Cleaning & Tidying

Anyone who knows me will know that cleaning and tidying don't come naturally. To say the least. I was the (girlfriendless) student who accumulated coffee cups brimming with mould under his sheetless bed; the office cad who's not once, not twice, but thrice permanently bananafied (in sight and stench) desk drawers by being oblivious to once-yellow, once-curved, rotting once-things. Living on a narrow narrowboat made me relatively shipshape, but only relatively. Eight years co-habitation with my lovely lady, to whom C&T-ing are natural friends, again has only wrought very small improvements; much more, has imbued her with ever greater tolerance. So, I can't quite believe that I'm spending part of a Sunday afternoon (when it's not even raining) writing on this terrible subject.

I do however think it's a sufficiently important topic to spill some minutiae of fingertips over; and have to trust that the fact you're lingering in this murky place means either you happen to be a fan of the subject, or are intrigued by what the sea air can do to skanky wretches like me, or are really far too bored and need to do some starjumps.

I won't go on, for however hard I try, it is mighty dull. And you might be pleased to read I have no photos this time - wanting to spare you any before & after grossness, as well as being genuinely too involved in the subject to hand to think of it. Suffice to say that Ash, Marie, Clare, our wonderfully spirited working volunteer Tor, and, to a lesser extent, sickly I, have been spending much of our weekend, yes, cleaning and tidying: the communal kitchen, living room, pantry, and toilet/shower in our wonderful old farmhouse, and in our newly re-done games room and office building.

It came from a mixture of impulses: individuals' strong desire, nay need, to share spaces that are clean and tidy, or not to use them at all; from the infectious, powerful energy of a group; and, more consciously, from a recent meeting about our vision for the next year, where there was a strong common thrust that we must invest lots of energy and time, individually and collectively, tidying up the place - not only for our own sakes as residents, but also so that we don't put off people who visit as holidaymakers, volunteers or potential residents who could bring great energy, skills, knowledge, revenue, investment and so on, and who love the location, animals, ethos, vision, etc, but who might be put off by piles of rubble or offcuts dotted about, the cluttered kitchen, the muddy floors, and any implied lack of care and love it might suggest; or indeed people who, in the future, might come here to buy from our dream shop, or participate in our dream courses and retreats.

Now, I know that everyone who lives here does care about and love the place deeply; and that we care about and love our neighbours and friends. And I know that it's a lot to manage - communal spaces and facilities, 30 acres of fields and woodland, loads of building and development projects - whilst juggling jobs and commitments, accounts and emails and campaigns and people stuff and everything, and dealing with the normal illnesses and stresses of life. So cleaning and tidying often get forgotten or ignored as unimportant. I know also that the community has achieved huge amounts in its short existence, especially having inherited vast amounts of junk and chaos. It also seems to me that, like so many other facets of humanity, we're all on a broad spectrum - of dirt & mess awareness, and associated drive to clean & tidy - and that however much some of us say we will try to improve things, we then lose focus or forget.

That all said, the blindness to, or acceptance of, D&M enjoyed by myself and others at the lower end of the spectrum must not be at the expense of others in the community, or indeed to the wider strategic wellbeing of the organisation! Which is why it was - gulp, can I say it? yes! - fantastic to scrub toilets and rip up old carpet and install boot racks and paint floors and walls and scrub some more for hours. I congratulate and applaud others who have done it almost all weekend; and I'm really happy that we are committed not only to clearing up our own mess in a spirit of 'leave no trace' and to performing our rotas diligently, but also to spending time collectively tackling older piles of stuff and half-finished projects, and making the site even more beautiful! I also really enjoyed it: drinking coffee, eating cake, listening to terrible Mr Motivator Muzik, and working happily alongside friends and neighbours.

And that said, I really need to go outside now and get some more healing sea air.. And then keep at it.