Polly Is Demoted!? Or, Is She...

Recently I've been demoted due to my lack of enthusiasm for the cause, which is mainly down to my overall lack of energy, ever present aches and pains and the the development of a new kind of pain. Last year I wasn't double jobbing I was doing at least six different jobs, all of which laid claim to my well being with the end result of my taking sick leave from work - again.

The day I sent in my first sick certificate was also a day I'd been waiting for for at least three years. I had applied and finally been accepted onto my sixth and final stage in the Wood Badge training with Scouting Ireland. I say finally because I'd applied and been accepted onto several stage six courses only to have them cancelled at the last minute, with the result being that I was also too late to transfer onto the same course locally.

All I can say about this is that it wasn't great timing and I wasn't sure that I'd be well enough to attend this final course. I contemplated withdrawing from the course at the last minute, but realised that it would be a long time before I would be able to attend another one. And so, I went. I survived. Came home. Completed my project and submitted it. And then I waited.

News came, eventually. It was in the form of a conversation with my County Commissioner which went something like this: "I've got two sets of wood beads for ye. What do you want me to do with them?" This was followed by a squeal of delight and the request that they be presented to us in the presence of our scout group and nobody else. My scouting partner and I have always said that we wanted no part in an awards ceremony with the county due to the fact that it was our group that had worked with us throughout the training process and supported us in our endeavours.

And so it came to be that on the night before Halloween we were presented with our wood beads in the company of our peers, and the rest of our group. Finally we were members of the 1st Gilwell Scout Group too! Well, it was about time. When all said and done we'd each been trying for long enough, hadn't we? And so it came to be that I received my special award dressed in a C17th outfit that had once fit me well, sadly this is no longer the case and is a reflection of my battles with the pharmaceutical industry for support.

The fact is that I did, obviously complete my course, albeit with the assistance of pain relief. Come Hell or high water, I was going to do it if it jolly well killed me! And I did. At the time of doing it, I had been working my much reduced hours by trying to squeeze forty hours work into twenty without much success. I had also been Group Scout Leader, Assistant Cub Leader, Assistant Scout Leader, Secretary, PRO, Contact, Trainer and more. Best not forget my position with the Offaly DAI either. As Secretary I was also and still am responsible for organising fundraising for the group.

Despite my huge weight gain over the past eleven years, I wasn't able to spread myself over all these positions well enough to be able to do any of them well. I'd already resigned from my BNI Networking Group, whose 6.30am Thursday morning meetings were killing me while the financial responsibilities were crippling my bank account. I'd already stopped my card making for all in sundry and was feeling the pinch, although truthfully it was more of a case of maintaining the status quo without silver crossing my sweating palm...

Yes, I've been demoted and to be honest it was a shock. People all of a sudden appeared to be listening to me, hearing what I've been saying for a long, long time. And so I became Cub Scout Leader back in May. In real life there isn't such a thing, but in reality there has to be somebody selected to deal with the administration of the section. I was doing much of it anyway. My new friend does the programme planning and administration and I do the paperwork, so to speak. It works well, unless of course it's interfering with one of my other hats, but that isn't too often nowadays, thank heavens!

Time will tell just how things are going to work out, but that's okay. I can wait. I've got decisions to be made and work to be done, but I'll get there - eventually! I just wish I had a nice cuppa decent coffee and some of this moroccan orange cake, but I haven't. Of course if I pulled my finger out of one of my hats I might be able to serve one up later on, just before I head off to my Dyslexia Group meeting followed by the Scout County Management Meeting! I dunno...