I Had Arrived part 2

I climbed a flight of wooden stairs and gradually moved into a light filled attic room. There was a large working area which took up most of the space.. Bolts of fabric leant against the walls which made the space feel warmer. Seven chairs were placed around the work space tables. I was trying to take everything in as I nervously looked around. 

Standing beside the tables was a lady who had the biggest smile on her face. With an outstretched hand she greeted me.

 “You are very welcome. My name is May. Just grab a seat and when everyone arrives we will begin”.

Thank you May,” I replied. 

I made my way down to the side of the room. I was trying to keep my nerves under control and not  knock anything else over. I am always clumsy when I am nervous. One side of the room was brightly lit by a series of windows and there was also a large roof window. I placed my coat at a table. Then I turned and stood at one of the windows looking across the rooftops out to the sea. The sky was blue. That picture perfect blue with not a cloud in the sky. The sea was rich in tones of deep navy further out to a teal green nearer the shingle beach. The colour and depth was enticing. This was the end of October and I knew that the Irish Sea would be cold while the air would still be chilly. However, the view calmed me. 

I loved living in this seaside town. The sea is constantly changing but that smell is unique . I couldn’t hear it but knowing it was within walking distance always grounded me.I don’t swim in it though. Perhaps all I needed was the smell.. I didn’t need to be immersed in it.

Turning back into the room I looked around getting my bearings.Three worktables, probably a little over a metre in length and probably half a metre in width, were set up facing each other giving a good working space. At one end of this bank of tables another table was added. On each table there was a large dense plastic mat with a metric or imperial grid painted in white. It reminded me of the old fashioned maths copy books from national school. There were three blank greeting cards beside every plastic mat and sitting in the middle of the mat was a steel ruler. It was looking more and more like a maths school room.

All the work tables were now occupied by six women of mixed ages. I quietly went and sat at the table and tried to become invisible by not interacting with the conversations going on around. Pulling back my shoulders I took a deep breath, shook my shoulders and sighed. “I can do this”  was becoming my mantra.

I noticed that one of the women had a wheeled wicker shopping trolley. It must have been awkward carrying it up the stairs. She had started to take things out and put them on her work table. Firstly a closed cylinder about a quarter metre in diameter. She lifted a lid to show a selection of scissors hanging from a central column. It was an ingenious storage solution. She placed a bright pink plastic lunch box on the table and opened the lid to display at the very least ten  tubes of glue. I never knew there were so many types of glue.

Before the lady could continue unloading more items  May interrupted proceedings inviting us all to take our seats.

……..to be continued