Diary of a Councillor - the beginning

Some of you may have already clocked that I am now a councillor.  For any of you who find that surprising just read on ...

Sunday 13th May 2012 

One week on …

Oh Boy!  The past few days have gone from one extreme to another – from euphoria to terror, from  ‘wow, fanastic’ to ‘oh my god, what have I let myself in for?!’  I can’t deny that in the past I have said quite openly that I needed to be a councillor like I needed a hole in the head, but things change, and I’ve changed.  Hopefully not my natural caring nature, but I’m now stronger so can withstand the sniping at Labour – the negative comments in the paper started from day one (fortunately there were positive ones too which helped) – and of course the ‘game’ of politics has rules that are open to any & every interpretation, and goalposts that move so quickly that if you blink they’ve already gone!

Swansea Civic Centre and Council Offices

So what’s happened so far?  Well, apart from gaining 48 fellow Labour councillors and being part of regaining the council, I’ve also gained a pigeon hole, filing cabinet drawer, pass, council e-mail address (and 14 e-mails even before I’ve done anything!), had my photo taken, and received so much information my brain’s on fire.  Had a guided tour around the cabinet corridor and the offices of the Leader & Deputy, been allocated an admin support assistant, who I have made good use of already, and attended an interesting but very ‘heavy’ day’s induction giving an overview on the different services provided by the council, and the role of the Chief Executive (who rather weirdly was my bosses boss for a few months at Swansea College).  And most importantly found the staff canteen!

Les

PS    I expect I’ve forgotten something!
PPS    Still I don’t really believe I’m a councillor!!
PPPS    Couldn’t have done it without Jeff – he’s a diamond!!!