What You Don't Know Is Not An Asset..

I kept my dentist appointment. Afterwards  I  went to Chapters Book Store.  I by-passed the fabric shop. I had a couple of ideas in mind.

I could knit or sew hats. I can knit a hat or a sock in less than a day. Socks take twice as long for a pair.Everybody likes them.

I went to Chapters thinking I would find a book of new patterns. I did. I took my walker and enjoyed myself sitting for a couple of hours looking through knitting books. So many. All beautiful. Lacy or Fair Isle. Socks from every country and culture in the world and distant generations.

Hats. WOW!! Knitted hats are stylish again. Cowls and shrugs and shawls are featured galore.

Who would have thought. I've been knitting since I was six. I have a memory of swinging on the gate, knitting by lamplight and daylight too, of course.

I didn't buy any of the beautiful books. Patterns were on graph. I don't knit by graph. I knit by memory or written instructions. Next time I may spend another couple of enjoyable hours looking at the graphs. The books are expensive.You have to know you can handle graphs. I've done it before. I had a collection of Phildar books. They were French. Not as intricate as Scandinavian but lottsa style. They have mysteriously disappeared.I keep waiting for them to magically re-appear becaue they no longer appear to be on the market.

My browsing was interrupted. On the way back,I walked through the political science section. I lifted a couple of books off the shelf in passing and never went back to the knitting section.

One was a Thomas Friedman best seller. I've heard him talking about it with Charlie Rose.

I took the second because of its title.

"DON'T VOTE. You'll only encourage the bastards"

The author,P.J.Rourke is familiar.

I'd been stewing about Monday's scheduled meeting and its stated purpose "to approve the draft budget" since we received unexpected notification.

A Public Planning Meeting to deal with a solitary application,scheduled two days before the Town Hall closes down for twelve days does nothing to sweeten my mood.

Lack of consideration at the town hall for Councillors' private life continues to confound me.

From my perspective, it demonstrates ignorance and disrespect. It consigns council to a level of total inconsequence.

Bad things happen if allowed. Councillors exercise authority individually and collectively. This circumstance calls for each member to take a stand.

So I did.

I circulated an e-mail to all of Council and C.A.O.notifying of my intent to be absent myself from these meetings and why.

Councillor Gallo responded with complete support. His is a two-parent-working family with two small children with the rightful expectation that parents participate in their lives, particularly at the exciting time of Christmas.

A person's commitment to town business on a part-time basis does not suggest indentured service.

We are not subject to unreasonable scheduling on command of the institution.

We do have control.

The meeting schedule at Christmas is the last straw in a year-long record of similar slights.

Council appears to be regarded as little more than a cipher, at times a nuisance, in the scheme of town hall business.

Erosion of elected authority didn't start with this term.

It will not continue however without public awareness.