Brightening up the day

Off to Glasgow today. Bumped into Bruce Crawford MSP on a my way to the station and had a quick catch up. Bruce worked in the policy area I joined as a fresh faced civil servant nearly 40 years ago. He went down the political path and made his mark. While we did not mention her today we each remember a key member of the executive admin team - Molly Kerrr - who passed away many years ago now. A chain smoker she nevertheless knew the system and operated everything very precisely. Woe betide you if you did not docket something properly.

Despite the chat and two ticket machines not working properly I caught the train I wished and headed to Glasgow.

Two meetings today. The first - where I spotted these socks which required a surreptitious photo - was about one of the three programmes we are operating to progress the digital strategy. Lots and lots of detailed discussions about project methodology, timelines, agile development, principles of team working and compliance. A general consensus on how to move forward if we are to deliver the programme we wish.


Left me 20 minutes to walk to the next meeting without lunch on the Whole Systems Approach on youth justice and the gathering of evidence on how we might progress the agenda to make a positive differences for those caught up in the youth justice system.

Back to Edinburgh and with thanks to a colleague was able to get to the garage to collect the repaired car then call into the office to catch up. Then purchased some currency for next week's holiday and once home after 8 spent some time discussing the revised care arrangements for my elderly blind aunt.

The care provider supplied by the Council has changed this week and the support now comes in at 10 or so to provide breakfast ( my aunt rises at 7:30); give her lunch at 13:50; then comes in at 16:00 to give her her "dinner". This is not what we anticipated and it seems unreasonable to expect a blind 90 year old to have "dinner" 2 and a half hours after lunch and then nothing until 17 hours later. All upsetting her medication and her trips outa do distressing her.

So on to the email to see what can be changed.

At least the socks brightened up the day.