Monday January 23rd, 2006
Where did 2005 go? Simple, it came and went without me having access to my BLOG due to the Technical Whizz, Gazza, devoting all his technical Whizzardry to machines other than mine. Typical, the cobblers child is always worst shod!
Looking back at the last entry, I shall bore in a similar fashion by making reference to the entries therein.
The Gluten-free baking course was fun. I now know how to make organic lead-bread at home, and I could, if I wanted to, make leaden pastry that would keep the most masochistic vegan self-satisfied for a month! It did give me some ideas to develop myself though, and I have devised an excellent pancake recipe using what we now call the magic ingredient - tapioca flour. It makes lovely, tasty pancakes that can be rolled without cracking and make divine wraps for portable food - essential when I travel since nobody seems able to feed me anything other than fish and dry salad- see the poetry section, Coeliac Dis-ease, for a heartfelt lament on the treatment I get. For those of you who would like to be able to feed coeliacs something other than fish and lettuce, here goes:-
Gluten-free pancakes
4 heaped tablespoons of rice flour
2 heaped tablespoons of tapioca flour
2 large, organic, free range eggs
Sea salt
1 tsp gluten-free baking powder - optional
Milk - see recipe for quantity
Sift the flours into a bowl, preferably one with a pouring lip. If adding baking powder, add it at this point and mix in well. This makes a very bubbly batter, unsuitable for wraps as the filling will leak, but fabulous for dribbling maple syrup on to.
Add the eggs and salt. Start whisking the eggs into the flour until it becomes too stiff then gradually add the milk. Add sufficient milk to make the batter the consistency you want - like thick double cream for American style pancakes or drop scones, much thinner for crêpes. Whisk until completely lump free.
This batter is, like many batters, better if left to stand, covered, for at least half an hour, but the flours will settle, so be sure to whisk again before using.
Fry in a good none-stick crêpe pan or frying pan using whatever oil you prefer, until the base is flecked with brown and the top is just set. BEWARE this is best done over a low to moderate heat, so be patient or you will burn the bottom before the top has set. Flip over and cook the other side until flecked with brown. Keep in a low oven, separating the pancakes with greaseproof paper, until you have cooked the batch.
Serve with whatever you like to serve pancakes with. We like home made jam (jelly to those in America) maple syrup, honey or even bacon and other savouries. These pancakes can also be used as a gluten-free substitite for lasagne or canneloni.
My sleep patterns are as erratic as ever, hence writing this at 06.00 after having been awake since 02.00. No matter, I fit more into each day that most as I have more day to fit it into.
The Council work continues unabated, but now I have the additional responsibility of being Chair of the Keighley College Board of Governors. You would not believe how demanding and time-consuming that role is. I often start my meetings there at 07.30. Good thing I don't sleep well!
My mother has finally handed over 100% responsibility for her house in Spain to me which effectively means no more holidays, only working trips to Spain. We have managed to have the tree that was leaning on her roof removed, and have cleared the garden, but after 30+ years of neglect, there is an enormous amount of work to do. However, we have found a builder and a garden contractor, so all it will need now is time and money.
My father's probate has not been sorted out yet, even though he died almost ten years ago, so we also have to deal with a spanish Solicitor. We complain about our bureaucracy, but we are not even on the starting blocks compared with the Spanish! We have been to Spain twice in 2005 - both terribly hard work trips, and we are going again in June. What fun!
We did Christmas Hampers again this year and I did another one for the Lord Mayor's Christmas Charity event. Even so, the larder shelves are still stuffed with produce, the highlight of which is Dragon Jam and Tom O'Shanter jam. Intrigued? Well I shall tell all.
I have watched TV chefs prepare what they call chilli jam, but what is actually a sweet and thick chilli sauce, since it does not keep. I determined to try to make a real chilli jam (jelly) and experimented with red chillis - excellent. It set beautifully and made you breathe fire, hence the name 'Dragon Jam'.
Flushed with success and enthusiasm (typical) I went to the Asian supermarket and bought 1.5 kilos of green chillis, which led to much speculation at the check-out queue (line) and amusing discussions and recipe swapping with fellow customers. Anyway, I made Green Dragon jam - delicious spread thinly over Cheshire or Wensleydale cheese.
