A Windy Day

It is blowing a gale here and, I gather, most of the country. The walk with Maddy (the family dog) involves hopping over fallen trees and branches together with the recycling bins which are all over the place distributing litter and cans evertywhere. The Council haven't quite got to grips with what happens to their nice recycling bins in very windy weather. Anyway, today involves a lot of catching up as last week I was a stranger to my desk - my work taking me to virtually every part of East Sussex. There are hundreds of e-mails waiting mosty of which want to sell me viagra! I draft a letter to the Borough Council about a breach of the Compact arising from the enmtirely inconsistent way they have treated the voluntary sector in their recent decisions. My last compact breach report still awaits an answer after almost 7 months. We will wait and see as this may be a real test of the local Compact arrangements. There is lots of concern within the networks and forums and among our membership and probably only right that we should use the Compact to address these concerns.

What else? I spent a good part of the weekend working on transitional funding arrangements for posts within the organisation which require a detailed work programme for the next 3 months. And I do my last long run before the marathon. All the books tell you to taper your running in the last week which I guess is wise advice. Anyway the prospect of getting blown over - as the wind really is that strong - doesn't appeal. Erica who does some of HVA's design work and who is also doing the marathon wrote a really nice article in the Hastings Handbook. My running is cited as an inspiration to her entry. Not ever been a role model before. The article suggests that I have gone from Labrador to greyhound which I guess is true except that my reduction in size has not been accompanied by an increase in speed. In running terms I still remain, and will always be, a "plodder". Anyway there are few lyric references to greyhounds but here is Parklife by Blur - the cover to this album did feature a greyhound I recall which is as close as I can get - enjoy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQw6AKC-AR0