Monday like a Sunday
Oct. 16th, 2023 08:55 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smokingbootWell, this has been a hard few days. There has been rest for R but I think he needs more. My sleep is fitful and rubbish. I am woken by thoughts gabbling away at each other.
Local stuff kicked off big time, best described in the local papers: https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/west-lothian-town-bypass-debate-27904906?utm_source=linkCopy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar&fbclid=IwAR2JtZBd7CxMn_xsMGzbhl_kK2gEAUrDji8PI-WNFO_pbOyd0WSIF3LGAcI
The whole thing was abysmal, though I am thoroughly impressed with genial old time council member Donald Stavert, who, when hearing the councillor's irate question re who might have shared his draft with the public, piped up with 'I did, aye, and I'd do it again!'
Questioned by the furious councillor, he replied 'you wanted feedback, you got it!'*
Donald considers the whole place plan idea is a sop, as he explains in the article. I am inclined to agree, but if unwanted development is trying to be pushed through, sooner fight with something than with nothing. Even if that something can be disregarded, it is at least potential embarrassment for a government that wants to look democratic. Embarrassment's no guarantee, but it may be all we have, cos Holyrood has a thorough obsession with housebuilding. There's no reason for it, Scotland's population is going down, not up, and these developments are not created with the poor in mind. I suspect the idea is to attract people to Scotland, but this means they have to preserve the reasons for why there is a better way of life here. One of these is quick and easy access to countryside, fresh air, quiet, as opposed to wide stretches of commuter belt. Desperate to capitalise on this, they're in danger of killing the goose that lays the golden egg.
Letters of complaint have gone in, mine included. But eh, I am too tired to think about it, too tired to carry on writing about it. Even reading is a bit much for me. This Monday feels like a Sunday, and I want what I always want when things get hard. I want to go far far away. Right now, I want a house in the Dordogne close to the caves. In fact, my ideal life is simply circling the earth, going from beautiful nest to beautiful nest. A place in the Highlands, in Cornwall, on Anglesey, in Granada, in Botswana, in the Dordogne, in Paris, in Colorado, in New York, in Bali, in Kenya, in Yosemite, in Crete, in Munich, in Sydney, in Canada, in, in, in...
My brother used to chide me about this; 'you're always leaving,' he would say, 'stop going somewhere, stop going away. Just be here for a bit.'
I am here and it is comfortable and I am well kept and people are nice. So I don't actually know what it is I am running from. I just need sleep.
*paraphrased to the best of my ability.
** and let's not forget the boat!
Local stuff kicked off big time, best described in the local papers: https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/west-lothian-town-bypass-debate-27904906?utm_source=linkCopy&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar&fbclid=IwAR2JtZBd7CxMn_xsMGzbhl_kK2gEAUrDji8PI-WNFO_pbOyd0WSIF3LGAcI
The whole thing was abysmal, though I am thoroughly impressed with genial old time council member Donald Stavert, who, when hearing the councillor's irate question re who might have shared his draft with the public, piped up with 'I did, aye, and I'd do it again!'
Questioned by the furious councillor, he replied 'you wanted feedback, you got it!'*
Donald considers the whole place plan idea is a sop, as he explains in the article. I am inclined to agree, but if unwanted development is trying to be pushed through, sooner fight with something than with nothing. Even if that something can be disregarded, it is at least potential embarrassment for a government that wants to look democratic. Embarrassment's no guarantee, but it may be all we have, cos Holyrood has a thorough obsession with housebuilding. There's no reason for it, Scotland's population is going down, not up, and these developments are not created with the poor in mind. I suspect the idea is to attract people to Scotland, but this means they have to preserve the reasons for why there is a better way of life here. One of these is quick and easy access to countryside, fresh air, quiet, as opposed to wide stretches of commuter belt. Desperate to capitalise on this, they're in danger of killing the goose that lays the golden egg.
Letters of complaint have gone in, mine included. But eh, I am too tired to think about it, too tired to carry on writing about it. Even reading is a bit much for me. This Monday feels like a Sunday, and I want what I always want when things get hard. I want to go far far away. Right now, I want a house in the Dordogne close to the caves. In fact, my ideal life is simply circling the earth, going from beautiful nest to beautiful nest. A place in the Highlands, in Cornwall, on Anglesey, in Granada, in Botswana, in the Dordogne, in Paris, in Colorado, in New York, in Bali, in Kenya, in Yosemite, in Crete, in Munich, in Sydney, in Canada, in, in, in...
My brother used to chide me about this; 'you're always leaving,' he would say, 'stop going somewhere, stop going away. Just be here for a bit.'
I am here and it is comfortable and I am well kept and people are nice. So I don't actually know what it is I am running from. I just need sleep.
*paraphrased to the best of my ability.
** and let's not forget the boat!
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no subject
Date: 2023-10-16 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-10-17 08:37 am (UTC)If not and you can remember the link/source, can you please point me at it? I would love to share it with the Bathgate Hills crew! But no worries if the time's gone and you can't recall where you saw it...
no subject
Date: 2023-10-17 12:54 pm (UTC)