Fired with wild enthusiasm now (the pun was intentional) I determined to make more with red chillis - this time with Scotch Bonnet chillis. Another success, but this time when I tasted it, it nearly blew my head off, so I had to add a catering can of tomatoes and more sugar and boil it up again, hence the name Tom (short for tomato) O'Shanter, the Tam O'Shanter being a kind of Scotch Bonnet.
It really is fiery, delicious and very versatile. It can be thinned with warm water to make a sweet chilli sauce, added to foods as an ingredient to add fiery sweetness, added to fruit salad to stop it being terminally boring, or used as a condiment with savoury foods. The Green Dragon Jam is particularly good with sharp, white cheeses. This time I will not share the recipe. Instead, I will send samples to the Wenslydale Creamery to see if they will market it for me.
I went to Skipton last week to visit Craven College - great visit. I just happened to call Spinks packaging and popped in and bought £80.00 worth of jars and lids, so 2006 could be another bumper year for preserving. Would anyone care to buy some jam (jelly) piccalilli, pickles ot mustards, then I can make some shelf space?
Thursday October 28th
Nearly November and I am asking, where did 2004 go? In a whirl of elections and conferences and Council work I suppose, along with pickling, jam making, art work and socialising.I couldn't have been more wrong about the Social Services Conference. It hard work but very interesting and surprisingly good fun, especially the social event. Wow, do those Senior Social Services Officers know how to Party!?! I really feel that I have learned a lot, not least to roll my prejudices into a ball and kick them into touch.
I have done two training sessions this week plus a children's home inspection and I feel that my brain is well overstuffed and in need of a rest. Sadly, rest is something that I'm not getting much of at the moment. My sleep patterns are really erratic, the only consistent factor being a lack of it. I used to get six hours a night. Now I am lucky to get three.
Tomorrow I am doing a Standards Committee determination on a local member. The background reading was an enormous file and a CD. I will have to try very hard to control my body language and facial expression during the proceedings - tough one that.
The hamper ingredients and packaging materials are now all acquired and stashed ready for assembly. We have chocolate boxes, chocolate wrappers, cellophane, gingham, ribbons, bows, baskets, jams, marmalades and pickles. The chocolates will be made nearer the time but the rest is ready for off. All I need now is some more preserving labels to stick on the latest batch of pickles - red cabbage with prunes.
The gluten-free baking course is just over a week away and I am really looking forward to it? I have to make a rice flour sourdough starter to take with me - goodness knows how I will maintain the right temperature to do it, but no doubt scientist Gazza will help. Maybe the hampers will contain something baked too?
Off to bed for a few hours sleep before the hearing tomorrow. I should buy some more jars and ingredients in an effort to preserve my sanity!
It is a long time since I last updated this thing and much has happened, not all of it good. 5 days after the last BLOG entry we went to the caravan storage site to load the caravan for the annual jollyday to find that it had gone - all of it - contents and all, missing without trace. We reported it to the Police and to the site owner who was so aggressively disowning of the issue that we are convinced he had something to do with it.
Anyway, the following morning I woke early with the kind of single-mindedness that only I can muster, determined that the b*stards might have stolen our caravan, but they were not going to steal our holiday. Several forays on to the Net and I found a caravan hire service very near to where we had booked the holiday and booked a hired caravan for the required time. Waking Garrath up was an uphill struggle so I resorted to promises of a downhill ride out of bed and he grumped into life. The deal comfirmed, we set about packing and set off, collected a luxurious caravan and had a splendid holiday. In fact we liked the caravan so much that we spent much of the break arranging finance and bought the identical model. See what you can do with positive thinking!
Since then life has been crazy whirl of Council stuff, Keighley College, Aire Wharfe Community Housing Trust, Airedale Partnership Board etc. etc. plus seminars and conferences. It all seems to be heavyweight stuff and pretty mind boggling.such that at times I have wondered where I was and what I was doing. In two consecutive days this month I had twelve meetings - all weighty - and by meeting twelve I was near brain dead. Consequently we have determined to have at least one weekend away per month, for the sake of sanity, and wherever possible, to use the caravan.
