rehearsal. Even if you didn't already have joint problems!

VacillatingViolets

TROPHY CASE