I’m currently reading “More Blood, More Sweat and More Tea”, the second book from the Random Acts of Reality blog of an east London emergency medical technician (ambulance driver, to most, although he’s in the process of moving back to nursing).

While it’s strange reading a blog in that way (and both his books are available for free in the iBooks store if you have an iPhone/Pad/Pod Touch) it did make me realise that I don’t actually do blog posts about ‘being’ a councillor.

I’m not sure if this is a good or a bad thing.

I’ve always seen this as primarily a personal blog, but clearly a lot is focused on the things I’m doing as a councillor and there isn’t that much ‘personal’ posting. Oddly my Twitter stream is quite different. Last night, for example, I posted two (tongue-in-cheek) Tweets about how being a councillor is a bad thing.

The first a ‘complaint’ when I was en route to the Town Hall facing a long night but seeing hordes of people enjoying themselves in the bars and restaurants of Lavender and St John’s Hills.

The second shortly after midnight when I’d only just got home straight from the meeting, not via a pub!

(By way of balance I’m compelled to offer a link to the ‘Be A Councillor’ campaign.)

Of course, I can’t really moan about what I’m doing. I’ve volunteered for it on four separate occasions, most recently this May. It’s not as if I’ve been conscripted or not had the opportunity to think about whether what I do is worthwhile or enjoyable.

But I rarely, if ever, blog about any of those feelings or thought processes. In part because I worry about confidentiality (should I blog about casework, even if the names and details are changed to provide anonymity?). The main reason, however, is because I imagine that everyone else would find it dull. It’s like any ‘job’ in that it has its up and down but what it certainly doesn’t have is the drama or human interest that a job in the emergency services can offer a blog. And as a self-described politician-lite I can’t offer any insight that would thrill an audience used to The West Wing or even The Thick of It.

So I’ve unconsciously made the decision that no-one would be interested and have ended up writing a personal blog that actually isn’t all that personal. But should that change?

Leave a Reply