After the Lord Mayor's Show

There is an old proverb that says, after the Lord Mayor's Show comes the dust cart.  I suppose it's about on a par with the one about pride going before a fall.  But for me, this past weekend, it was the other way round.  After the debacle of Saturday came the delight of Sunday.  It really felt as though spring had arrived and, for the first time this year, I walked the dog in the afternoon with no jacket.  Mind you, I didn't really think it warm enough for the t-shirts that quite a few people thought suitable wearing apparel.  I didn't wear the wellie boots either, for the second (or was it the third time) this past week.  It's even warmer today, and after a meeting with an official from the Council, three of us sat in the sun with a coffee.

It was an interesting meeting.  The three of us from Brighton Lions Housing Society were due to meet with three officials from the Council to discuss the possibility of the Housing Society buying from the Council the freehold of a plot of land where we have built flats.  We currently have a lease on the land which has about 53 years to run and we would be very keen to obtain the freehold as this would add significantly to the value of our portfolio and thus make borrowing money for the next development somewhat easier.  It has taken us three years to get to this stage - and then two of the three people we were supposed to meet didn't bother to attend.  Inefficiency, arrogance or just plain bad manners.  Fortunately, the one who was there seemed quite keen on the idea and, with luck, we could see further progress in the fairly near future.