Wuthering Heights, Depths and Carparks - a charitable MMP

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

It’s a well-known fact that the weather is something of an English obsession, we spend far too much time watching the skies for the slightest change in the colour of the ubiquitous grey clouds, and there’s much muttering if there’s even the slightest shift in the wind direction. Given that it’s such a fixation with us, you’d not be surprised to know that some of our most excellent literature has something of a weather-obsession too.

One of my favourite ‘classical’ texts is “Wuthering Heights” - the book is far better than the film/television versons, there’s something about the language that captures perfectly the stark beauty of the moors on a windy day, the way that even a slight change in the weather can cause near-fatal conditions if you happen to get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

So it’s not exactly out of character that on Friday all eyes would have been on the looming grey clouds, full of rain, that settled over the centre of Birmingham. It’s as if they knew what was coming.

Every year, a carpark in the city plays host to a charity sleep-out in aid of St Basil’s which is a local organisation providing shelters, projects and counselling for homeless young people. Like most charities, St Basil’s is pitifully short of funds and it’s only by donations that they manage to keep their shelters open and find finances for the various schemes they run.

The plan is simple - you get a minimum of £100 in sponsorship for the event and they graciously allow to play at being homeless for the night. Of course you have to provide your own sleeping bag, but they do give you a large plastic sheet and a cardboard crate to keep the worst of that wonderful weather off. Naturally it was cold and windy, and it’d been raining all day - by the time we arrived at the site, there was already a small cardboard town staked out, and we quickly started putting plastic and cardboard together to make a rough kind of shelter, hoping the wind wouldn’t take it away too soon!

There were a couple of oil-drum fires already burning and someone came round selling very welcome cups of tea. The carpark is right next to St Basil’s church where there was going to be a midnight Mass for those who wanted to attend (and get out of the cold for a while), but some of us hardy souls spent the entire night outside in our little cardboard kingdom.

One long night out in the cold with the barest protection against the elements really makes you see how tough life must be for the hundreds of people sleeping rough every night - we didn’t get very much sleep and come the morning we were very grateful to pack ourselves up, go home for a hot bath and get straight into a proper bed for a snooze.

Still, it felt good to have done something positive for Birmingham’s homeless kids and also to know that none of used the coward’s clause of a £50 donations and a night at home. Now it’s time to start fundraising for the next big event - the fire and ice walk!

Happy Monday, each!

2

Woo hoo, I’m first! We are watching the weather here in Texas too, it is supposed to get very cold later in the week. (Wednesday) So far we haven’t had much cold weather, I have pink roses on one of my bushes.

In other news, we had a conference with my oldest daughter’s teacher a while back. She is in Special Ed., and there about 5 kids total in the class. She told us something kinda weird, every kid in the class is left-handed!
I don’t know what the odds against that happening are, but it says something interesting about southpaws! :slight_smile: Just kidding!
I think I’ll go to bed after that one, It’s too late for me.

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sneezy, everybody is born right handed, yet only the greatest overcome it. :stuck_out_tongue: I have that in writing even. It’s right there on my coffee mug at work.

BooFae great OP and a fantastic cause. I’ve always said that everybody needs to find some kind of charitable interest to volunteer, raise money, etc. for. I think what you did and are doing are great. Is the fire and ice walk also for St. Basil’s?

Happy Monday Y’all! Back later with tales of biker rednecks, birthday party, beer, fire and a chainsaw.

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No, I like to spread my charity around! The fire and ice walk (one walk over hot coals and one over glass) is for a local hospice. Then in the summer one of the local radio stations does an event called Run For Home which I do (with three friends) in aid of their “First Steps Appeal”.

Of course, it’s all because I’m left-handed - sneezy, apparently it’s a sign of genius!

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Great MMP, BooFae (love that nick, btw!); it’s especially good to remind at the start of the holiday season that there are others who are in greater need. Unfortunately, it’s a year-round need in most cases, although at holiday time it’s the children that the spotlight falls on. Just saw a story on the early news today about a lot of toys and presents that were left at a church yesterday morning - Santa’s elves already at work!

