Polling Day

Mr HPW and Jane had an early start this morning, and I woke up... then went back to sleep and slept through my alarm. I was rushing around to drop Alexander off to nursery and then get to Govan. The radio claimed it would be 18 degrees today but it was more like 6 at 9am.

I was signed up to polling station campaigning duty. Now, when I moved to Glasgow this took me by surprise. It wasn't done where I grew up (we used to count the voter numbers but not 'campaign'). So a horde of different party reps swarm the voters like pirhanas, handing out cards with voting 'suggestions' on. I think it's a bit intimidating, and also most people surely have made up their minds by the time they get to the polling station; but everyone does it.... Most people just politely take everyone's leaflets, and the others mainly decline them all, hardly anyone declares a preference (and I understand why), but a few people did genuinely quiz us about why they should vote for us, including an unhappy lady whose priest obviously told her to ask about gay marriage (and she didn't like the answer).

My first assignment was a polling station which was slow, to say the least. An SNP rep had been there since 7am and he'd counted 14 voters. By the time I left again at 10.30 I made it a grand total of 18 in 3.5 hrs. This did brighten up my stay though.

It was still cold and grey when I was redeployed to a bigger polling station, and I stayed there the rest of the day. There were quite a few other party reps there, and it's necessary to have a bit of camaraderie unless you want a dire and awful day. It's been awkward as the previous 3 Labour councillors were deselected and all are standing again - one as an independent (represented by the lady in front here) and the others in a new party, so we weren't exactly chatting away, but the Solidarity lady worked at the venue so in a true spirit of solidarity kept us supplied with hot drinks and access to the loo. Here we see my comrade Robert having a tea break with Liam from the SNP.

Of course the sun did come out and now I have sunburn as well as sore feet. The Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon, who is the area MSP, turned up about 3pm. She suggested suncream, but I felt her advice was a bit after the fact. Actually I got to go home about then, to collect Alexander.

When I got back I was slightly surprised to see the 'for sale' board up at our house. We agreed it yesterday but that feels like days ago. Read all about it! I'm pleased to see FatCat got in the pics, and Granny in the kitchen...