It’s been a wee while since we’ve had a brand new Parliamentarian. Here’s how Alex Cole-Hamilton, who gained Edinburgh Western from the SNP last week, spent his first week in office.

Monday

Outgoing Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick instituted a 3 day induction for new MSPs so that they weren’t just thrown in the deep end. Here’s Alex enjoying his new office:

First day of school! @scotlibdems pic.twitter.com/Dol4hK579s

— Alex Cole-Hamilton (@agcolehamilton) May 9, 2016

BBC Scotland were there filming. Watch from around 14 minutes in to see him have a wee bit of a jazz hands moment:

Tuesday

We always knew Alex would be a hard-working constituency MSP. On election day, the Post Office closed a vital Post Office with no notice. Alex was quickly on the case supporting local residents and explaining why this was such a problem for the community:

It’s terrible. The other closures in the area were carried out with the assurance that the office at Duart Crescent would remain open. If you are elderly, infirm or have kids it is too difficult to get down the hill to St John’s Road.

A post office is the surrogate hub of the community and much more than just somewhere to pick up your pension. It is the only slice of social inclusion available to some of the elderly residents. As we close these counters it is another barrier to their involvement in society.

I am sure we have all heard anecdotes of people raising the alarm as someone has not collected their pension for a couple of weeks. That will all be lost if this is a permanent closure.

I’ll just leave there the fact that Post Office closures came to an end when the Lib Dems were in Government. I was at this post office the week before the election and I totally understand that it’s devastating for the local community. The hill of which Alex speaks is pretty horrific.

Wednesday

It’s the “Kirking of the Council” service attended by Prince Charles. Alex met a young constituent there.

Thanks @agcolehamilton for saying hello to a new constituent tonight at the #Kirking – @YoungScot volunteer Ian! pic.twitter.com/nbmQmLEpsO

— Louise Macdonald (@Louisemac) May 11, 2016

Thursday

He gets a wee bit ahead of himself taking his affirmation. In fact, out of five MSPs, only Willie Rennie was word perfect. We can, however, forgive Alex’s newbie excitement. Watch here.

Once he’d got over the excitement, he lodged his first Parliamentary motion.

In 2013, Nicola Jones, a 35 year old Kirkliston care home resident received burns to 42 % of her body after being placed in a bath of scalding water when a thermostat failed.

Ms Jones’ parents have called for care homes to be fitted with secondary thermostatic cut out valves, which would provide an extra safeguard against human error and the sort of thermostat failure which occurred in their daughter’s case. Alex said:

I met Nicola’s family during the campaign and was deeply affected by their story. This is an accident that should not have happened. The horrific injuries that Nicola suffered were avoidable.

This is not the first time that an accident of this sort has happened. But unless we take action now it will not be the last. You cannot legislate for human error or technical failures. But we can ensure that safety nets are in place to protect care home residents. That is what thermostatic cut out valves offer.

This is urgent and that is why my first act as an MSP is to press the government to act.

Ministers must to look closely at the case for bringing forward regulations to require care homes to introduce secondary thermostatic valves. This simple change could help save lives.

Friday

It’s his first Friday so that means coffee mornings

Fab coffee morning in Kirkliston in aid of @loveoliver107 amazing work funding research into childhood cancer pic.twitter.com/EIqRWuGTBR

— Alex Cole-Hamilton (@agcolehamilton) May 13, 2016

And surgeries – in supermarkets

Really enjoyed my 1st 2 supermkt surgeries, people queuing up to speak to me. Definitely coming back next week #SP5 pic.twitter.com/EcV60mChlE

— Alex Cole-Hamilton (@agcolehamilton) May 13, 2016

Saturday

On Saturday he did what every other Lib Dem (except the grumpy ones) was doing:

My vote is with the comedy half time show, esp the man in a hamster wheel and the burning fake piano #Eurovision

— Alex Cole-Hamilton (@agcolehamilton) May 14, 2016

Sunday

No rest for the newly elected. Alex was talking about his first week on Sunday Politics Scotland. He said he intended to work to get the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child incorporated into Scottish law. He was pivotal in getting a motion on this through Scottish Lib Dem Conference in February.

What was surprising about the interview is that he mentioned the massive campaign team who had helped him get elected. Politicians never do that after the count, not in public anyway, so hats off to him. He is actually one of the best candidates I’ve ever had to work with. He has no airs and graces and just gets on with stuff – and does what he’s told, too. Even some of the best politicians and finest liberals I have ever known can (understandably) be a bit of a pain in the arse when they are up for election. Alex was very much part of the team driving forward, not above it. His was one of the best campaigns I have ever worked on. That isn’t all down to him, of course. There was a cast of hundreds, and it was so ably led by organiser Tom and campaign manager Kevin. They need to write THE book on how they did it.

Alex was also tipped as one to watch by former Labour Leader Iain Gray in an article in the Scottish edition of the Mail on Sunday.

So that was his first week – unless you can think of anything I’ve missed out.

UPDATE: I asked Alex on Twitter if there was anything I had missed out. He replied as follows. I have to say that outgoing Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick is a lovely and kind woman. She’s also an optimist:

@caronmlindsay @libdemvoice this is excellent! Only thing you missed was that Tricia put me next to her at PO lunch so that I'd behave…

— Alex Cole-Hamilton (@agcolehamilton) May 15, 2016

* Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs at Caron's Musings