holidays and potholes and broken promise

This weekend I go to the South of Spain for a week and I am yearning for the break. It has been a tough few months...and stressful. This will be my only break over a long summer. Due to workmates' childcare commitments neither Mike nor I are able to take time off during July and August. I love the Costa del Sol yet paradoxically hate the sun. My skin and UV light are not compatible so for the 7 days I am away I will live in shadow, all body parts covered. I will read and eat and drink and swim and walk in the evening and and of course, I will buy a handbag. For some women it is shoes: for me, jewellry and handbags.

The business of rooms and appointments rumble on. I am indifferent though some will take it hard - I suspect there will be more difficult accomodations to face than where our desk is and what committees we sit on. I prefer to concentrate my energies on reaching out across this massive ward I now represent. Already in a single week I have had 24 constituent enquiries. If this keeps up I will drown in potholes, broken windows, bus-stops, fences that need mended, showers that need repaired - every complaint of the utmost importance, everyone requiring attention. This must take priority. But I am also to be Labour's Economic Development spokesperson. This, I think, will be an enjoyable but demanding responsibility. I am looking forward to it. The signs are this will be a contentious area for the city and Jenny's comments on Caltongate already suggest there will be a clear difference of emphasis.
To be fair, Trevor did, at least in the public eye, become too closely associated with the development and his much publicised one finger salute did him/us/the development no favours. I am sure he was contrite but it consolidated a view that we had stopped listening to people - particularly those in the city centre. It is impossible to imagine that labour no longer holds a single council seat in the city centre - the Old Town was labour's re- invention...our triumph and now it is our wasteland. But the signs were there for all to see. Dumbiedykes, after all, recorded the highest NO vote in the ill fated housing ballot.

Though we need to learn from past mistakes, recriminations are useless. We must put our best foot forward, pull together and rebuild.