Facebook 'surgery'

I thought I would try an experiment this morning by flagging up to be online for 'Facebook' chat for half an hour at a pre-arranged time. I reckoned a Thursday morning ought to be relatively quiet (probably only around five per cent of my 'facebook friends' were online at the time) to see how it went. I was encouraged by the response. At one stage messages were popping up so fast that it felt like one of those plate-spinning acts that you see on variety shows on the TV.

What was positive was that people felt able to do everything from chat about the weather in South Glos. (seriously snowy) to raising pretty fundamental issues like local housing, public transport, Gaza and ID cards as well as - perhaps inevitably - the lack of grit on the roads.

I will probably try this again at 'peak time', though I may need to put bandages on my typing fingers afterwards...