I had my usual lunchtime spot. I didn't believe in eating a sandwich at my desk. Get out the office and clear my head was my aim. As a regular, staff recognised me. One day the young woman who usually made my cappuccino came from behind the counter and over to my window seat. ‘Is it right you work for the council and are a senior manager ?' I anticipated a request for advice about an elderly relative, frustration about dealing with the system or a complaint about the potholes. But no it was none of these.

She explained she was a student at the university studying journalism and she was writing an assignment on Local Government. ‘Could she interview me?', she asked. ‘OK what is it you want to know ?'. ‘What local government does, how it works', she replied. ‘It won't take long', she said!  I offer to meet her in my office, but she said she preferred to interview me in the cafe at the end of her shift. I agreed and thought I better check out whether this interview would be under Chatham House rules. She didn't know what these were. I explained it meant anything I said could not be attributed to me which would mean I could speak more freely without being concerned about the risk of upsetting my boss or embarrassing the local authority.

It is quite a challenge to explain what a council does. It was a lot easier when we provided services rather than commissioned or contracted for services. When we ran schools and built council houses. When we employed home helps and ran residential Care Homes for older people. She knew we were closing libraries and day centres. She knew we weren't repairing potholes - and wasn't there a problem with the bins? And she knew someone, a friend of a friend who had a social worker but she wasn't sure why.

I started by stating I worked for the county council not the district council. What's the difference, she asked. The district council is responsible for emptying the bins, I said.

She said I keep hearing the council has no money, why? The Government doesn't give us enough to meet the cost of services so we have to cut them. But people who live here pay council tax and that keeps going up so why is there not enough money? Is it because the council wastes money? My mum knows someone who is a cleaner at the council house (County Hall) she is always saying how much waste there is. And wasn't there some problem about paying too much for computers?

I thought I might be on firmer ground if I explained about cabinet government, overview and scrutiny, the difference between the chair , elected mayor and chief executive . I was just getting into my stride when she said ‘but who's in charge'?

I asked if I could see what she had written when she had completed the assignment. She agreed. A few lunchtimes later I asked her how it was going. ‘Oh I spoke to my tutor and agreed to change the subject. Local Government was just too confusing!'