For the last two months Tuesday has been ‘food and friends’ night at our place.
It arose out of talking with Danelle and suggesting we catch up with some friends during the week for a meal, but she was feeling quite busy and the thought of cooking for a bunch of people left her tired. She has a busier life than I do in some ways, and is with people all day so she has been enjoying the evening space.
However we decided that Tuesday is now a day when she takes off and does her own thing and I look after Sam. In simply making that shift I realised my whole day had altered and I had a lot of available time. In fact there was plenty of time to make a decent meal and actually enjoy cooking – as opposed to getting home from work and rushing frantically.
And it has been great fun!
Over the last 8 weeks we have had 6 different families from our local community come and join us for dinner on Tuesdays. (I have been away on two Tuesdays) We let them know up front that they don’t need to feel like they have to stay all evening as most have kids who need to go to bed, otherwise I imagine they wouldn’t be so keen to head out. So usually they roll up at 5.30-6.00 and go home around 8.00-8.30, which means its not a late night for anyone, but it long enough to have some decent conversation and a good feed.
Last night we had the new POM (English) neighbours round for dinner and had a great time. The normal question of ‘what do you do for work?’ didn’t come up though and I was a little surprised. Around half way thru the night though Scott did ask ‘are you going to work tomorrow?’ I explained my 3 jobs and said I would be going to one of them. ‘Oh… I thought you were a baker!’ Because we distribute the left over bread on a Saturday night he had guessed I owned a bakery.
For those looking to connect with people in the local community it isn’t that hard if you really want to. Just invite people round, let them know they can go home if they need to and then enjoy a meal together. You’re going to eat anyway, so why not do it with others!
It does add a bit to the weekly food bill, but when it comes to developing community I reckon its been really valuable. It was in making the shift in how my day was configured that I was able to look at it thru a different lens and see a possibility that wasn’t there before.
Not rocket science.city by the sea download