Being a councillor has its perks. Last week we reported how the basic allowance — they don’t like the word ‘pay’ — is set to increase again in North Yorkshire.

But the less glamorous side of the role was on display this week when two councillors joined a photoshoot in Ripon to celebrate the opening of a toilet for disabled people. Unquestionably a worthy cause, but a strange place for a media call. I hope nobody was desperately waiting to go outside.

The toilets may be open, but what about the new Tesco supermarket in Harrogate? Revised plans were submitted this week, which raises questions about whether it will open next year as scheduled. Tesco, it seems, wants something greener — after already felling trees on site.

It could be a while before the main road in Kirkby Malzeard is back open. There was laughter at a public meeting this week when Yorkshire Water offered to pay for the village bonfire to compensate for the inconvenience of roadworks, which are due to last another 10 weeks. Happy Christmas.

On the dankest of October nights this week, a slice of community action died when people at Harlow and Pannal Ash Residents Association’s autumn meeting voted to wind-up the organisation after 34 years of, as chairman Rene Dziabas put it, irritating the council.

Groups like Hapara do invaluable work poking their nose into council affairs and standing up for residents. But nobody has the time or inclination to take on key roles on the committee. Is there a way of saving it?

I poked my nose into the council’s new 10-year tourism strategy for North Yorkshire this week. One of the more bizarre stats was that only 33% of visitors realised they had visited North Yorkshire when shown a map.

The Scarborough sea air can do funny things to people, but where on earth do people think they are if not North Yorkshire?