So another day in the History Room and a very unpleasant family to entertain. Our fees are $3.00 for adults, $1.00 for children and $5.00 for family groups. This lot - the youngest was over 40 - announced they were all family and so would pay $5.00. Now this is an old chestnut and usually said in jest. But this guy was prepared to argue the point. And since they were all pretty well heeled and sporting expensive tourist souvenirs I stuck my ground. They then proceeded to pursue some family history research with my assistance and asked for 22 photocopies. I explained the price structure and suggested they amuse themselves looking at our exhibits while I laboriously copied each sheet since our photocopier does  not run to automatic feed. They collected the photocopies and prepared to walk out without paying. I pretended to glance at our donations box and asked if they had accidentally put the money in there, and after considerable high finance between the three of them, they finally came up with something less than a $100 bill (for which I had offered correct change). Grrrrr.

Meanwhile on a happier note two of the books I ordered have arrived and provided me with much amusement in visitor-free periods. The third will presumably be here later in the week or Monday - oh wait, it's Thursday isn't it. Well Monday then.

Lovely day today if cooler than it has been and zero anticipated tonight so I have lit the fire even though it is presently redundant - just wanted to get it going before the chill settles.

The Tuesday night meeting was a fairly high risk strategy for Council I have to say. It was promoted as the unveiling of the revised plan for the Pool, but was actually a strategy to demonstrate community support to various government representatives who are considering Council's loan application. Bad choice, but fortunately everyone behaved themselves well.

The final summing up from Rebecca White was very telling. Basically she indicated the loan was to be conditional on the project being as presented and on the site in question. Changes at this stage would compromise the loan application.

I asked two questions - the first related to finances. The application indicates support and catchment from two local government areas adjacent to me. I asked a) what level of consultation had been engaged in with them during the development of the proposal and b) what financial contribution they would be making. The mayor's response was nothing and nothing. I think the politicians present noted this with some discomfort.

My second question was relating to the long-term impact of the proposed site on the future growth of the town (it is in a position that would be better used for more intensive residential use at the rear, commercial use at the front). Their self-described expert in sustainable planning matters stated that he did not consider there was much risk of any change in the next 50 years (the design life of the pool).

I have backed off my opposition on the basis that any pool is better than none, and will direct my energies to ensuring better, more transparent process in relation to the next big project Council is cooking up (a 40 unit motel on the lake side on land they have already purchased despite public consultation indicating three sites were under consideration). Sigh.

Other than that a quick trip to Hobart to return my brown fleece as it was indeed tender and fell apart under more vigorous tugging. Bother.

Today I have a choice of staying at home and trying to do some work in the shed in high winds, going to sewing or attending the next Council meeting which will be held at Woodsdale. I am reluctant to do any of them for a variety of reasons so may end up doing nothing. No ideas yet! But the vivid red sunrise suggests staying at home might be sensible

The Pool debate is hotting up with personality assassinations flying. I have been following both arguments on Facebook and sadly neither proponent is acting with a pure heart. The first is someone who a) intends to run for Council next year and has been busily building her profile for some time. She has a bad habit of getting so obsessive about whatever her issue is that she just can not drop it, and tends to post random stream of consciousness posts with little regard for who she is offending or dropping into the poo. The other proponent is someone who has until recently been running our community centre badly as her personal cubby house and who was ousted by a newly formed committee including the first proponent. It is all getting very nasty and personal and I doubt there will be any room for rational debate at the Public Meeting tomorrow as each will be doing their best to shout down anyone they think is on the other side. Sigh. Small Town Politics.

Meanwhile I have been spending all too much time in the History Room. On Friday I had to get away at 1 to be able to attend Bo's funeral with my friend. So I was locking up when two people walked in past the closed sign. The first agreed to be quick and I assumed the second was with him, but she was apparently separate. I eventually asked her to leave at 1:30 and she got a little shirty. The funeral went well and was well attended - chairs outside and standing room only inside. He was well liked. As it said on the  Order of Service, we will know what he did by the things that are left undone.

Tomorrow I am also in the History Room as Ian is unable to do his shift. And tomorrow evening is the Meeting as well as bank cleaning so it will be a rather tiring day and I am not looking forward to going to Hobart on Tuesday, but go I will.

I was naughty yesterday, instead of going to the library I just went on line and ordered the three most promising books on dyeing - they will be here in 10 working days so I will report back on them.

Today was grey and miserable but I lit the fire and waited out the rain this morning plying yarn and knitting more of the scarf. Of course by the time the rain stopped I was engrossed, so not much else got done other than dog walking.

This evening I called in to the post-sewing drinkies session and joined in the gossip about the Pool - amazing the range of 'facts' that circulate around this place. I filled them in on the bits I had heard from more reliable sources, gave them both sides of the argument and my own reservations and scurried off to clean the bank before heading home to stir up the fire.