We have had two splendid weekends in Bridgnorth and have a third booked in December near to my birthday. In Novemeber I go on the Gluten-freee baking course at the Village Bakery Melmerby, Cumbria, and we have booked into the caravan site just 150 metres from the bakery. As Garrath pointed out - even better, it is only 100 metres from the pub! So Garrath will get a recreational weekend while I have a working one, but it has nothing to do with Council and we will be together in the evenings.
On to the baskets. The home-made jams and marmalades have been joined by 2.5 kilos of pickled onions (I couldn't pass up the bargain net of onions at Bridgnorth market) so the cellar larder shelves are groaning under the weight of home produce. We have decided, therefore, that this year's Solstice/NewYear gifts will be hampers full of home-made goodies. I determined that we would do it properly with proper baskets, gingham and cellophane and bows and all so I went back on to the Net for suppliers. A search on anything invariably comes up with e-bay so I put in a few bids here and there. A bid of £7.50 for 'a selection of baskets' was successful so we had to detour to Coventry to collect during our weekend in Bridgnorth. Imagine our delight when the baskets turned out to be a collection of very high quality wickerware that must have been very expensive when new.
More baskets have arrived from a manufacturer in Somerset - not cheapies this time, but gorgeous and just right for the job. I have purchased lots of gingham, cellophane and bows so we have a cellar stuffed with packaging, baskets as well as the home preserves. Roll on Christmas then we can make some space in the cellar. I think I might try selling some hampers on eBay or maybe the local produce markets.
This must be the conferences and seminar season and I seem to be getting more than my fair share of these. I have just returned from ab APSE Seminar on waste management and I'm off again on Wednesday to the Annual Social Services Conference in Newcastle. Three days surrounded by Social Workers is not my idea of fun and organising for this is proving to be a nightmare. Garrath is away Monday Tuesday Wednesday, I am away Wednesday Thursday Friday so we have to organise dog-sitting for Wednesday. Aaaaaaaaaargh! In spite of having to be 'sat' the dog gets to see more of us than we get to see of each other!
Such is life! Must go - I have jam to re-boil and jar up. Putting it into glasses just doesn't work.
This Friday, Saturday and Sunday has Ilkley's Continental Market and, hyped as it was in the Council's press, I wanted to see it for myself, primarily to see if it could work for Keighley. This was a considerable sacrifice on my part as Ilkley, the poor man's Harrogate, is a Tory bastion, the land of the pseudo-riche!
I had arranged to go with Rita but on arrival at her house, I found her still in her nightie, looking grim. A close encounter of the dietary kind meant that she could not stray far from the sanctuary of her own bathroom. I stayed long enough to have a cup of tea and a chat and to dicover that her delightful dog, Millie, was riddled with fleas. Rita is sensitive to chemicals so I got the job that only a true friend would be prepared to do - de-flea-ing Millie. Naturally I scratched all day!
I called in at my Mum's who was delighted to report that the fireworks that the warden of her sheltered residence had complained to me about had stopped. Success - and much quicker than I had anticipated.
She came with me to the Continental market and we reached a joint conclusion that it was, in the main, pretentious, overpriced and overrated! I am sure that we could do it better in Keighley, but then again, it is my claim that we do everything better in Keighley.
The market did have one very good stall selling Spanish produce. I regret not getting the Wild Boar Ham (I may dash across today) but I did get a bargain buy of five Chorizo for a tenner. I had originall bought two for a fiver but returned for two more, by which time they were on offer for five for a tenner so the very nice Spanish gent gave me made the number up to five. I use Chorizo a lot in cooking and its price in the English Supermarkets is considerably higher than the market price.
We went into an Arts and Crafts fair at the Crescent Hotel where we found a delightful couple who make and sell hand made pens. I found one in the same rainbow striped wood that my new mules have on their heels (called diamond wood, apparently) so I bought it. That has to be the ultimate in colour co-ordination!
I called in at a hardware shop that has been there for eons and Lo and Behold, they had a stainless steel jam pan on special offer - RRP £60.00, offer price 29.99 and with a free jam thermometer. I'd seen a similar one in Iceland at £49.99 so I had to have it, alomg with other necessities like fish pin-bone tweezers, crab picks and ceramic baking beans.
That brings tha jam pan count to four and the jam thermometer count to five. I wouldn't care, but none of the jam thermometers work. The saucer test is far more accurate! The really good news is that they always stock jam jars, so I won't have to go to Harrogate in future. The bad news is that I will have to go to Ilkley!
