After a stressful day handling a work crisis in West Somerset, I was running late and found no time to actually canvass in Bishopswood ahead of the meeting as we had planned.
Instead, it was a mad dash just to get to the village hall on time.
But something appeared to be not quite right, as the hall was filled with young children, mostly girls, aged around eight to 10 years, enjoying quite a loud birthday disco.
Not being familiar with the building, I ask if there is a separate room somewhere for the local councillors to meet, although I cannot believe a meeting can be held anywhere in the vicinity against the thumping background of some ageless disco favourites.
The answer is negative, so I reach for the mobile to ring the council chairman, Cllr Tony Beaumont, only to discover that, once again since switching from Nokia to Motorola, I do not have a signal and cannot make a call.
Then, a lady appears who, not being unkind, does not look like mum collecting a daughter and who is clutching some paperwork and a large torch, indicating she may be arriving for a meeting which will finish post-dusk.
She turns out to be Cllr Rosemary Viant and she leads me to a committee room to the rear of the hall where other councillors and some members of the public are already waiting.
I have attended parish council meetings of one sort or another, of various sizes, in all sorts of isolated communities across the Westcountry, and wearing a number of different ‘hats’, for the past 30 or so years.
So, although I am a new face for Otterford, I know my stuff and hope to be able to work closely in support of them long into the future.
It turns out they do not have a public participation item on their agenda, in Otterford they call it ‘community time’, which I quite like.
A few verses of ‘Happy Birthday’ are sung in the adjacent hall and the disco then fades away for the parish council business to begin.
I take the opportunity in ‘community time’ to raise some of the parish issues which have been coming up on the doorstep and I am conscious that although I am coming to such matters fresh, the parish councillors will no doubt have heard them time and again.
I am correct - the danger to horse riders from speeding traffic, the absence of pavements to shelter pedestrians from speeding traffic, the problems of heavy lorries on unsuitable roads, have all earned the councillors the proverbial T-shirt in the past.
The ‘I’ve stopped because it hurts’ feeling is common among parish councillors everywhere after they have spent a long time banging their heads against the wall.
However, to their credit, the Otterford councillors do agree to again look into the issue of warning signs for drivers to alert them to horse riders.
They also throw some light on the mystery of the missing signs which ban heavy lorries from a stretch of road, as it turns out there is no ban.
It seems the county council have only told quarry lorries to use a diversion, and in the absence of formal prohibition they cannot put up any signs.
So it is a completely voluntary arrangement. I am not sure why the county think only one type of heavy lorry might be a nuisance and why, if those should use a diversion, others should not.
No doubt I will discover more in time.
The results of the May 3 local elections are announced. Yes, it is only April 10, but all five candidates for the five vacancies in the parish have been returned unopposed.
In fact, there will be no elections in any of the Blackdown ward’s three parishes, as it is the same story in Churchstanton, where seven vacancies have been filled unopposed, and in Pitminster with six candidates for six seats.
So, the only vote local residents will have on May 3 is whether or not to elect me as their Deane councillor.
What it says about local democracy, I am not sure. I know the picture is the same across large parts of the Deane, with only a handful of parishes being contested.
It is not the fault of the candidates, all of whom I am sure have the best interests of their communities at heart.
But if anything is to be done to address the issue of falling participation in English democracy, especially when it comes to a General Election where Governments are elected to decide on issues such as going to war in Iraq, Iran, Syria, or anywhere else, it surely needs to start with healthy competition at the grass roots of democracy.
It turns out to be a last parish council meeting for Cllr Irene Campbell, who is not standing again. Her place is being taken by Charlie Field.
There is some food left over from the disco, so it is passed through at the end of the meeting to accompany a couple of bottles of wine which have been brought along to toast Cllr Campbell farewell.
Being a journalist by profession, I spot the community news potential for the local newspapers and - not because I am invited to share the refreshments – I grab my camera and take a photograph of the occasion, which I will send to the papers shortly.
The photo (above) shows Cllr Campbell seated (right) beside Cllr Viant with (standing, left to right) Cllr Beaumont, Cllr Paul Williams, and the council clerk, Barbara Simpson, whom I have already met as she is (and will be again) a parish councillor in Churchstanton, where her husband Brian is the clerk.
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