In conclusion...

I was amazed by the response I got on my blog to my VOTE post, in less than 24hours I had a full blown political debate taking place.

I'd just like to thank all those of you who put my mind at rest about the little old ladies in the factories, maybe the nightmares will go away now!

Also a huge congratulations to those of you who tried so desperately to prove that the wall had been re-tagged and even bigger congratulations to any tagger good enough to replace a tag so accurately!

Here are the results (well most of them) and a few comments made by the candidates. What it highlights is that the election turn out was unbelievably few! It seems that the huge quantities of paper that came through peoples doors did nothing to encourage most of them to actually go out and vote.

As my mother so wisely pointed out the first time I was able to vote, women died to give me the opportunity, I have to use it. We live in a country where we have the freedom to express our opinions about how our country is run. We have the right to argue our opinions over the internet, in the streets, in the media, in our workplaces and homes. Even if it seems that our opinions don't always seem to change much apathy is never the answer.

If you have the chance to vote, use it.
If you don't think any of the candidates are worth voting for, void it!

Bromley and Chislehurst
Bob Neill (C) 11,621
Ben Abbotts (LD) 10,988
Nigel Farage (UKIP) 2,347
Rachel Reeves (Lab) 1,925
Ann Garrett (Green) 811
Majority: 633
Turnout 40.45 per cent
Swing: 14.32 per cent C to LD

"A minority of candidates, principally the Liberal Democrats, have chosen to fight this campaign with the most vigorous and underhand example of cynical personal abuse that I have encountered in 30 years of politics. If you [the Lib Dems] sometimes wonder why it is that people in this country are turned off by politics, get a mirror and look at yourselves,"

Newly-elected Tory MP for Bromley and Chislehurst Bob Neill

"The Conservatives tried to take the support of local people for granted. The result, as is absolutely clear, is a disaster for Cameron's Conservatives. Make no mistake this is an absolutely sensational result for the Liberal Democrats,"

Bromley and Chislehurst's Liberal Democrat candidate Ben Abbotts

VOTE!

Tomorrow I get the chance to vote. This is only the second time I have been able to do this and I take the responsibilty very seriously. As many of my readers will know, Bromley has been a conservative borough for quite a while now but since the death of Eric Forth our old MP almost every party going has decided to try and grab this constituency.

I have had leaflets pouring through my door from UKIP, Conservatives, LibDems, Green, English Democrats etc. (Nothing from labour by the way!) As well as all the loners who thought they'd have a go because they have a politics degree and even...the Monster Raving Loony Party! I heard tonight that there is a group going under the original name of The New Party!

Well.. the one person who has really been annoying me in the run up to the polls has been the LibDem candidate. His name is Ben Abbotts and like the rest of them he is brilliant at telling us how awful the other candidates are and rubbish at giving me any good reason why I should actually vote for him.

5 Things about Ben Abbotts campaign that put me off:

1. There has just been so much of it...I only need one leaflet, once, not three per day...I don't care that it's recycled paper...it is still stupidly excessive!

2. The Chat style magazine we received with articles about him on EVERY SINGLE PAGE!

3. The printed post-it note they stuck to afore mentioned magazine saying "Don't you think he would be great for Bromley" to make it look like one of my neighbours had posted it through my door!

4. The printed blue letter on little bits of A5 paper made to look like it had been hand written and starting with the phrase Dear Neighbour! - Oh and the envelope with our address written on it by some little old lady in a factory somewhere!!!

5. The vile orange and yellow boards boasting that he's "Winning it for Bromley" and using the England flag to trick us into being all patriotic just because world cup fever is around!

So anyway....enough of the list of reasons... I might actually have voted for him...I mean despite all of those points, he seems keen, he lives locally (Not in Yorkshire like one of the candidates) and he does seem to know what he is talking about...if it hadn't been for this:

BEN ABBOTTS REVEALED:

This is the picture of Ben Abbotts cleaning graffiti...It is on his website, it was on one of his many campaign leaflets:



Oh and this is my arm, this evening, holding his leaflet right next to that same piece of graffitti which is....SHOCKINGLY...STILL THERE!!!!!!!!!! It's literally a few metres from the LibDem Bromley offices!

Just so cool...

check this out...

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/animator

Sweet Voice!

So...I have just checked my posts from the past few months and realised I never told you about my 3.00am singing experiences a few months back! I had been in Preseli helping Becky with her essay on Argentina and I had my guitar with me because I had been preparing a song for a CU meeting the next evening.
As I left the building I met a young man who appeared to be slightly tipsy and who entreated me to serenade me. Sadly I couldn't sing his requested song (WonderWall) so he had to make do with one of my own compositions (Paper Dissolves in the rain). The young man and both night porters who were listening applauded wildly before allowing me (finally) to go home and to bed.

Tonight I realised that we had run out of black sacks and went down to the porters to ask for some more. The Porter was one of the same porters who had been there that morning so many weeks ago! He remembered me (blast!) and said that he was a keen singer and maybe I should come down and we could sing duets together! Suddenly I realised he was serious (!) as he burst into song (can't remember the exact song - something to do with me being his girl!). I stood in shock until he'd finished... smiling kindly (you know the smile you give to lunatics in the street!) before grabbing the bin bags and hurrying back to my flat. "Goodbye Sweet Voice!" he called out behind me!

Thank goodness it is nearly the end of term! Everyone is going crazy!