Super-organised Me

With my mum in hospital, I've had to be very organised this week - and, all things considered, I've done not too badly.
The daily routine has been adhered to with military efficiency:

6am Deal with personal stuff - letters, emails, domestic chores.
7am Shower and get ready for work - Sod's law, I've had builders in this week to rip out my kitchen and bathroom, and, if they're here, they're here at 8am.
8am - Down to work; our October deadline was on Friday and there is a lot to write about this month.
4:30pm - Home briefly to see and feed the cat and check mail (maybe manage tea with Caroline if time permits) before heading out to hospital. My mum's in the Royal, and I've been picking my dad up in Priestfield on the way, and the trip from Drylaw can take anything from 30 - 45 minutes. It doesn't seem to matter which route you take, road works are everywhere!
6:30pm - Visiting time. My mum's looking and sounding a lot better, but in a long talk with her doctor last Monday we were told that she will be kept in for at least 7 - 10 days. My mother handled that news far better than I thought she might, and my dad seems a a lot more settled in his own mind now that he knows what is going on. Visiting ends at 8pm.
8:30pm - Drop dad off at home and pick up any shopping I need before going home, then a light supper with Caroline if I didn't have time earlier (I've no kitchen so cooking is slightly problematic - Chez Pick's menu is currently rather limited and the healthy diet is no more!) before checking emails and going to bed, knackered, usually before 11pm.

Because of this schedule I missed a couple of evening meetings this week - Inverleith Neighbourhood Partnership and Drylaw Telford Community Council - but other than that I managed to get everything else done that I had to.
Monday saw first of the presentations to the Fairer Scotland Funding Panel in Forth. Six projects - all offering very different services - and the Panel will have to decide how best to allocate inadequate funds to support these. It will get harder - there are another ten projects to see on Thursday, the the really difficult bit begins when we start talking money ....
Got the last of the P1 pictures this week and also met a really nice local photographer who is staging an exhibition at North Edinburgh Arts Centre - some really nice images from Morocco, well worth a visit.
It was an unusually pleasant week for weather too, so on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning I finally managed to get my grass cut - due to all the rain we've had over the summer it was almost knee-high so it was a relief to finish cross this off the 'to do' list. I also had to go and pick tiles - this proved less of a trial than I thought it would and it was remarkably painless; they even had them in stock so I was able to take them away, so another job done.
Following phone calls from Forth branch members, I also submitted a letter to Labour Party HQ in Glasgow to express my own concerns over the recent selection process. There are questions to be answered about how this was conducted, and unless these answers are forthcoming our candidate does not have a legitimate mandate. However inconvenient it may be I think the selection meeting should be re-run - with the Labour Party's honesty and integrity under scrutiny like never before I believe it's essential that we are seen to do things right and get the campaign off to an untainted start. The letter went off on Thursday and I'll be interested to hear the Party's views.
Meanwhile, with everything else going on in my own wee world, there were lots of things happening in the wider world too. Gordon Brown's speech to Conference was a good one, although he is not one of the great natural speakers - Neil Kinnock, for all his faults, was an inspirational orator and one of the best I ever heard.
We also saw the American financial meltdown, with the resultant tremors felt all over the world. Here, we've seen another bank, Bradford & Bingley, nationalised - whoever would have dreamed that we'd ever have heard that word again in modern day politics? There was the Presidential hopefuls' 'head to head' - because of the parlous state of the US economy this eagerly-anticipated debate got nothing like the coverage you would have expected, and from what I've seen and read it was a bit flat, the pundits' vedicts being a rather disappointing draw. And there was the death of Paul Newman - one of the last of a generation of genuine movie 'greats' - died yesterday. Yes, lots happening out there, but with so much happening on my own domestic front there just isn't the time to digest it all.
Today, more clearing out of Drylaw Towers to allow the builders to come in and do their worst, lightened (perhaps) by a trip to Easter Road this afternoon to watch Hibs humble the mighty 'Gers! We live in hope ...
Then it's back out to hospital this evening.
One benefit of getting up ridiculously early is seeing some glorious dawns - the above picture is of an impressive sunrise over Drylaw this morning.
That's all for now then, folks - I've got a house to clear! See you next week.