On the route back to the car there was a closing down sale and a neat little linen designer outfit and a cute black mac threw themselves at me. Who am I to resist? It has never ceased to amaze me that you get such bargains in the land of the pseudo-riche but as both my Mum and Cath have observed - they only get to be that way by being tight-wads!
Garrath is 2/3 way though fitting the new shower, so with luck, he we will be able to shower tomorrow when he gets up at Daft o'ckock to go to Slough and I will have a lie-in until 07.00. What joy!
Last Thursday a reconvened meeting of the Planning Committee involving a site visit to Ilkley got me half way to Harrogate, so at the end of the meeting I proceded to the Mecca of all cooks, the Lakeland shop, accompanied by Cllr Cath Rowen. Cath wanted the new Lakeland catalogue and was prepared to accompany me on the understanding that I would get her to City Hall for a 17.30 meeting.
A short dash across Harrogate with a longer stagger back and I had achieved my mission - the purchase of 48 jam jars with lids, waxed circles etc. Bless Cath, she carried one of the enormous carrier bags back to the car for me so I won't have to go back to Harrogate for a while.
Ilkley and Harrogate all in one day was a real stress on someone like myself who loathes snobbery and pretension with a passion. Both have more than anybody's fair share of quivering snobs and pseudo-toffs! Yeuk! I felt the need to bathe and read Marx at the end of the day. Fortunately Cath shares my disdain for the nouveau posh, so we were like a pair of Vampire Slayers in Transylvania!
I took a selection of home made stuff into Ann's office as a thankyou to Cath who got first pick, and goodies were shared out. I have always suspected that Jim is a closet Designer Leftie and he confirmed it by choosing Mango and nut Marmalade. Cath chose the 'Oops, Its Not Prune' relish and Seville Orange Marmalade, Zahler's Mum chose the Lime Marmalade via the phone. Poor Mark had gone away for the weekend so he had to have the leftovers - Crab Apple Jelly and Citrus and Ginger Marmalade.
The 'Oops Its Not Prune' title and recipe came from my tendency to put things into glass jars without labelling them. (I do the same in the freezer, so we have lots of 'Surprise Soup' in our house). Having soaked what I thought were prunes and noted their strangely red colour, I had to dream up a recipe for spicy, sun-dried tomato relish.
The object of the Harrogate trip was to free up freezer space by using the saved-up citrus peels to make marmalade. I had intended to go to Shipley open market at the end of Saturday to buy up bargain soft fruits to go with the citrus, but in the evnt I found cartons of grapefruit and orange juice and bottles of lemon and lime juice that needed using and I made do with them. A weekend of intensive labour and a process that is cross between Alchemy and Vulcanology has left me with several burns and seventeen and a half pounds of Five Fruit Marmalade. Guess what everybody is getting for gifts - again!
On Sunday I charged Garrath with the responsibility of making labels for this latest batch of goodies, but he was in full 'grumpy, precious and paranoid' mode so the labels never did get made. I had to write some by hand instead - less than satisfactory. Oh s*d it. I'm going on to the Web to find some pretty labels. I went, I found some & I bought them! Was there life before the web?
On Saturday and Sunday the social activity continued to be hectic and fun - an ever extending circle of friends to restore our souls. They even managed to break through Garrath's 'grumpy, precious and paranoid' mode. Amazing!
Today I went to Doncaster for a meeting of Tribunal Chairs (I am one) with the new Chief Executive of the particular Tribunals Service of which I am part - a nice guy, very sharp, very focussed and very clear thinking about the future. Unfortunately one of our number was egocentric, boorish, sexist and just plain rude. I have phoned the Regional Office to disassociate myself from his behaviour and indicate that I would prefer not to be part of meetings at which he is present. It is shameful that in 2004 there are still bigoted sexist bullies in positions of influence. I, for one, am not prepared to let such behaviour go unchallenged.
I still seem to be fighting the same battles that I was fighting in the 1970's. The same atrocious behaviours, though sometimes more subtle, the same unacceptable attiudes seem now to be on the increase. Feminism has been systematically discredited and ridiculed without the injustices of sexism being addressed and gender inequality has been pushed further and further down the hierarchy of opression. That prat from UKIP just about said it all. It riles me that the issue of child care is still seen exclusively as a woman's issue. It takes two to make a baby, it should take two to share responsibility for rearing them. The sexist dinosaur is alive and well and living in Britain!
