The day didn't start well. I had a meeting at 9.15 for which the papers had been e-mailed earlier. They included a huge document with the comment that a hard copy would be sent out the next day. Consequently I spent an hour last night looking for it, and then another half hour this morning. Eventually I had to set off without it. Arrived at the meeting to be told that it hadn't come out after all! Grrrrr! So I wasn't in the best mood ever when comments were being made about disabled parking spaces being a waste of space if they were empty and other people had to park elsewhere than in the grounds. I'm afraid I got more upset than I would normally at a meeting and my contributions were a bit more terse than they would otherwise have been. I remain to be convinced that we'll be using venues in a more effective way as a result of our deliberations.
But a visit to my mother soon put things into perspective - she was waiting for the wheelchair mechanic to arrive to sort out a problem, but she's never far from a smile or laugh. Leaving her to wait for him, I went to do her shopping and that of my mother-in-law. Then back to Mum's for a salad lunch.
An SOS from the scrutiny officer led to a change of date for our scrutiny meeting next week. The bureaucracy associated with the present scrutiny arrangements strikes again! And then it was time for Cabinet, and the presentation of our report on Teen Pregnancies. Of course it was accepted unanimously because the recommendations had already been agreed with the cabinet member and corporate director. It's a farce really, but we have to go through it to get anything to happen.
That meant I was late for my next meeting - Durham Lane School Governors. Usually that only lasts about an hour and a half but today it lasted two and a half! Not that time was wasted, but there were really important things to discuss. I was sad that the vice-chairman had decided to resign through ill health. He's been a real stalwart of that meeting for as long as I've been there.
As a result of being held up at the end of that meeting I was then late for the Parish Council meeting, which by contrast was one of the shortest ever. We'd finished the business before our normal 8pm half-way stop for members of the public to contribute. Fortunately on this occasion there were no members of the public there so it didn't cause a problem.
By the time I was home and had something to eat I was too shattered to do anything very much, so an early night and loads of stuff to do tomorrow.