A True Volunteer

The sun came out this afternoon! It has been unremitting grey days since I returned to Eastern Cumbria so I took the opportunity to take a good walk. The going has been muddy under foot but with the light breeze and a break in the unremitting rain the paths were shoe friendly. The possibility of more  rain is ever present though. I remarked to a couple of chaps as I passed, Wonder what that navy blue sky to the East is going to do to us! We smiled wryly together. Thankfully the navy blue over the Pennines turned to grey and dissipated.

The path I walk quite regularly had suffered over the winter. Leaves and debris litter the way and the washing of rain had carried gravel and stones down onto the path. And what do I see? A lone man, an older man, clearing the path with a shovel and making a really neat job of it too. What a pleasure to walk along the newly cleared path. Stopping to chat with him I asked him if this was his job. No it isn’t. he responded and continued,  I walk this path every day and saw it had dried out so brought my shovel up to clear it. He had dug out channels to drain future rainfall off the path. He is a true volunteer. If a spade had been handed to me I’d have joined him in the work right there and then. There is something inspiring about such efforts. One person, on their own with no trumpets sounding, can ignite that true volunteer in many. It did so in me.

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