I’m not going all biblical, it’s just the most well known description of a mythical light-bringer.

You can add Eos, Helel, Phosporos and Aurora to the list.

And I think that’s important right now.

Our little world is getting darker, the news is awful on a daily basis and there’s no let-up in sight.

So we have to generate our own light.

Not an original thought, obviously.

Marcus Aurelius wrote this.

‘Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now, take what’s left and live it properly. What doesn’t transmit light creates its own darkness.’

It’s not a bad way to think, he also wrote this.

‘When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love.’

And that should be our revenge against THEM and the status quo, if things are bad, try to find a way to make them better.

If we don’t?

Nobody will.

This is my council tax bill, I’m responsible for the 9.9% increase part. It’s fuck all, but we’ll spend it on things that people actually tell us they want rather than hoping Shropshire will sort everything (they won’t).

And we’ll try to do good with the money, more poo bins, more footpath work, more drop in meetings with sandwiches.

My book is published and I have copies for all my team (who don’t know I’ve written it ) that I’ll give them as a memento on my last day.

As for them, I couldn’t be prouder if they were my own children, multiple award nominations (including national) and more to the point:

Our WhatsApp chat is full of how they’ll send me off (and whether arrests will occur).

I’m looking forward to the weeks and months to come, of spring and summer without an hour by hour schedule and spending as much time as possible outside with the doglets.

As for them.

I sometimes think that they’re possessed by demons.

But they’re small demons of light that make me laugh.

Little Lucifers