Hello again. When I sat down to write this I wondered if anyone else was finding that with a set routine, days and weeks are flying by – it didn’t seem like six weeks since I last wrote this column.

Anyway, I hope you’re doing well and getting through this situation as best as you can. We can all see that the next couple of months offer more hope for an end to the restrictions than we have known for some time, fingers crossed. Oh aye, and I hope your jag – or even jags, if you’ve had both doses – didn’t hurt.

The cautious route out of lockdown the First Minister has announced is there to allow us to start that process, while hopefully not getting caught out by any sudden relaxation that could have us all thinking our old norms are back already.

Currently they’re not, but by the time this goes to print we will be half way through the 21days until the first review – and I think we can all hope we can hear some much wanted better news then.

As it’s the end of this parliament, we’re busy getting the last parts of a wide variety of laws through before the election. We would normally “stand down” on March 26, but because of Covid-19, MSPs have agreed to change the rules this year in the event of any last minute emergencies, so this year we will stand down on Wednesday, May 5, with the election the following day.

The biggest change you’ll notice is that all political parties want as many of us as possible to vote by post. So even if it is only for this election, please try to “make your post box your ballot box”.

You can do this up to Tuesday, April 6 by filling in a form and returning it to the council by post or online. You can download a form at glasgow.gov.uk/elections – or at west-dunbarton.gov.uk/council/voting-and-elections if you live in Clydebank. If you’re in Glasgow and can’t download the form, call 0141 287 4444 to arrange to have one posted out to you.

We want to increase the number of postal voters from 17 per cent to 40 per cent, so that it reduces numbers at polling stations while continuing to keep us all safe.

Another slight change will be that votes will not be counted until the next day, or in some cases next days, depending on local factors like travel distance.

Vaccinations continue to be a local issue, but it’s mostly about signposting people towards their own or loved ones’ jags.

Other local issues we are seeing, cover the normal spectrum for your elected representative, with health, education, housing and transport all coming in.

After school care and university grades are among the main education issues being raised, and I’ve received answers on both from my colleagues; potholes and speeding are the most frequently raised transport issues, and as everyone, I’m sure, knows, this is something all councils will have to pay serious attention to as soon as possible after the pandemic.

Stay safe!