6000 miles

Hard to believe but 7 days from now we will be 6000 miles away from home on the other side of the world in South Africa. That's what it has been like for the Premier's party this week. They have been in the North East since Thursday and I hope that they have found the welcome warm. We met with three colleagues from the Provincial Government yesterday to talk to them about the library services in the North East and their contribution to Culture and the lives of our people.

It was great to meet them and to put some faces to names. We will be meeting some of them again I hope next week when we reach King William's Town and see them in the context of their services, as they have seen ours. It was so interesting to talk to them about the challenges of providing public services. Our Cultures may be different on the face of it but our challenges and issues are very much the same.

Last night we all got the chance to experience the Swallows Partnership in its dramatic best at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle for a production of Elephant. It was really interesting to see how the two companies dealt with a very African production. I loved the musical side to it and it never fails to impress me how some cultures and indeed languages provide the most fantastically musical people. The people of South Africa are like the Welsh in this country for choral singing I think - they have a natural inclination for rhythm and a distinctive musical sound. I loved the stories and the Elephants stole the show for me. I was really taken by the way the puppetteers were able to capture the movements of the animals in an utterly convincing way. It has been made all the more poignant by a story I have read in the Sunday Times today about the way that elephant populations have now increased to such a proportion that there are too many - a difficult problem to deal with because of the emotional connetions humans feel to these magnificent animals. I am afraid that the production has left myself, Ann and Laurayne with an even stronger desire to see the real thing whilst we are in Africa.

Roll on Wednesday, we can't wait to get to a different continent.