Day In The Life
On most days I will start off, after walking my dog, around 10 by checking my e-mails and following up on any phone messages from the night before. I might have an estate inspection or meeting (for example Whitehawk Crime Prevention Forum or the Get Together Group) at around 10.30. Alternatively I might have to go to Kings House (the council's main offices) for a briefing with officers as part of my role as Opposition Spokesperson on Community Safety, or a meeting with the Labour Group Leader in my role as Group Chief Whip.
My council post arrives around one thirty and I tend to tackle most of the e-mails I haven't been able to deal with on my Blackberry during the afternoon. By four o'clock I am often at Hove town hall for a council committee meeting such as the Environment & Community Safety Scrutiny Committee which I chair..
Most evenings at six or seven o'clock I will be at a meeting of a tenant or resident group in my ward, possibly a school governor or Crew Club trustee meeting, or a meeting with councillor colleagues from the Labour Group, which gives me an excuse to see one of my favourite views as I head to Kings House (below). Once home at around nine or ten I usually check my messages again and send off any e-mails I need to about issues that tenants, residents or others have raised with me at that evening's meetings.
Of course some days there are no meetings at all, but on other evenings I might be expected at three at the same time! To be honest I'm not one for going to openings, exhibitions or social events in the city unless it involves a group or residents from my ward, like the annual Crew Club Showcase. Weekends tend to be for catching up on e-mails or indeed helping at community events like "chalking the Hawk" or taking questins at the Kingscliffe Society.
