Project Holiday:
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On Holiday; (none)

Now... I don't know how many on DA actually read this, although it's been noted that quite a few who aren't do on a regular basis.

I have mentioned in past posts (long time ago, even the most recent one... I'm slow to update, so sue me) that there was an 'event' in the coming month that I couldn't tell you about until later...

I'll tell you now.

I, me, myself, this writer, Dominic 'Nick' Evans... I've been nominated to go, and been officially invited to go to the Queen's Summer Garden Party in Buckingham Palace because of my Services to the Community.

To explain a little; some of you may know that I work a volunteer job, but most won't know what it is. I helped set up, build and now staff a local community shop and post-office.
This may not seem like much, but in England small villages more than five miles out from *anywhere* aren't very well equipped with facilities. The most my little home had was a local church for two years.

When the last shop closed down, our village sank. People started treating it as a dormitory village, a place to sleep and nothing more. Worse, all of the elderly, a noticeable proportion of the village, nearly a third in fact, are unable to make a ten mile round-trip to get their eggs, milk and bread every few days.

Some of us decided to do something. With a lot of help we managed to get grants and raise a huge amount of money through donations, and built ourselves a new shop. We run it as volunteers and even the new postmistress puts in a huge amount of volunteer time despite only being payed for three hours a day.

I've worked there since it was a hole in the ground; I dug trenches for electrical cable, I carried hods for the builders, made tea and food for workers, I teamed up with a couple of good people to move in the fridges, chillers and freezers that even a small shop needs... And after that I taught people how to use the till software, found out how to keep track of stock and run reports (I don't let anyone know how much I actually know or they'd pester me for all of it and my bosses would put me down for more work). And every week I put in a shift on Saturday, from lunch until close, so that everybody else can just go out and enjoy their weekend.

To bring this to a close, we were noticed in all of this, and by somebody who has a bit of clout. There's a retired military man in the village who, thanks to his previous position, can nominate other people to be recognised for their achievements in good causes.

So the postmistress and the assistant manageress and myself have been invited to the summer garden party for services to the community.

We go on the 22nd of July, and it's all very exciting ^^ I've just shelled out for a rather fetching suit, I may post a photo or two later... and I'm even going to cut my hair (shock, horror, gasp, I know.) for the occasion.

Zoe's all thrilled that she'll get to see my like that... I'm just worried that I'm going to make a fool of myself.

So yeah, that's the big news

I'm also dressing up for a different occasion too. On the 6th of July (next week, that is) I'm dressing up for a day of foolery as a travelling peddler from the year 1285 (generically the late 13th century) and spending the day with near on a hundred other people. We're putting on a show on Gold Hill in Shaftesbury to promote local business in the town.

All it entails is that we show up, set up stalls and shops etc. and act as if we're genuinely thirteenth century citizens of shaftesbury. To add to that we'll be putting on a little street theater with singing, dancing, a few fools, and there's going to be a march of the Nobles from the ruined Abbey, down the hill and then round and back up Gold Hill to finish at the Town Hall.

It's going to be fun, but I'm not allowed to take my camera, so any photos I can find will be posted, but I can't guarantee anything right now.

That's all for me, gotta run, FN!