You know, I was genuinely delighted earlier this week to give a talk to the local Scottish Women's Rural Institute (SWRI) about the great work I do at Auchterness. Unfortunately my enjoyment of the event was tarnished by a great deal of heckling and the submission of a petition asking for my resignation from the post of Secretary.
Anyway, the important message I put across was that town planning is a tremendously exciting profession and if you speak the right language, like me, you can really go places. Singing from the same hymn sheet, grass roots aspirations, low hanging fruit and signing up to consensus are all part of our daily vocabulary here at Auchterness - we know what we mean, even if others don't. So we can build an intellectual mystic around ourselves and our work. Great isn't it?
I told the SWRI that, "We are sustainable, inclusive, holistic and consultative - and we are always moving forward. We reaffirm local structures depending on the intervention need, creating a mandate for pursuing a particular process targeted at different age groups - and pressing the issue in relation to sub-strategies". I sensed that the audience was reeling at this point so I pushed home my case. "We have a portcullis approach to the issues of tourism with one plan sitting beneath another and kicking off relations with a three year action plan but without a perfect route to dividends. We will have a healthy living centre with a raft of other initiatives and the important messages are social, environmental, economic and janatorial".
At this point I sensed that the audience was in need of practical examples so I settled into a resume about Dr Donald Trump, Sir Ian Woods and Clydeport PLC - the creator of Glasgow Harbour and the inspiration for Leith Waterfront. As the audience began to leave, I realised that the fish and chip shop was about to close in ten minutes so I did a quick wrap up.
All in all, an excellent evening and a great opportunity for local people to connect to the exciting world of Town Planning.
3 comments:
What a load of shit you write "old man"
Why don't you get off your arse and go and do something more useful than typing shite on the web about stuff you know nothing about?
Hello again Anonymous and thanks for commenting on my posts. I am getting a bit old it is true and hope some people find my blog interesting. I'm sorry you don't, but that's the wonder of planning isn't it.
With every best wish
Dave T
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