shifts

It's a dull, overcast Friday afternoon here.
A recitalist is practising on Big Piano in the nave, not far from my office, so I have lovely music in the background.
Just came back to the office (and the computer) after meeting Daughter Unit for lunch on the campus of Colourful University. More colourful than usual, in a sense, because the lilac are all in bloom, some of the ash trees as well, and the peonies are all in full bud and about to explode everywhere. And in the meantime the campus is "littered" with cheerful graduates in all their multi-hued glory. Not to mention the faculty, some of whose outfits look frankly demented -- but vividly so.
A meeting with wardens and Chief Fixing Stuff Retired Tradesman to refine the details of our contract for new boilers/furnaces (and their appurtenances)...and our application to the government of Affluent Province for a "matching grant" i.e., 50% of cost of this project, under the Community Facilities Enhancement Program.
I have to write a page or so underlining our accessibility as a Community Facility. We've already listed everything that "happens" here, but we need a couple of paragraphs on "how often."
Pianist next door, case in point.
Dealing with other accessibility issues -- specifically our Extreme Accessibility to the criminal population in the community. Outcries from our neighbours about what they perceive as the incessant retail trade in recreational chemicals in the churchyard. These neighbours are too delicate-minded to call the police, mind you.
I guess the good folks here at MH&U forgot to put in my job description my duty to sit outside the church in a lawn chair, cradling an AK-47, and keeping the meth-dealers at bay.
A wail from one of my churchwardens, "And we're supposed to be WELCOMING" -- on the other hand we don't manage that either...like the ornery dog that bites Grandma but welcomes burglars into the home, with big grin and wagging tail...surly and vulnerable at the same time, sigh.
I've opened the conversation with the Pointy-Hatted One, and with my Wardens, about..."transition." We are all quietly thinking about what model of this process would meet all our needs.
Question on the table -- do we "bother with" the parish picnic this year? Trying to remember that not everybody can possibly feel as "bleagh" as I do at this point. We'll try for some show of enthusiasm this Sunday.