The Library

Some days, volunteering feels like a full time job...

Today A and I were due at Cardonald library to do a book drop to four customers. It's an easy gig: three of these customers don't let us over the door, so I choose their books but mostly stay in the car while A goes to the door. There's a quick exchange of books and we move on.

Fair enough: if I saw us, I probably wouldn't let us over the door either. But today A didn't turn up at the library.

That's unusual. A has been volunteering for about 8 years - maybe more. He never lets the customers down. I rang his home and mobile numbers twice. No answer. So where was he? The library staff got quite agitated, so I went off to knock on his door. And there he was, hale and hearty. He'd just forgotten today's gig. He was reading and none of us had thought to phone and remind him. Us bad.

A did the drop and I took us off to Morrison's so he could have a Wee Scottish breakfast and I could have scrambled egg on toast. Two meals  + coffees £7.80 - maybe £7.90. Excellent value. No wonder the greasy spoon cafes are dying out.

Seriously though, the home delivery service in Glasgow Libraries depends on volunteers but it seems there's no back-up. We've recruited Charlie to help us when we're stuck. But what's the future for the
days when we're not available or we get to be too old to volunteer?