Week Beginning
Monday 15th May 2006
What’s it called?
Cumbernauld! And that’s
where I was on Monday 15th – Baird Memorial Primary School
in Condorrat. It was through the parliament’s Education Outreach
Service that myself and cross-party colleagues enjoyed a presentation
from Primary 7 pupils on the need for local sports facilities, and
answered their questions on how parliamentary processes could be used
to air their views. As always I loved every minute of it – and the
cheesecake served at the end.
During the session one
of the youngsters asked me whether I ever got really nervous in the
Chamber, and I told them “a wee bit, sometimes”, but nothing like as
nervous as I was that day because of what I had to face that
afternoon. You see, the one thing in my life that really sent the
nervous system into overdrive was in fact my driving test (4 times it
took me to get through it), and for some masochistic reason I had
agreed (a moment of madness) to sit a ‘DriveCheck’ Assessment for the
Institute of Advanced Motorists. You see, the Institute is trying to
raise awareness of the value of advanced driving skills – web
reference for the Forth Valley Group is
www.forthvalleyiam.org.uk.
So off I set to meet
Angus Maciver, Observer, to take me through my paces. He did very much
put me at my ease and it wasn’t nearly as awful as I thought it would
be. My Driving Assessment Report sheet wasn’t as bad as I feared
either: It assesses various aspects of driving performance and marks
them against whether you would pass an Advanced Standard Driving Test
– I wouldn’t (there is an 8 week training course though) on any of the
criteria, but didn’t disgrace myself too badly. The things I was
marked down on were, I understand from Angus, generally standard for
most of us who have been driving for a long time – not using the
mirrors enough, sloppy habits when steering and overbraking. It
certainly has made me more aware. My worst thing though was ‘hazardous
loose items in the car’ – yes, far too many shoes lying about! I don’t
observe ahead enough either, and what really annoyed me was when both
my partner Duncan and Calum guessed immediately that this would be a
criticism – I hate it when they’re right! I’ve got a wee Assessment
Certificate though – they haven’t; they’re in blissful ignorance of
their own driving shortcomings!
Just as well my sense of
direction wasn't assessed - then I would have failed miserably
Monday night and
meeting in Busby with a joint-churches’ Group which has been doing a
lot of work in Malawi for years now. This was facilitated by a lady in
East Kilbride who had heard that I was out there recently. One of the
issues that we discussed was that so many folk in Scotland –
individually and on a group basis – are involved with Malawi and I was
pleased to be able to tell them that one of the strands of the
parliament’s Malawi initiative was to compile a database that would
make us all aware who was doing what. The Kwenderana Group have been
working for years supporting a school and sending out supplies. So
much good and dedicated work goes on that we never hear about.
More on Malawi on
Tuesday morning when the Westminster Foundation for Democracy rep came
up to Edinburgh to talk through with me the SNP proposals for further
work there. Pete Wishart MP and I hope to go back to Malawi during
summer recess.
Apart from a quick
meeting on the Parliament’s Art Strategy, the rest of Tuesday was
spent ploughing through emails and letters – I can’t believe how
quickly this year is going in, with weeks flying by and my feeling
that I can never get to the bottom of the various piles on the desk,
and on the table, and on the floor … … More constituents having
problems with the Tax Credit scheme, and another issue that has been
coming up lately is that of folk being bothered by marketing telephone
calls, even when they’re ‘ex-directory’ or have given instruction that
they wish no more.
Dashed down to
Kilmarnock as soon as I could on Wednesday as it was the day before
the Council by-election – back there on Thursday and a glorious
victory for Helen Coffey and the SNP. Danny’s legacy secured. Everyone
involved worked so hard in his memory – he would have expected (and in
fact demanded!) no less.
Before I headed off to
Kilmarnock on Thursday I attended a Reception in Edinburgh given by
the Swiss Consulate who are opening up a permanent office in Scotland.
Good news for Scotland when the international community recognises us
in such a way. I went with Fiona Hyslop and the first person I noticed
was a lady who looked very familiar. I was racking my brains as to
when I’d met her before and had just decided that she must be a Consul
or Consul’s spouse when she was introduced to the company – Ursula
Andress! No wonder she looked familiar – I’ll tell you what though, it
was her 70th birthday and she looked absolutely fabulous,
with a beautiful smile.
Working at home in
Strathaven on Friday morning and set off for Glasgow in the afternoon
to meet up with the staff of the Bridges Programme and learn about the
work they do in trying to secure employment for refugees once they
have been given leave to remain in our country. Hard work, but
extremely rewarding, and a highly committed team. I left with loads of
information to ‘mug up’ on – I learned so much.
And so to Saturday, and
two birthday parties to go to – one for a two year old, and the other
for a fifty year old pal (I’m next I think!). Before that though,
through to Forth Valley College to attend Falkirk Community
Education’s Big Celebration Day; a day-long event celebrating the
achievements of adult learners. Falkirk Council has a big commitment
to ‘lifelong learning’, and with the help of volunteer tutors the
results are great. I heard one tale of an elderly gentleman who found
the confidence to ask for help in reading and now can read his
newspaper every day and order seeds from his gardening catalogue, and
of a woman around my own age who after years of hiding her lack of
reading and writing skills from her family saw the Council’s publicity
materials and decided to have a go. This particular lady summed it up
for me when she said “I realised after all these years that I’m not
stupid – I just needed a wee bit of extra help”. We all need a wee
bit of extra help sometimes, and actually when we get the courage to
ask for it most folk are willing to give it.
Finally for this week,
I was feeling a wee bit down the other day, and someone sent me this
photo of her grandchild – instant happiness! So, if you’re in need of
a boost just have a look at the sheer joy of life on this wee one’s
face!
Linda Fabiani
24.5.06
Email Linda at
Linda.fabiani.msp@scottish.parliament.uk
