Finally it is Saturday and not a single meeting in sight!

A run-through of this week's meetings gives a pretty good idea of the normal routine since I've been a Lewes town councillor.

Monday evening to Landport Residents Association. This was mostly talking about the coming Xmas party, which is to be held at the Youth Centre.

Tuesday evening to the Budget working party at the town hall. Unlike last year where some of us were determined to bring about a reduction in the increase proposed by the town clerk to below 4%, this year he had proposed a more modest increase of 2.49% and I felt happy to go along with that. "Nemesis" pontificated on how important it was that the town council had sufficient income to do worthwhile things for the town and suggested he'd like to see a bigger increase.I agreed with the first part of that, but felt that we must bear in ind the hard times being faced by many people out there in the real world. So we agreed to agree on the 2.49%.

Wednesday evening and back to Landport for the youth centre management committee meeting. As chair I'd drawn up a longish agenda. As ever there is always discussion on work that needs doing on the building, but good news Kate informs us that the county council is planning to give us a grant recognising that we cannot keep the building open for youth activities without some financial support. We discuss the proposed Xmas party, as well as cleaning of the building - we have an enthusiastic volunteer, but are worried that it may be too much for her physically. The AGM had been planned for January, but we realise that we will have to change the date because all the town councillors on the committee will be attending the panto as part of the civic party (ah, a town councillor's lot is definitely a happy one!!). No problem and I agree to do a notice for Lewes News, while Roger will see if he can get something into Viva Lewes - Perhaps to do with the mural we hope will be done in the hallway by a student from the college.

Thursday night and it is the Fairtrade town steering committee meeting. I end up with a commitment to re-jig the leaflet and print it ready for distribution on Late Night Shopping, along with leaflets we have from the Foundation. We also discuss plans for Fairtrade Fortnight - more work needed on that in the New Year.

Friday afternoon and it is the traffic working party at the town hall. The lead councillor and the officer from the county council have come to hear our concerns at the lack of consultation with us on the parking scheme. Finally - after what seems like quite a lot of resistance we are promised that we will be fully consulted when the scheme is reviewed next spring. I suppose we will have to wait and see if that actually happens. Along meeting and I get home exhausted.

AsI nearly said at the beginning thank goodness for the weekend and no meetings!