Shutting down

Today's been a relatively work-free day. In the morning I was at a work-related networking event, and learnt some interesting things about how a UK-wide organisation works in Scotland. Some of the community work it has sponsored might be transferable to my community activities.

Early afternoon was spent with a professor from he US who researches participatory budgeting (PB) from a legal angle. The main revelation for me is that all PB in the 'global south' is organised by various levels of government. In Scotland, organisation is almost all done by community volunteers. (I guess that should have been obvious.) This leads me to question how sustainable it is: what happens if one of our steering group falls under a tram? How do we ensure succession for when the old guard retires? On an academic note, maybe there is an opportunity for collaboration. Here's hoping.

Late afternoon was at a 'drinks and light bites' event at work. It was great to put faces to names (a lot of people have joined during lockdown), and meet people from the other department with which mine is amalgamating.)

The photo is from a brief visit to my office to add a few things to my calendar, and check a delivery had arrived as ordered. The former meant tacking with that OS. The other involved unsheathing my Swiss army knife.

This evening my wife and I had dinner with a friend. It was very welcome to that she was bouncy this evening - relatively recently she's been on the receiving end of significant amounts of shubtill.

Lots of calories and more carbohydrates than normal, but such a change from staring at my screen all day. That returns tomorrow with interviews and marking. Hip hip boo!