Incidentally, I reserve the right to make jam, wear make-up, love shoes and nice clothes and still be a feminist. Part of the idea of gender equality is being equally valued no matter what you are/do/wear.
A splendid afternoon that went on well into the evening was had by all yesterday, not least by Be-Bop who had a wonderful swimming session. We met our friends at the Boat House (pub and restaurant) where we sat outside enjoying the very warm sunshine and an assortment of beverages. I sat with my back to the sun with the result that I have a deeply tanned back of the neck! Be-Bop dried naturally in the sunshine and now looks like he has had a 70's style perm. We call this his swimming curls.
Good news - Kath and Richard are planning to buy an apartment in Turkey and moving out there. They are thinking about getting married before they go and they have asked Garrath if he would be the Bridesmaid. I think this might be realated to the fact I have been the Best Man twice at weddings. Garrath was, of course, delighted at the invitation, which he accepted, and celebrated in style. Much hilarious discussion followed about the frock and the Butt Bow!
We never did get to eat the chicken last night but opted instead for quick snack and the TV!
Is it always the case that when one part of your life takes a downward turn, another part takes an upward turn? This is certainly true in my case. The spaces left by political exile have been more than filled by a very full and varied social life, evidence, if any were needed, of the wisdom of keeping politics and friendship very separate. That is not to say that you cannot make friends with political colleagues, but that you must keep political and social aspects of your life very clearly delineated, and it absolutely essental to make and maintain friendships with people completely outside politics.
We have been enjoying something of a social frenzy even before Sarah's visit last week. Long-standing friends, Anne & Chris took us to the Leeds open-air concert at Temple Newsam - a great event starring Lesley Garrett and Chris, of course in his role as first desk trombonist with Opera North. Great music, great wine, great picnic, great company and unexpectedly good weather. What more can anyone ask?
We have been out with Kath and Richard too many times for healthy bank balances and last night we had Rita - another friend of long standing - over for dinner. Isn't it amazing - Rita and I have known each other for well over ten years and only last night did she discover that I am a fanatical foodie - something else we have in common! We can now look forward to endless foodie-anorak conversations to increase our already extensive conversational repertoire!
We had a great meal - smoked salmon and smoked salmon & mascarpone cream (newly invented) with home-made fennel cole-slaw for starters, garlic/rosemary roast lamb & a red wine sauce with mediterranean roast vegetables with thyme, rosemary, basil, feta and mozarella for mains, then macerated mango & strawberries with a lime and ginger/shortbread gluten-free biscuit crumb cream (also newly invented) for pud. (Recipes will follow on the Web site shortly).
Today we are planning to take the dog for a WALK down to the CANAL for a SWIM so he can go SPLISH SLOSH IN THE WATER! It is a delight to write those words in capitals since we cannot say any of them at home or Be-Bop goes into a wild frenzy of excitement, grabs his water toy and demands to be taken immediately. At the end of the swimming expedition, the highlight of Be-Bop's life, we will meet with Anne, Chris, Kath & Richard for more good wine and good company, then we'll totter home contentedly to partake of more good food - Organic, free-range chicken done in the Romerttopf with lemon and garlic, I fancy, with new potatoes in parsley butter and a rocket, watercress and baby spinach salad with a balsamic vinegar (the good stuff) and extra virgin olive oil (also the good stuff) dressing. What a life!
Having been sent to the political equivalent of Siberia by my Labour Group Colleagues for daring to challenge the Boys' Club culture, I was in dire need of something to restore my morale, so I did what works best in such situations - went on a serial spender-bender! I shall be the best dressed exile in Labour Group!
Two consecutive Fridays of Chairing Valuations Tribunals had me in close proximity to two favourite shops so I did not even try to resist the lure of retail therapy, but instead made three therapy sessions out of two opportunities. Good eh?
Two were in Leeds where there is a discount shoe shop and near the Civic Hall. On the way I bought two pairs of pretty ballet-style flats (one black, one white) and on the way back, a pair of ridiculously silly and pretty black and perspex mules with bizarre, rainbow striped incurved heels - delicious. I shall always regret not buying the white pair too!
