All change or loose change

My few words in this week's print Herald Express...We take so much for granted and that is how we navigate each day. Yet, everything can change in seconds. That move from being a happy bunny to a very unhappy bunny can be horribly rapid.

With that in mind, I do watch where I am stepping, both physically and metaphorically, these days. Yet, I still find myself in ridiculous situations, having stepped on wet stones or uttered words that might have been better left unsaid.

Most nights I sleep well and count that as a blessing. If I am unexpectedly awake and know that getting back to sleep is unlikely, then I get up and wander downstairs for a cup of tea.

That happened the other night and so I tuned into a fascinating recent video recording of a full Torbay Council meeting. You may see a full council meeting and the word fascinating as something of an oxymoron!

Let me explain why I found the meeting fascinating. Until the council election last May, Torbay was under the leadership of a Liberal Democrat / Independent coalition. When the results were counted, the Conservatives found themselves with one more councillor than the Liberal Democrat Independent coalition.

That meant Steve Darling and Darren Cowell had to make way to allow David Thomas and Chris Lewis to pick up the reigns of leadership. Politics do rather suffer from block voting where party whips dictate how members vote.

The Conservatives had one extra councillor and so when the vote came the outcome was inevitable. To be quite honest, I am always upset when all the hands on one side of the chamber predictably lifted to crush opposition.

Recently, two Conservative councillors decided to jump ship and cross the floor to declare themselves as Prosper Torbay. David Thomas said that he was disappointed because they had been elected five months ago on a Conservative ticket.

People do tend to vote for a particular political party and so you can understand his frustration. There were calls, at the time, for another local election Personally I have always been against party politics in local election, but then what do I know!

What I found fascinating, in those dark hours in front of my flickering computer screen, was the shift in the balance of power locally. Gone was the block vote and so the Conservative group could not rely on a block vote outcome. You could almost taste the frustration.

David Thomas and Chris Lewis still lead the council but committee structures will change and so the balance of power will wobble. What that means for Torbay remains to be seen.

I did not get back to sleep and later that day a wry smile crossed my face as I coughed up ￡3.10 for 37 minutes parking in the Beacon Quay car park. I wanted to buy a loaf of bread and enjoy a quick coffee at Pan Au Levain on Victoria Parade.

Torbay’s draconian parking charges hardly help town centre shopping and ￡3.10 for 37 minutes does seem a little excessive to me. The bread was delicious and the coffee took away the pain of the parking charge. I love the bread from Pan Au Levain and that brief visit allowed my mind to drift back to sunnier days in France.

Despite my parking change I will keep the smile.