Way past bed time right now, but I am having a bit of a relax and will head off soon, but in no hurry as I am not due to be doing anything tomorrow. The History Room is staffed, but I have to do Friday morning. We are closing it Friday afternoon due to the entire town going to a funeral (me included as I happen to have known the person and my best friend Barbara is related to him). Barb is coming up for the funeral to of course I will be there with her. He owns the sweetest little stone cottage in the village with two lovely timber sheds and a large parcel of land so no close neighbours. If I had won lotto I would buy it like a shot, but I haven't. He died peacefully at home and was found by the local minister who had called because Bo had not been answering messages left over the previous 18 hours or so. Lovely way to go, and just like him - he was very independent and self-effacing - always there to give a hand. Like Graeme Raphael he will be noticed more for his absence as there will be no-one to step into his shoes. A real gentleman.

Sorry to have been missing in action for a while - I have been busy lining the shed with insulation and fixing a panel of bracing ply to one wall (for attaching dyeing pots etc) and History Rooming and general busy-ness.

The situation with the Pool has not improved, but I had an opportunity to express my concern about the Councillor's behaviour to another councillor (new to the crew, so still reasonably uncorrupted) who was concerned (though sensibly non-committal). This happened at the opening of an art exhibition at the Gaoler's residence which I attended at the invitation of the artist in residence. I like her work, but at $2600++ per piece it will not be getting added to my collection any time soon.

Also met up with Allen Cooper who is the mysterious heritage builder that everyone talks about but who is extremely elusive. We had a (very long, too long, he talks too much) chat about heritage management, renovator's woes, sheds and Queensland heritage before I finally showed him out the door of the History Room in time to get to the Lucky Ewe before closing. There had a nice long chat to Rowena/Jo about fleeces I had bought. She expressed concern about the moorit fleece as apparently a lot of those on sale had weak spots. So I hurried home to check mine again, but found it to be sound (at least the bit I tested). I will take it to her place on Thursday so she can run a more expert eye over it before I start processing it as apparently I should be able to get a refund if it is not sound (reliable supplier - Salamanca Wool Gallery - and I have the receipt).

Meanwhile I have been knitting a lace pattern scarf (not terribly lacey, it has a one row repeat between purl rows) which, after several unpickings is now running relatively smoothly. It is only about 8 inches long so far, so a way to go before I achieve the full 2 feet of the pattern. And I am not sure I will get there due to limited supplies of yarn.

Have also started spinning the sock top I bought (blended with nylon for added strength).

I will be spending the next few days transferring various bits of the contents of kitchen cupboards to the shed preparatory to dismantling it, but that should keep me busy and occupied. We have a chilly day forecast for Wednesday so it is a good thing I have that load of wood in!

I have indeed been rather busy of late. On Tuesday we had the AGM  of our local Progress Association (actually the committee that runs the recreation ground and does very little else). Attending the meeting was our Local Government representative - a Councillor of many years standing. On 27 Feb we have a public meeting scheduled to discuss the latest iteration of the on-going and much contested new Swimming Pool. Basically Council wants to relocate it to a position on the High Street where it will have maximum impact on future consolidation of housing development, cause significant traffic problems (since it is intended to serve 3 local government areas) and the extended operating hours of which will impact severely on existing activities. Add to that it is the site of the Council's Works Depot which has serious contamination issues and bedrock very close to the surface. A few people have been attending meetings at Council to express their concern over the process involved in identifying their preferred site, which will, because of its environmental constraints, significantly increase the cost of the development and thus delay its delivery. So there's your background.

During our AGM, at the General Business section, the Councillor spoke up and said Council needed our help. He went on to describe 'troublemakers and outsiders' who wanted to stop the pool development and named the individual who has been most vocal (she has lived here 20 years). I raised concerns as to whether it was relevant to the business of the meeting and also whether the individual should be so named. He persisted. He asked if someone could move a motion in support of Council's position. I pointed out that unless both sides of the argument were presented it would be inappropriate to express a view. He stated that it would not be appropriate for him, as a member of Council to move a motion and asked if someone else could do it. My concerns had been duly noted so the person who presented the motion made it 'that we support the provision of a pool'. The Councillor then weighed in again with a suggested amendment (that we support the provision of a pool at Council's preferred site). The motion was thus amended. I and one other abstained from voting and noted our reasons for doing so. Whether the minutes recorded that is moot as the person taking minutes is the wife of a Council employee (also our president).