The third was inWakefield where the Tribunal was held close to an incredibly posh frock shop that had that magically alluring but and deadly sign - SALE! There I bought a fabulous (and fabulously expensive) Designer ensemble in white denim overprinted with a very pretty floral pattern, sufficiently reduced in price to make me dive into the credit card with a promise to catch up on my expenses claim.
I hate doing expenses claims and regularly lose entitlement by not doing them within the six month time limit. Only poverty/Garrath's nagging/a spender bender prompts me to do this tedious but necessary task. I can invent an infinity of excuses and/or distractions to avoid them, but I did manage to do three sheets between the Wakefield tribunal and a Street Surgery in Holycroft.
The Street Surgery went very well, not surprisingly since we had our Favourite P.C. in attendance. We engaged with a bunch of young people, some lovely Asain ladies and were alerted to a potentially serious problem by a very nice couple. Khadim looked at a planning problem (off limits to John and I as we are both on the Planning Committee) and Graham (the PC) issued a fixed penalty ticket and got some useful intelligence about risky people in the area.
Last time we did a Street Surgery with Graham we got an arrest in record time which apparently has concentrated the minds of the local miscreants. Maybe the fixed penalty notice will re-inforce this. It is always such a pleasure working with Graham. He has a lovely, avuncular manner whilst being very firm and resolute. Of all the things I have done as Councillor I think the partnership working with the Police has been the most rewarding. There is real trust there and that is to the benefit of everyone.
A friend of very long standing came to stay. The 'Old Friend" in the title is me, since I am 20 years older than Sarah, but that has never got in the way of an enduring friendship of over 11 years duration. Sarah is a PhD. in Chemistry and Writer in Residence for Cambridge University and a freelance science writer specialising in pharmaceuticals. Ironically, she has a new boyfriend who is training to be a Homeopath. Hard Science meets Hocus Pocus! I'd like to meet the guy as I have never seen Sarah happier.
She was heading to Sheffield to see family after going to Sheffield Wednesday's match in York (we share a penchant for masochism) so did the detour to see us. We went out to the Old Tramsheds for dinner, which was excellent as usual. We tottered home and I resorted to elegant somnambulence reclining on the sofa. Garrath decscribed this as 'collapsed in a drunken heap' - untrue and unkind!
Fine food, fine wine, fine friendship. Who cares about being exiled by the Boys' Club? Not me!
The trusty Toyota Corolla was taken to the garage today for a service and to try to find out why the ABS light is always on. The Service went OK but they were unable to solve the mystery of the ABS light, so I have had to book it in for computer diagnosis at the local Toyota garage, then after the computer diagnosis, arrange to take it back to the garage to have whatever Gremlin is causing the problem removed. Aaaaaaaaaargh! Cars! They are wonderful when they are working but a terrible trouble and toil when they're not!
The car being garaged forced me to get the train to Keighley to meet with a Ward colleague and a potential developer to look at a site within Keighley Central. The train ride was fun and I even had time to spare. I'm ashamed to say that I did not know that the Grade 2 listed building in discussion existed until this appointment was made, but I do now, and I look forward to it being preserved, developed and enhanced.
This is yet another example of how the pains and rigours of being elected can be worthwhile. It is a rare priviledge afforded to very few people, but as Councillors, we do get the chance to make a real difference. Every time I walk around Keighley, I can see things that have changed for the better with my direct help. Would that all my efforts were successful (they are not) but those that are make all the endless hard work worthwhile.
I got the train back to Shipley to be picked up by Garrath (the trusty spouse) and carted into Shipley to sort out boring banking matters and his expiring passport. This involved seemingly endless traipsing between Post Office and photographer, and since I wasn't wearing tights or socks, the joy of blistered feet. Honestly, I am so used to having the car that my feet can't cope with walking without protective footwear.
Back to the garage for the freshly serviced car and then home to find that a visitor to the antisocial neighbours had parked outside my house under the CCTV cameras. I asked her to move the car but got the customary household attitude problem response -provocative, argumentative, uncooperative. It just adds weight to the argument that you can take the neighbour out of the sink estate but you can't take the sink estate out of the neighbour.
