Busy week

So have not been on all week as with one thing and another I have not had the time.

Monday I went to one of my the three favourite cafes in Edinburgh http://www.caffelucano.co.uk/ to meet with Hazel. It was a humid day but no direct sunlight so not a day for the window seat from which tourists and workers can be observed passing to and fro. No problem as Lucano has a diverse clientele ranging from the odd person of uncertain means down on there luck as well as their uppers, through to very well to do members of the judiciary fresh from the proceedings at one of the 3 court houses close by. School children old ladies, working people in high viz vests, executives in expensive suits, women who lunch to mothers who gabble amongst themselves about children, homes, holidays, and others who are not present. Students at the university just up the road as well as a great many like me who are students of life and humanity. In short a great place for people watching.

As is my want I get there about 1 and a half hours earlier so I can get a plate of their fantastic minestrone, the people watching lives up to expectation but the minestrone is gone so it has to be lentil soup instead. Never mind thought its still a good plate of soup and lovely crusty bread.

Hazel arrives with a surprise she has brought along Kate hooray, long time since I have seen Kate so it is a real treat. Hazel and Kate recently decided to get engaged which is great news as it keep them both from hanging around street corners, and takes the stress of looking out for them both of us. Good for you both very pleased that you two are sorted. I just have to get, Sam, Gina, and Malkie sorted as well as the whole world poverty thing and then my work here is done.

So after a catch up very little of it about Hazel and Kate much more on Hazels course and job prospects, I left them with their beacon butties and went to do an errand that I cannot divulge much about at the moment. What I can say though is that the time was about 4.30pm by the time I had finished, I was hot thirsty and just a little stressed. I went to one of the many bars in the area I was in and had a bottle of very passable blue moon wheat beer http://www.bluemoonbrewingcompany.co.uk/ not as good as Belgian wheat beer, but it helped cool me down.

I must have been much hotter than I thought as 5 hours later having visited three other bars I got home, cooler but pretty much wasted. Ah well it's not like I have work to get up for, this disability thing needs to have some upsides or else it would be called normality and those who do not have mental or physical life affecting conditions would be the disadvantaged ones.

The hangover kept Tuesday to a minimum, although as penance I did hoover and tidy round.

Yesterday I went to a meeting at the housing association that we rent from. The idea was to give them feedback on the material that they produce. Well it was transport and lunch provided so why not. I did have another reason for going and that was to get a feel for the much heralded commitment to building communities and supporting tenants participation. I have been thinking for a while about seeing if people in the same development want to start a tenants group. We do not have many problems, litter, people leaving stuff in places they shouldn't that kind of stuff. However as this development gets older problems might start to appear, also were lucky that although we have a wide variety of tenants we have no real problem tenants. What if a family of thugs moved in? We would stand a much better chance of getting the situation sorted if we were a group not just individuals.

So the meeting was OK it covered the ground that it was supposed to, although the feeling that we were their to do someone else's job persisted for most of the meeting. It was the others who attended that interested me: On the down side I was the youngest by about 10 years which was a not unexpected disappointment. What also transpired was that every other tenant there took an active interest in both the development that they live in and the governance of the housing association, an unpleasant and unexpected finding.

A range of committees and panels exist to help guide the association which I am now thinking about getting involved with. Also as a direct result of yesterday and being enthused by the other tenants at the meeting, I am writing to all of my neighbours inviting them to help me set up a communal get together that will be part BBQ and part Ceilidh. That should give me the backdoor to introduce the idea of a tenants group.

Well that takes us to today as you see I am catching up on the blog, whilst I wait for the local kids to come out in numbers so that I can get them to deliver the flyer's about the get together.
I need to try and do some work on another writing project as well as blog on some of my friends who I have not introduced you too. Lots to do and little talent to do it with.