After the long holiday weekend here, I really can’t say that I’m eager to go back to work. :smiley: But off I go this morning, in a few minutes. We were thankful that we were warm and had plenty of food to eat (especially my 19 yo son, who ate up -most- of the leftovers!!). I got plenty of needed rest and even made a bit of a dent in the reading backlog I have, but only a bit.

Will be back later today (after work) to catch up on everyone else. Have a good day all!

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Cool OP, Boo. All 3 sound like excellent causes. Hi sneezy! Nice to see you again.

I’m off to work. How did it get to be Monday so soon?

GT

7

You didn’t enjoy the semaphore version?

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Just a quick hullo before I drag my sorry self to bed. Great OP BooFae, and a great cause to give of oneself. I have my favorite causes to which I give time and effort to, and it feels good to give back some good for the things I have been blessed with.

Quick update on my life:

Remodel still in the works. I had to get mean with one of the guys, :rolleyes: but he :mad: me off. I love love love the bamboo flooring, my walls are beautiful, and I am itching to purchase fabric with which to make curtains.

The Son is on the Honor Roll. This is a huge deal, I am very proud of him. He also has had his first “date”, his first steady girlfriend, and his first (on the cheek) kisses. I also discovered that he has some chin hair sprouting. :eek:

#3 daughter is on groundation as a result of poor grades. Other than that she is just a good girl who really likes socializing. She might need swampy to assist her in staying on task!

Spent most of last week trying to keep my nephew-by-marriage from getting expelled from school. The thing is that his (adopted) father was not only abusive in many ways, he comes from a very influential family in town, and the father purposefully kept psychiatric diagnosis out of the nephew’s school records/IEP plan. I only had to get a little assertive, think hard and use my big words in order to keep the principal from outright expelling him, and with the paperwork I was able to find in his (adopted) mother’s files I was able to prove that the original IEP included behavioral issues backed by diagnosis from two psychiatrists and one psychologist. It’s a little scary to realize that we are still a small enough town that a small handfull of people pull all the strings here.

Skiffman went on a well deserved hunt for five days, he came back with two deer and his first ever elk and he is a happy camper.

Coincidentally I received a fabulous food saver from my Dad on Saturday, so the majority of the meat will be vaccumed sealed!

And, having saved the best for last, I received a Christmas gift early. I collect some of the Trail of Painted Ponies. My #1 daughter’s mil got together with the kids and she made me a quilt with representatives of the ponies I have. It is gorgeous, and I was speechless when she brought it over.

The wind is slapping the windows with gobs of wet snow, it’s supposed to turn to rain, which is usually when we wake up to a foot or more of the white stuff. If I go to bed now the alarm goes off in 2 1/2 hours, so we’ll see!

Goooooooood mooooooorning MMP’ers! I think I may be back!

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The Youth Group at my church has started doing that - high school age kids. I’m not sure how they raise money, but they sleep outside in the side yard of the church all night, and they usually choose a chilly night. I think the kids ask for sponsors, and get a certain amount of money for every hour they stay outside - if they just can’t take it anymore, they can go in and sleep on the Hall floor.
It’s more for the kids to experience what it’s like to be homeless, though.
Neat idea.

10

morning all - karma filled OP, BooFae, go you!
I do contribute, mostly to cancer research, but only financially. I’ve never “walked” or “sat” - but if there’s ever a “sleep for charity” event, I believe I could raise a few thousand in sponsorship all by myself (I would not accept flat amounts, only per hour pledges allowed)

11

Morning, y’all.

Not much to say today. Nice OP, Boo. Brings back memories of a campout I did when I was in the Boy Scouts, where I slept outside in a tent with a sleeping bag in temps a little above freezing, and was quite cold because all my body heat went straight to the ground. Brrrr.

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How many people would you need to sleep with to raise that kind of dosh?

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as many as it takes - but stop leering - “sleep” in this case means asleep - sound asleep - snoring and dreaming (I was going to say ‘sawing wood’ but I figured that would bring up other imagery in your fevored little mind) :wink:

14

What a lovely thing to do. Good for you! I’ve never frozen for charity, but when I was in high school the youth group did the 30 hour famine every year. Our nasty evil group leaders would always organize charity things for us to do with food- food bank, serving at a soup kitchen etc.

