Seachain an duine a bhíonn ina thost

I'm in trouble now because I haven't been blogging enough. Sorry Ian!

I've had a weird week. I've been feeling quite stressed about Grandpa which is making dealing with other things harder. Although last week was the physically tiring week this one has been more mentally taxing.

I suppose there's just certain groups of people who don't like reform, whether it's NUS reform or Bangor reform. But it isn't nice to have your work slagged off in national papers, on blogs and to NUS Wales. It upsets me when people start attacking the review before they've attended any of the meetings we worked so hard to run.

Perhaps people forget that the Students' Union is made up of real people who do actually want it to be the best it can possibly be for all students. There is no hidden agenda in our governance review -- I'm not even going to be here anymore when the proposed structures would kick in, I just think that this new system we're proposing is more efficient, more representative and easier to get involved in.

The debate is continuing nationally about NUS reform, and at every turn people slag off the 'undemocratic' review group, suggesting that because the group's members were appointed, we're all under Gemma's thumb.

Actually, I think it's a good thing that the group was appointed rather than elected. It has meant that little old me, not a member of any faction, not trying to get elected to the NEC, not profiling at every possible event, just representing a Union that felt it wasn't getting value for money from NUS, got my voice heard. Electing representatives firstly would have taken another year (because the Governance Review was voted on at Conference, so when would the next opportunity to vote have been?) and secondly would have given a group full of factions, all trying to get what's best for the faction rather than what's better for real students.

But anyway. In other news it has rained a lot this week, and apparently we're due to get a month's rain in two days this weekend, so I'll probably spend a lot of it indoors. I think I need to come into work tomorrow to get the candidates' election packs done, but otherwise things are going okay. It'll be good to be in work with no distractions or interruptions, and once I've got my work done I can enjoy the rest of the weekend without feeling guilty.

I've also been planning my holiday now my Lonely Planet Croatia guide book has arrived -- I'm thinking of heading to Zadar because there's Ryanair flights to there from Dublin, and there are stunning national parks nearby, it's on the coast and there's a cheap place to stay with a plethora of watersports available. But that's not til May.

In a few minutes I'm off to University Court which last year had the best buffet of the entire year, so I'm looking forward to my lunch. I ate a small breakfast so I'd have room for all the delights. Sam's doing a presentation which will undoubtedly be thrilling. My computer is flashing lights at me that tell me I have to go, so that's it for now, bye Ian! Oh and you should stay in Ghana for six months, we'll try to fundraise or apply to Quaker funds for concrete then you can help build too.