The title, of course, refers to a training film made by John Cleese’s company Video Arts. They were great training films, and I notice on their website that they are still selling them, so obviously nobody has come up with anything better in the last 11 years. Some time ago, when I was living in London, there was a Monty Python festival at the Barbican Centre, and the Sunday was declared John Cleese Day. I went up there and went to a free showing of 2 episodes of Fawlty Towers plus one of those training films, and the audience found the training film as funny as the comedy shows.

Anyway, before the June elections I could find myself out at meetings 4 nights a week, sometimes two meetings in an evening, and the odd daytime meeting or training session. On top of that there were official Deputy Mayoral events. I took it all in my stride and didn’t really realise how much time was being taken up until I stopped doing it all. I am still involved in a few things (Labour Party, Community Centre, Citizens Advice Bureau) but they have all been having a summer break from meetings. Now everything is getting back to normal and I had a Labour meeting last week, a CAB meeting tonight and on Thursday, next week a Community Centre meeting, and the week after another Labour meeting. The thing is that it seems like a lot. How on earth did I manage before?

Tonight’s meeting was OK though. The local CAB will be 50 years old next year so we were discussing how this event should be marked. We came up with a few ideas which might work. I’m only a little bit worried that a lot depends on the local press being positive and supportive and just lately they have been anything but. The real problem with the CAB is that very few people realise that its a charity. The general assumption is that it is a government department or something so nobody thinks of donating money to it. The local Community Centre is in a similar position really.

Today’s good meeting-related news is that we do not have to face the Trustees until next Tuesday – J got her dates wrong. So I have a whole week to get the accounts in order.

Twelve days until the new TV arrives. But who’s counting?