Life's ups and downs

The week couldn't have started better - a big family get-together last weekend up near Aberfoyle in the most beautiful of surroundings (above), with a fun day at Nick Nairn's Cook School to celebrate Caroline's birthday - a real tonic after a difficult week.
Back to Edinburgh on Tuesday afternoon and real life took over again. The banking crisis boiled over with the loss of the Bank of Scotland - and doubtless thousands of jobs too.
Locally, the City's Labour Party organised a selection meeting to find a replacement for Elizabeth with rather indecent haste - a very tight timetable saw a selection meeting held just a week to the day since Elizabeth's funeral, angering many local party activists. This mood was not helped by a supporter of one candidate - who really should have known better - reportedly calling branch members to solicit support for their chosen candidate even before the process - or the candidate list - was formally announced! The candidates themselves only learned that they had been short-listed on Friday afternoon, just four hours before the selection hustings!
Unsurprisingly, given the circumstances - just five days notice, holding the meeting on a Friday night and members' anger about the whole process - there were insufficient local party members present on the night so the CLP Executives of West and North and Leith took part in the vote. The result was predictable, and I suspect may have been rather different had the process not been quite so rushed and local branch members had had a greater opportunity to have their say.
There is talk of official protests, and a number of local members have said that they will not work for the party during the campaign, sickened by what one claims was a 'stitch-up'. That's unfortunate as Labour will need 'all hands on deck' to hold on to a seat in Forth. It seems inconceivable that Labour could not have a presence in a seat with such huge swathes of working class votes, but these are difficult times and recent events have shown that there is no longer any such thing as a safe Labour seat. It promises to be a fascinating campaign - the by-election takes place on 6 November.
By a strange coincidence, the Labour Party conference kicked off in Manchester at the weekend and the call will be for unity. I would expect members to rally round the Prime Minister at conference - and I still don't see anyone of real stature who could conceivably fill his boots. It would be madness, political suicide even, to ditch Gordon Brown now.
However all the local shenanigans and even those national and global events paled into insignificance at the weekend when my old mum was rushed into hospital in the early hours of Saturday morning. She remains very poorly, so all plans have been rearranged to make sure we can spend as much time at her bedside as we can.
Global crises and even Labour Party leaders will come and go, but you only have one mum.

A return to real life

A Fitting Tribute
Yesterday's funeral service, while of course desperately sad, was also a real celebration of Elizabeth's remarkable life. Elizabeth organised the detail of order of service herself and I'm sure she would have been very satisfied by the way things went - even the sun was shining!
Personal friends of many years Cardinal Keith O'Brien and Eric Milligan shared their memories of Elizabeth with the hundreds who packed into Warriston, painting a picture of a woman with a joyous zest for life, a deep love of family and friends and a driven and committed politician. Whatever your views on Elizabeth - and as such a huge personality she attracted strong opinions - no-one can doubt the impact she's had on political life in Edinburgh during her remarkable life, or the massive gap her passing will leave in North Edinburgh.
I don't tend to cry at funerals, but there were a number of times over the course of the day when I nearly 'lost it'. Once, when I spoke to members of Elizabeth's Pilton Equalities Project who are completely bereft and shocked; again, when I saw the pain in the eyes of Elizabeth's close friends Brian Fallon and Paul Nolan, both of whom were finding it very difficult to find the words to express what they were feeling. And again, when I reached the top of the steps to the crematorium and glanced back over my shoulder to see an incredible queue of hundreds of mourners snaking it's way from the front gates all the way towards to the chapel. Hundreds of people for whom Elizabeth clearly meant something. On the darkest of days this massive show of support must have offered at least some little solace to the family. And finally, when meeting Betty Scammell, Elizabeth's mother, after the service. Betty conducted herself with so much dignity whilst going through a day which I am sure she could never have thought she would ever see.
Service over, there was the opportunity to meet and exchange small talk with many people you've not met for a long time - and, in all likelihood, who you may not greet again until another occasion like this one. Dozens of well-kent faces from the Labour Party, more old than new, old colleagues from Lothian Region and friends and colleagues from the North Edinburgh community who have moved on. Promises to keep in touch, which somehow never materialise because mundane, ordinary everday life becomes the norm again.
We spent the rest of the afternoon - and a fair part of the early evening too - in the Jinglin' Geordie, reliving the old days with some old pals and inevitably talking about what happens next. Life doesn't stand still, and a by-election beckons. That will all be sorted out over the coming weeks, but whoever is selected to fight the seat for Labour - and whoever is ultimately elected as the new member for Forth ward - has an almost impossible act to follow. If the new representative can be half as effective as Elizabeth was over the years at arguing her corner, dealing with constituents problems and working tirelessly for the people of Granton, North Edinburgh and beyond - then they will be doing well indeed.
After the holidays I will compile a celebration of Elizabeth's life for next month's NEN - contributions are flowing in already and we won't be short of material.

