I seem to find myself in the position of being a director of a limited company. Not something I expected when I woke up this morning.

Its not as grand as it sounds however. For a start its an unpaid position. Might look good on the CV though.

Basically, at tonights EGM of the Citizens Advice Bureau we voted to wind up the current operation on Sept 30th and reconstitute on Oct 1st as a limited company. People on the current management committee/trustees will become directors of the new company. Its all down to some arcane reasons to do with governance or compliance or something, and will not affect the way the bureau provides its service or anything.

There have been a lot of changes in the few years I have been involved. At the start the people involved seemed to be nearly all middle-aged or retired women, mostly magistrates. Now there seem to be a lot of men who either work in, or have taken early retirement from banks and large corporations. They have brought with them their familiarity with modern management jargon and practises. Not that I am knocking the ladies. They are probably Tories, but of the old-fashioned church and community type who are not overly concerned with political dogma. They are usually fairly well off but get involved in everything going – WI, school governors, charities, etc. often hosting meetings or small social gatherings in support of various organisations and subtly subsidising the catering costs.

As a working class socialist these should not be my sort of people, and in an ideal world their efforts should not be required, but this is not an ideal world and they keep a lot of communities going. They are also a lot more laid-back about things than the businessmen who are getting involved now. During my four years on the council I met a lot of these middle class local philanthropists at functions and fetes, at AGMs and events and sometimes felt that half the charities in town would collapse without them.

I borrowed a CD from someone at work today by Vybz Kartel. I thought I would see what all the fuss is about with the accusations of homophobic lyrics and everything, but I am none the wiser: I couldn’t make out a word on the whole disc!

Not that I am counting, but… 9 days until the new TV arrives and I can see pictures which are not 80% red.