Eventful 10 minutes whilst campaigning

photo taken by my sister

Most of my doorknocking and leafleting stints have been done using my trusty steed, my Gary Fisher mountain bike. I cycle down to an area, lock the bike up and get to it. Today I was canvassing. As I had a shoulder bag full of leaflets, I chose - now to my regret - to take my lightweight lock. The rationale was that I would only be a few yards away from my bike. After locking my bike to a post I proceeded to knock on doors, at no time was I more than 20 yards away from the bike. After about 30 minutes, I finished talking to a resident and looked across at where my bike was supposed to be....only to find it wasn't there. My immediate emotion was massive bewilderment, followed by massive dejection. Then I began to wonder if I had locked it somewhere else, only to find the the busted lock lying on the floor. Absolutely gutted.

I rang the police and then my sister, who I knew was passing by. Whilst waiting for my sister, I spotted Labour candidate Donna Gray. She was peddling the latest Labour communication. This one had a piece about Labour opposing the incinerator. We exchanged pleasantries. She seems like a sweet person. I told her what happened about my bike - she expressed sympathy and carried on down the road delivering leaflets. As she went off I called her back, and asked, how was it that Labour could claim to be against the incinerator when Labour councils are forcing them through all over the country. I also mentioned that Malcolm Wicks, MP for Croydon North, had forced one through in Bexley in 2006 against massive local opposition. Her response, rather reaction, was to laugh, and playfully hit me on the arm with the aforementioned duplicitous leaflets and march off. She carried on laughing as she walked away.....

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Tags croydon, greenparty