The Rhus tree presents .....

I have felt exhausted all day after all yesterday's commitments. I think the long council meetings in the evening are the killers, particularly when the agenda looks relatively small and not too time consuming, but in fact requires long discussion. I didn't get to sleep till very late, then was woken early by the dreaded Bomble in pursuit of food.

I spent the morning catching up on other business before starting to arrange the next slew of portraits appointments. It looks like another four more tomorrow, so I hope the weather improves. Today it has mostly rained except for a short period this afternoon which luckily was when I had to go back to the council offices for further meetings. The chairs of the committees had to meet with the Clerk and the Mayor to discuss how we allocate next year's budget. Yet again the government has left councils in the lurch waiting for them to announce their possible alterations to what we are allowed to do. Will they cap our ability to raise money form the community? Will they announce that they are changing the rules yet again to decrease the level of central government funding for local services? Possibly more cuts by new initiatives? We have to plan for all possibilities and get the approval of the council to plan the budget for 2013-2014. This will be happening in every local authority, many of whom are volunteers like us. Luckily we have a healthy community who seem to respect what we are trying to achieve. At least they seem to vote us in again, based on our previous performance. Apparently in an article recently in The Guardian, a national UK newspaper, Stroud was described as one of 'the rising stars' under the headline:
Ethical investments: positive investor hotspots of Britain
This is the first 'ethical map' of Britain, based on a study of 50,000 people putting money into businesses and enterprises trying to do something positive for society or the environment.

Before I left for the lunchtime meeting, I made myself some toast. Whilst waiting for it to burn, I spotted the high winds and heavy rain rustling the Rhus tree in our back garden. I couldn't resist a quick snap over the back garden to capture its beautiful colours set against the backdrop of the meadows across the valley towards Thrupp, with Brimscombe in the distance lying on the hillside under Minchinhampton common. I will be going up there tomorrow to take another portrait or two.