I don't have to pretend to understand how constituents feel when they have antisocial neighbours. I get plenty of practice understanding right here at home. This used to be a really quiet and nice place to live and just one family has ruined it for everyone. Thank goodness for the CCTV!
Yesterday a trip to Birmingham for the National Labour Women's forum and today's Civic Service for the New Lord Mayor, my friend and colleague Cllr Irene Ellison-Wood meant yet another working weekend with two very early starts.
Today's event meant wearing a very posh suit and splendid hat and dragging a reluctantly besuited Garrath to Keighley in his role as Mr. Councillor Joyce. My friend and colleague, Cllr. The Reverend Paul Flowers took one look at me when we arrived and said, "You look like a Tory!" I was reassured later by another colleague, Baroness Betty Lockwood who commented when I told her about this, "Nonsense! I won't let the Tories have that territory!"
We were supposed to parade from Cliff Castle to the shared church, but the summer downpour was so ferocious that we took the 'bus instead, so Garrath and I arrived on a splendid 1951 scarlet double-decker staffed by Town Councillor,' bus enthusiast and friend, Graham Mitchell.
I was then temporarily promoted from lowly back-bencher to front row Labour Representative by the fact that neither the Leader or Deputy Leader of Labour Group were in attendance. They were in good company since the Leaders and Deputy Leaders of both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Groups were also absent. Was it something we said?
The service was very well attended (with some notable exceptions) and.very well conducted with some very moving texts and delightful music from The Yorkshire Building Society Concert Brass. Yorkshire Brass Bands have a beautiful, fluid, flowing style that is unique and utterly captivating.
The wealth of good wishes towards Irene was a delight to witness, very warm and absolutely genuine. Garrath and I ( a Quaker-raised Atheist and a Lifelong Atheist) were unable to take part in the religious rituals but joined in the spirit of goodwill, good wishes and celebration.
We returned to Cliff Castle for refreshments, again by bus, and the atmosphere was very jolly. The Keighley Town Mayor presented Irene with a beautiful bouquet from the Town Council and the Town - a truly lovely gesture sincerely conveyed. We mixed and chatted with the great and the good and the ordinary and the good and had a really lovely time with some delightful people, all gathered to celebrate the inauguration of Bradford's First Citizen.
In the midst of this I had to go to the loo and on emerging from the toilet in my posh gear, a lady with two small boys said to them, "This must be a very important lady." I explained that I wasn't and told her about the function and she then said, "Oh, I recognise you now!" Then she said to her boys, "This lady is your Councillor and she makes sure that you get the best schools and roads and things." I then shook hands with two very grave little boys. Bless you madam. I wish that all parents would help their children understand what politics is about.
The downpours continued. My Keighley and District Transport 'The Zone' umbrella almost saved the day, but some raindrops did get on to the splendid hat and it has been marked. Is there a hat repairer in Keighley or will I be forced to buy another splendid hat? More clothes shopping. Ouch, that will be tough!
A strange day - just over a week after being re-elected as a Labour District Councillor in Keighley, I was on the way to the Historic Vehicles Rally where Garrath was to exhibit his newly restored old bike, but it had different ideas. It seems that the fortune in time & money spent on the restoration did not include making it go! So it splurted uncertainly back to the garage and we had to get into the car to go to the Rally.
I must have looked a strange sight donned in biker leathers but without a bike but there was no time to go home and change. It says a lot about the people of Keighley that nobody thought it odd and we were made as welcome as ever by the organisers, the Town Councillors and the many attendees whom I knew and spent a very pleasant time with.
The garage where Garrath rents space to store his beloved 1977 Honda CB 500 twin and its twin (rolling spares) is a somewhat rickety affair behind a restaurant, but, to my delight, it was covered in Ladybird nymphs and very newly hatched Ladybirds. The trusty Casio digital has recorded the fact that, newly emerged from the nymph casing, Ladybirds are translucent yellow with very faint spots and they need to rest and dry out in the sunshine which develops their colour and markings.
It was a rare priviledge to see this magical process - a true delight to restore soul and body exhausted from 3 months of election campaigning. It also demonstrates that though it might be a rickety old shed to you and me, it is a nursery for some of the prettiest and most beneficial insects in Britain. Watch out greenfly - the spotted army have arrived and your days are numbered!