New Challenges
As I say, life goes on. Today, we will find out who has won the contest to lead the Labour Group in Holyrood. By all accounts it's too close to call between Iain Gray and Cathy Jamieson, though I think it will be the former. Whoever is successful has a major rebuilding job on his/her hands, and there's no doubting the scale of the challenge faced by the new leader.
Another young man facing a new challenge today is Derek Riordan. The prodigal son has returned to Easter Road and his re-signing has given supporters a much-needed lift. I was one who didn't want to see him go in the first place - he is one of the most naturally gifted young players in have seen for years, and managed to shine in a team that was blessed with an abundance of young talent. He's kicked his heels on the periphery at Celtic Park for two years, but I'm sure that Derek has lost none of his prodigious skills or talent over that time. And with an added maturity (well, hopefully!) and with the extra motivation of proving some people wrong, like most Hibs fans I'm expecting great thinks of young Deek.

Back to Work
If this week was dominated by Elizabeth's death, next week will see a return to what passes as 'normal'.
First up, a couple of day's holiday with the extended family to celebrate Caroline's birthday then there's a pretty full work diary. Too many meetings, as ever, but lightened by the delightful job of getting photographs of this year's P1 intake at all of our local schools. It's incredibly difficult to get twenty-plus four and five year olds to all look at the camera and smile at the same time, but it's good fun trying!
Less fun - but crucially important nonetheless - will be the FSF funding panel meetings. Elizabeth's passing meant that the dates are being rescheduled and these will be finalised next week.
So as I said life does go on, but it will be a less colourful one without Elizabeth's presence here in North Edinburgh.

Elizabeth's funeral

Elizabeth's funeral takes place at midday today at Warriston. It's been a surreal week - so many people I've spoken to are finding this all so difficult to take in. It is impossible to believe that someone so full of life and energy, someone who had such a huge role within this community is now longer among us.
I will post again later - in the meantime, like many hundreds of others, I will pay my last respects. My thoughts are with Michael and his family and hope that they will get through what is going to be a hugely difficult day.

A huge shock and a terrible sense of loss

God knows, I had plenty to moan about this week. The list was as long as your arm, then to compound it all I found my PC unavailable all day Sunday after uploading an 'upgrade' from Microsoft.
For the record, the things that caused me so much grief were:

The shitty weather (particularly the absence of any summer),
A severe and very painful case of athlete's foot - and heavens knows I'm no athlete, no doubt picked up at Ainslie Park during my 'get fit' period,
Dobbies Garden Centre clearing their shelves to make way for CHRISTMAS stock (on 6 September!),
Scotland's predictable failure in Macedonia,
Covering the NEN office alone - hobbling aboot - as Mary is on holiday and Vic was also signed off sick,
The shitty weather again ...
Computer failure just when you need it most ...

Fairly inconsequential in the great scheme of things, I agree, but enough to put me down in the dumps, if not clinically depressed. Irked. Annoyed.

However, by the time I did finally get the computer up and running again on Sunday things had changed. I had heard that Elizabeth Maginnis has died. All those minor irritations suddenly become exactly that - of no importance. Life, which generally goes along on a fairly even kilter with the occassional wobble, suddenly goes seriously askew. Things have changed - life is different.

I will post at length later on. Elizabeth's death - apparently of a brain haemorrhage - comes as an almighty shock. Other than the usual cliches like 'huge personality', 'a great loss to North Edinburgh and city politics as a whole' I just can't think of anything new or original to say about her just now.
We met three times last week and she was as full of life - and fight - as ever she was. And now she's gone.

As I said, I will post at more length later but for the moment I'll think about things and try to get this all into perspective. My athlete's foot is stil sair, my job is in the balance but Christ ... I'm still here.

It's now early Monday morning, I can't sleep and at 9:30 our Funding Panel will go through the applicants who are seeking Fairer Scotland Funding. Most of my weekend was spent reading the submissions - all very worthy in different ways but we all know there just isn't enough money in the pot to meet demands, thanks to the Edinburgh Partnership. It's grim ...
Speak to you later