It was always fun.

I survived the weekend, I forgot that as well as freezing at my MIL, you tend to starve, too. We always arrive home hungry. She just doesn’t really keep food in the house. It’s weird. Anyway, my nephew is adorable and a quiet babbler, my inlaws are all doing well, and I’m quite happy to be home, where I stock the kitchen and it’s my cats underfoot.

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what kind of mother is she? doesn’t she know her son is too skinny because you never feed him? :wink: (don’t all MILs say that regardless of their sons’ size or their DILs culinary skills?) and your MIL is a grandmother? who doesn’t spoil her grandson with edibles? who IS this woman?

16

The Kid did the 30 hour famine a few times also LiLi. I think the only ‘nutrition’ they were permitted was something like a can of baked beans or something. Not much of a famine, but not much of a feast either, and after all it IS the thought (and money) that counts, right?

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Great OP, BooFae. I’ve never frozen for charity, but I did camping with the Girl Scouts a few times. My coldest ever was actually a leaders’ training campout, where we were camped on the shores of a lake and I was sick. Sleeping in temperatures around 32F/0C is not fun when you have a fever of 102. It does make you think about the people who have to do it every night. It’s so sad. I hope you all raised lots and lots of money.

It always feels good to do things for other people, doesn’t it? I’m currently up to my eyeballs with my wounded-soldier charity, and have a new task of trying to figure out how to provide practical yet fashionable clothing to folks with amputations, various metal appliances around their limbs or face, etc. Anybody know someone who knows how to design and create sewing patterns?

I understand about your MIL not keeping food in the house, LiLi. My kids’ dad’s mother was the same way. A lovely woman, but she cooked exactly one thing – a yummy brisket. That was it. I knew that every time we stayed at her house, she’d fix a brisket for the first night and then we’d eat leftovers. The other meals were catch-as-catch-can, except that I had to stop her from feeding my daughter Triskets for breakfast. They were both quite disappointed. :smiley:

18

Great OP, SF. While I’ve donated money for charity, I can’t say as I’ve ever donated my time. I suppose I’m too wrapped up in the day-to-day world I live in to have given it much consideration. But one day I will. Maybe more than one day. :slight_smile: It’s great that there are so many who do though – giving of one’s time seems a nicer and more heartfelt gesture than simply prying open a wallet once in a while. Odd as it may sound I half think spending a night out like that would be an interesting experience.

Meanwhile, I managed to do what I’ve been wanting to do this weekend: I cooked a nice turkey dinner wid mashed N.O.T. and gravy an’ green beans on the side, with enough left over for some nice gobbler sammiches for lunch today. I also made a big ol’ crock-pot-o-chili, which is simmering on low as I speak and should be well and truly done by the time I get home from work. Good eats this week. :slight_smile:

Weather’s been phenomenal for the last couple of days, too; double-digit (Celsius) temps, spectacular for late November. Indian summer came early this year, though it feels more like Indian spring. The joyous weather however is merely the harbinger of the snow, but I’ll enjoy whatever I can – even though it’s probably going to rain the west of the week.

19

Huh. We didn’t eat. We were allowed water and fruit juice, no tea or coffee, and no carbonated drinks.

I attribute much of Mr. Lissar’s weirdness about food to his Mom a) not teaching him to do any cooking, and b) never keeping anything around that was easily transformed into a meal. When we were dating, I’d be over, I’d look in the fridge before dinner, and realise that the only foods available were, say:

Frozen buttermilk
Two eggs
Package frozen okra
Can of weird soup

Now, I’m a good cook, and I spent a lot of time saying, “To hell with it. Let’s order pizza”.

20

My would-be MIL is the exact opposite - she knows when we’re coming to visit and I think she stocks up specially. You can’t have tea in her house without being offered biscuits, cakes, pastries etc…and even when you’ve said “no” several times, you still get a plate of cakes with your tea. She obviously thinks I don’t look after 'im indoors properly!