It's good to hear the well-oiled wheels of democracy at County Hall continue to grind along.

Take last week's snappily-named democracy and organisation committee, for instance, which was done and dusted inside 25 minutes, according to one bemused onlooker.

Which left us wondering: Is that because there isn't much democracy or organisation going on - or because Oxfordshire County County is so highly efficient?

Those press officers live the life of Reilly, don't they?

Barbara McSweeney, of Oxfordshire County Council, called the Oxford Mail offices the other day just shy of 8am to relay an important message to a bleary-eyed journalist and declared: "I've just pulled into a layby to make a call - I'm eating a pork pie."

Pork pie? Such extravagances at such an early hour. We're just jealous.

It's the little things in life that infuriate the most, isn't it?

Like the traffic lights at the junction of Hythe Bridge Street and Hollybush Row, in Oxford, for instance, which allow approximately two cars through until they turn red again.

But the snail-like procession of traffic in rush hour is not all bad for one cheesed-off commuter, who got in touch to say he had managed to create a positive from a negative.

He told The Insider: "It's great. I catch up with outstanding correspondence, text messages, calls to the office - and sometimes a shave."

Tut, tut. And all without a hands-free, too.

Despite the gravitas that Tony Hollander, the Godfather of the so-called 'North Oxford Mafia' (so named because many of the city council's Liberal Democrat executive have seats up there) exudes, he clearly doesn't trust leaving his bike tethered to the railings of the Town Hall, in St Aldate's, like other people.

The Summertown member was seen this week wheeling his trusty steed out of the councillors' entrance after attending at a meeting.

Who said it's any safer inside?

Meetings involving Sid Phelps, the Green city councillor, are rarely conventional and often chaotic. And this week proved no exception.

During one such gathering, someone's mobile phone rather annoyingly kept ringing and an errant microphone constantly omitted strange noises not dissimilar to those heard on a Mike Oldfield album.

It was somewhat embarrassing that in both cases the offender was none other than Mr Phelps himself. Doubly embarrassing because he was chairing the meeting.

Depending on how look you at things, Oxford's Lord Mayor Jim Campbell is either a very lucky, or extremely unfortunate man.

His constantly updated civic engagements list features a veritable feast of interesting, not-so-interesting and just plain bizarre appointments.

And to add insult to injury the poor man had to watch Oxford United play Dagenham and Redbridge on Monday night.