Civil Society

Yesterday afternoon we found ourselves attending the AGM of the residents’ association of our taman. We’ve been members since buying the house and happily paid our fees for several years believing that the money spent on the security here is well spent. And we’ve felt a bit guilty over the years that we’ve never actually supported any of the on-going activities (basically because we’re hardly ever around for them.)

The AGM was well run, with a few core members heroically keeping things going and finding themselves re-elected onto the committee for their trouble. They were obviously hoping for a bigger turn out with the possibility of others taking over their duties, but were realistic enough to know that that wasn’t likely to happen, and it didn’t. So for no reward, other than some lovely muffins at the AGM, and other tasty bits and pieces, these guys were yet again taking on any number of headaches just to do their bit for others.

When I used the word ‘heroically’ in the previous paragraph it was not intended ironically.