I'm back

I've just returned from a weeks holiday on the island of Vis, off Croatia (booked some time before the elections!), to a mountain of mail and email to get through - there are a huge number of briefings and key documents to read for new members of the Council, but my key priority is to try getting some action on the now long outstanding issues list from around the ward. There does finally seem to be some progress, and some meetings with key people at the Council needed to fix things are being put into the diary.

Vis is about a quarter of the way across the Adriatic from Croatia to Italy. Due to its strategic location, it has long been the scene of military action - in 1811, an outnumbered Sir William Hoste, who had served with Nelson, had a decisive naval victory against the French just off the Island, in one of the last naval battles of the Napoleonic wars. In World War II, an airstrip along the valley in the middle of the island was used as a stop off point for British planes. But its hard to believe now that in such a peaceful place unspoilt by hoards of rowdy tourists, men on the island were fighting a war in modern Europe on the Croatian mainland in the early 1990s.

Looking at my pile of paperwork, I'm thinking of the Croatian word Pomalo, which seems to be a bit of key word on Vis, but there's just too much to do!