Hose it out and start again... my days as a local government drone

In the chamber...This week we have faced local politicians who: want to tackle the 'recycling juggernaut'; promise to launch programs (that we already have) if elected; report back rapturously on projects completed in their term (that we have never heard of); who despite the colour of their party politics amble out of cafes with polystyrene cup in hand. And they all have awful giant smiling heads with bad hair - every single one of them. Where is the good hair and half decent fashion party when you need it?

On the streets...The resident who rang to emphatically stress that they want this 'reckless talk' of pond draining and 'mass kill mentality' to end. (We are talking about goldfish in a pond girls and boys.) The other resident who rang to demand a program be rescheduled because she will be away that weekend. Oh dear.

Back in the cube... we were indignant about flu shots and lack of notification, ads in papers without consultation and time slots given for talks. Uh huh. Friday night party pash gossip rippled back to me - at least it was movement in the stale gossip air. Today I made my fingers sore typing sensible reports and writing project plans ("maybe if I type fast enough I can do a year's work in the next 3 weeks before I go"), drank so much tea I sailed through the afternoon on a tea and pee pendulum. Or maybe it was a juggernaut.

Last week a highlight was when I lost my pen and had to use a rainbow coloured pencil to take notes in a meeting, the challenge of avoiding yellow kept me on my toes.