Of course not.
But still. There comes a time when you have to decide that there must be more effective ways to put efforts into ("just") causes.
And so....I resigned from the committee (which calls itself a 'board'.)
It's obviously true that if you want something done; if you want to make a difference, you don't sit outside and express opinions. No. You JOIN that committee and you try to influence decisions.
And then, one day, when you've just put yourself out too much again, and ended up very unhappy, you decide!
(This is not easy when you're born in October, because those scales get in the way.)
What really tipped the bucket?
Was the last straw?
Pushed me over the edge?

It was parking my car in the newish shopping centre (that I've passed so often, on my way to Fairlight and other locations north of the tunnel / bridge,) and desperately searching for yet another toilet.
The meeting was not being held in the usual place but, ( for the convenience of one of the others,) at her place.
So, add toll for the M5.
Add toll for crossing the harbour
and then add stress,
for trying to find this private,
leafy address!

On the M5 an electronic warned that the tunnel was 'out' because of an 'incident'. Just before the tunnel there was another message: The bridge was out (too) because of an accident. Advice: "Take the alternate route" (which I'd decided against in the first place because it's so complicated).
And so I'd reached the tip of the iceberg........
I may be seeing this wrongly. (We always say that, when we don't really believe it.) BUT!!!!!!
I had hoped that the 'centre' would be living evidence of what my fellow country-men and -women had achieved by leaving the motherland and taking a risk, building a new life in Australia.
That the centre would FOCUS on the efforts made, and results produced, by the immigrants, who came by sea and air to this land, and built new lives.
Instead, the focus SEEMS to remain on telling Australians what the Netherlands are all about.
For that, Australians can use google, or take a trip to the Netherlands. Or visit the consulates or the embassy, where people are far more up-to-date, or read a book!
Speaking of books....................
......two more paintings of Remi (and Mattia) are drying, here, in the other room and there's more to be done, to tell the world about my favourite illustrations in my favourite edition of the book (Alleen Op De Wereld, from Sans Famille, by Hector Malot).
Meanwhile, my father (92), is now alone, in his room, in the village, wondering where ALL THOSE PEOPLE have gone, whom he used to please by organising the annual balls, the regular dances, the picnics, the bus trips, the charter flight bookings, etc., etc..
He often grumbled about the 'kind of fellow countrymen' who would do none of the practical stuff; take none of the risks, but would be the first to line up when a fellow countryman-VIP arrived to see how the Dutch-Australian Community was faring.
Somehow, all this "ain't sittin' right"!!!, (as Dean Martin would say, on the stage, in Las Vegas). (Dean was born in 1917, like my father.)
.
Thank you.
You have the honour of being the ONE person who read this right to the end.