enormous sense of wellbeing

I've been walking around Dumfries a lot recently, noticing things I wouldn't otherwise spot. This is a sign which could be easily missed by someone coming through the vennel from the High Street. Its a part of the town called the Midsteeple Quarter, which is  "a community benefit society breathing new life into Dumfries town centre by redeveloping empty High Street properties to create a new neighbourhood with a mix of uses built on principles of local prosperity and well being." You can read more about it here.

The building which you see the back of here is the old Baker's Oven, which is the first phase of the redevelopment.

I don't know if they intentionally quoted the lyrics of "Parklife" by Blur...:

I get up when I want, except on Wednesdays when I get rudely awakened by the dustmen (Parklife!)
I put my trousers on, have a cup of tea and I think about leaving me house (Parklife!)
I feed the pigeons, I sometimes feed the sparrows too, it gives me a sense of enormous well-being (Parklife!)
And then I'm happy for the rest of the day, safe in the knowledge there will always be a bit of my heart devoted to it


I was in town today because I had an assessment at work. My employers are kindly putting me through the SQA in Hospitality which is the same qualification that we offer to our Front of House trainees. I wanted to do it so that I could mentor them more effectively. Today I was being assessed on the 6th module of 8 which is "Customer Service". I had to be photographed during various set-up scenarios, answer a written question bank exam and then write reflective accounts. I can now appreciate what an achievement it is for those of our trainees who have completed the course.