Finally, the great day arrives

[shewhomust]

durham_rambler and I have postal votes, so we have already voted - oh, weeks ago. We had a choice of seven candidates, but it wasn't a hard choice: I voted Labour, for Roberta Blackman-Woods, the retiring MP. She has done good work on behalf of the constituency , and there is much in the party manifesto that I really like. (I could wish that these two things were more connected, and hope that this vote helps to bring that about.) The Lib Dem candidate is a local councillor, but I voted Lib Dem once, and they went into coalition with the Tories, so I'm not making that mistake again; I might have been tempted to vote Green, but the local candidate - well, let's just say I'm not impressed; the Tory is a Tory, and works for the University; UKIP apparently couldn't find a local candidate (hooray!) and had to bus someone in from Hampshire. This we knew when we cast our votes. Since then we have also received leaflets from the Young People's Party candidate, who stood as an Independent last time round, but has now found a party he likes, making him one of the country's three YPP candidates: they have some interesting ideas, which his election flyer undermined with a page of pointless snark; and an Independent who appears to be saying, if I have disentangled this correctly, that all politicians break their election promises, and he will avoid this by not making any promises.

So that's that. Now we wait and see. We will sit up for as much of the result as we can bear, which will probably be more in durham_rambler's case than in mine! It's going to be a long day. I shall do my best to fill it with useful tasks, and have already started a loaf of bread, and set the fridge to defrost (long overdue). durham_rambler has unblocked the sink in the bathroom. Time to strip the bed and wash some sheets, perhaps?

But first, we have a date to take our friend F. out for a birthday lunch; and durham_rambler has just told me that we need to set off in half an hour. Time to knock back the bread and find something more festive to wear!

Comments

[cmcmck]

We've done ours.

Pretty depressing choice really and no Orkney independence candidate standing here.

Shame! :o)

[shewhomust]

I've certainly been wondering how the Northern Isles will go. Alistair Carmichael seems to have survived that dodgy "leak" pretty well.

Wait and see, as eveywhere...

[cmcmck]

The local view seemed to be that the Lib Dems would get a big slice of negative votes from folks who loathe the 'invader' attitude that the Nats seem to take up there.

Hill won't go anywhere but he does speak to a certain anti Scottish, anti lowper feeling- as you know 'sooth' is a place that little good can be expected of in the islands.

[cmcmck]

It happened too- I see Carmichael retained the seat!

[sovay]

and an Independent who appears to be saying, if I have disentangled this correctly, that all politicians break their election promises, and he will avoid this by not making any promises.

I mean, as political theater, I see how that works . . .

[shewhomust]

And, in fact, he did not come bottom of the poll (that was the YPP).