So. I have spent some time wrestling with my conscience, and with the ins and outs of lodging a Code of Conduct complaint against the Councillor who I believe to be a decent man, sadly influenced by those around him. He seemed deeply uncomfortable with what he was doing. But I now know he did much the same at several other community meetings - at least one of which he had no business attending. So I will be spending some time drafting my complaint against the Model Code of Conduct (as opposed to Council's much watered down model). The process is seriously flawed in that the complaint must be lodged with the General Manager (who is part of the problem), and attempts made to resolve the problem internally before referral to the external mediator/assessor. So life will be rather uncomfortable for a time I suspect.

Meanwhile I have been putting up shelves, arranging the interior of the Garden shed and generally emptying out the house (a process hindered by the fact I am so used to seeing things in a particular place that I no longer notice things like battery chargers for the cordless drill on the kitchen bench).

I also took delivery of my first load of firewood so am set for a little while. I dismantled the dog kennel that has been housing the 5 litre fuel bottles for the lawn mower etc and placed the bottles in the garden shed. The kennel site is now being populated with firewood, though as I was stacking it I noticed it is rather close to the clothes line so have had to move sideways behind the bundle of cardboard that will also be rehoused once I build the remaining part of the shed apron. At least the whipper snipper is no longer a trip hazard in the hall.....

Today's trip to Hobart got off  to an early start. I realised I still had the file left by the lads who put up the shed, so what better excuse to use the back road and go to town via the Eastern Shore? Since I was looking for  shelves, and had thought K&D might have some specials (given their Derwent Park store is closing) I called in there and not only found shelves the right size marked down to $99.00 (usually around the $135 mark), but also some useful wall-mounted buckets for putting small fixings into at a bargain price. So I bought three sets of shelves and two of the thingies and wandered back to the car. While loading that lot I realised Godfreys were having a sale and since a vacuum cleaner has been on the list for some time I popped in to see what they had. A real vac is still rather expensive, and I suspect the Dyson really only needs a good cleanout to get it moving again, so I decided a cordless stick vac was the thing for the kitchen bathroom and laundry area (there is a step down into that area, so a separate vac is not only handy but desirable due to the change in surface). I decided a stick cleaner was a good idea as it will be easy to pull out and get going without messing around with cords, finding plugholes and so forth - all of which become an excellent excuse to not do the vacuuming. While I was waiting for Godfreys to open I had also wandered into Harvey Norman wher they had some stick steamers on display. I resisted temptation but fell into sin at Godfreys and bought one of those as well. It comes apart so you can use it for walls, ovens etc, so seems like a useful thing to add to the repertoire once I start keeping the house clean. Also a little stick hand mop which has a spray bottle on it which will be useful for a quick whip around on the new lino (when it is laid). The steam mop will be useful for giving the floor a going over before I get the lino laid also.

Having spent rather more than I had planned, I wandered off to Bunnings for that blind corner cupboard. Bearing in mind I paid $799x2 for two straightline kitchens when I first set it up, it was a bit of a shock when the total for the cabinet, door, insert, handle and hinges came to $750.00! The main cost was the insert, which, since it is the main reason for getting that style of cabinet seemed pretty essential. But $499 for a set of metal shelves seems a bit rich. The serving woman was lovely and suggested that in relation to my plans for the pantry, I might find it better to go to another store for the shelving to go on the doors.

I was, however, pleasantly surprised to discover they make paint-them-yourself doors, so I bought one of them so I can colour-coordinate the kitchen after all. There will be a difference in texture (the new doors are the ones with a vj panel in the middle of a plain frame), but I think that should work - particularly since instead of using their standard cabinet ends (also outrageously expensive for  plain bit of vinyl-moulded MDF), I plan to glue sheets of VJ MDF panelling on instead. This will be particularly useful when I reused the two pantry cabinets as a linen closet and broom cupboard (which the stick machines will fit into comfortably).

The handles are those curved top old-fashioned handles, but in brushed steel so they tie into the modern look of the room, but with the VJs make references back to the age of the house without being twee. At least I think so. They were also the second cheapest which is always a strong argument.

Then to the vet for cat food and feliway plugin (no idea where the actual plug is but it will turn up), and the pet store for dog food. The dog also has a goat's horn to chew on for his teeth. I will take it off him before bedtime as it seems to be willing to break into sections that are not safe. But he is having fun getting the core out of it at present.

Bank cleaned, most of the ute unpacked. The plastic bins from the Reject Store (picked up on the way back) now house the fleeces I bought and I forgot to mention the crock pot and aluminium pan I picked up at the op shop for dyeing activities (though if Fran or anyone else suggests the pan is not suitable - I thought it might introduce some alum..... - it will be repurposed for storage of things that need to be secure). These are in the shed. The shelving will be transferred into there on Wednesday probably as I will be in the History Room again tomorrow, but it is in the tray of the ute so out of sight and mind. Groceries put away and the electrician has been in touch for clarification and photos, so it's all good here.