Richard Baum

There have been some remarkable re-unifications in my lifetime. East and West Germany… Madge and Harold from Neighbours… And today, one to top them all, as I am finally allowed back to my precious leaflets after almost a whole month of joyless and utterly free weekends where I could do sensible things like sitting in the garden, enjoying walks, and not helping us come third in Crewe.

It is, seriously, a happy event. Lack of leafleting means that my sole entry-point into the world of exercise is temporarily blocked, and my arteries have been audibly groaning for the last few weeks. I also get to meet a lot of people out on the streets whilst I’m leafleting, and obviously I don’t when I’m not. And of course the more leaflets we put out, the more people get to understand that we are at lest partially trying to do what they want us to do, rather than disappearing into a bunker after the election and not surfacing for 11 months.

So I am going to get all inkey again this afternoon, out and about in the ward. And of course God knows it, and so has replaced calm tranquility with a force 8 storm outside. We recently invested in some canvas covers for the garden furniture, which balloon out alarmingly in weather like this. All morning I keep glancing, from the corner of my eye, a dark green parachute billowing out across the garden. It takes a good half second each time for me to remember that this is caused by my own inability to tie a simple knot to the bottom of our swing-seat, rather than any military manoeuvres taking place on my lawn.

It’s the bank holiday of course. 7th one in five months, and the last one until the end of August. Hmm… There’s something askew there, I feel. But, regardless of the front-loading of our days off, Tam has upped and left me for the weekend, and gone to France. So I am free to do what young men do, in the prime of their lives, with time on their hands and money in their pockets. That’s right - leafleting. Marvellous.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable time.

Rick