Andy Probert – Voices Editor

IT was great so many people brave the awful weather on Wednesday as they queued up to have their day with the Mayor. Except he had exited stage right for Aydin on an important meeting and left his senior colleagues to oversee the proceedings.

As much as the politicians tried to emphasise the way forward, there were plenty of questions being fired at them so they got to know that expats are thirsty for information and hungry enough to get their point across.

Hey, look I’m a realist, and the promises and plans that were being mentioned by the politicians will come with a simple: Lets wait and see if they happen.

Nevertheless, it was the time that the foreign community has really had a chance to go toe-to-toe with anyone from the council for several years.

For me, apart from trying to keep everyone happy, notes of the meeting, pictures of those gathered, murmurings in my ear of timings and a need to delicately balance everyone’s input, I think the meeting was largely a success, if a small step in mending fences and getting a dialogue going with the council.

A future meeting is being talked up, with even the governor’s and the police chief’s names being mentioned and a possible better event.

If that happens, we will keep you informed. But as of today, a new era has begun and let’s hope that town hall-foreign relations can resume. But let’s wait and see