The results are in...

   So the results are in. The Conservatives are back in power with a small majority, 331 seats. All the other parties combined have 319. Their partners in the previous coalition, the Liberal  Democrats took a real beating this time, losing most of their seats. The SNP (Scottish National Party) picked up 56 of the 59 seats available in Scotland. They had 6 previosly. UKIP managed 1. They had 2. Their leader, who was standing in my constituency didn't quite make it. Coming second and keeping his promise, resigned his leadership of his party.
   Now here's the interesting part. We have a first past the post system here not proportional representation. So while UKIP received 12.6% of the National vote they only got one seat. The Lib Dems received 7.9% getting 5 seats. The SNP 4.7% and gained a whooping 56 seats.  So a couple Parties feel hard done by but that's our system. It would however be daft for any Politician to ignore the %'s and what those people were voting for.
   Some area's also had local council elections. We did, our's was many made up of Labour councillors but they've misjudged and mishandled local affairs of late and they've paid the price. UKIP took 33 of the 56 seats. Labour who had the majority before ended up with just 4. UKIP's agenda seems to rest on two thorny local subjects. The forced purchase of the local Airport and dog poo. The airport was brought for £1 (plus it's debt) a year ago with the promise from the new owner that they would try and turn it round within a year. The owner closed it after four months and wants to build houses on it. Most think that was her motive from the beginning. Que local uproar. The previous administration wasn't keen on getting involved and kind of mucked the whole thing up. The new mob want it up and running again. They are also planning, "on the spot fines" of £80 if you litter or your dog misbehavior's on the street. We have some very irresponsible dog owners here and the streets pay testament to that fact. However you'd be hard pressed to extract 80 pence from the good unemployed folk of this locale, let alone £80.
   In other news I've been in hiding for a few days. Not doing anything I should, when I should be. OK a lazy day is fine every so often but not several strung together. I'm not sure what triggers it. Or maybe I am and I'm choosing to subconsciously ignore it. It's just a set back that is and will be dealt with. Some days the Miserys get a bigger kicking than other days and occasionally it gives me a bit of a mauling. I have to say thanks to Pres who swapped a few messages with me over the weekend. It was kind of you to take the time )))
   The last few days havent been a total write off. I collected some poppy seeds from a couple of stray Blue Poppies that managed to grow amongest the building rubble in my front garden last summer. The seeds were put in an old brown envelope and stuck at the back of the fridge. I sprinkled a few on to some soil, in an old cardboard egg box (you can cut up the box and plant the segments into the ground without upsetting the seeds if they take) Well the seeds have taken and hopefully will keep growing. I'll keep you posted.
   The shell collection continues to grow too. I can't resist picking up a few shells as I walk along the beach. I'm a kid all over again. I know, I've mentioned that before but anything that makes you feel like a kid can't be bad can it?

Onwards and upwards, in search of fulfillment :-)))
               

If I was chocolate, I'd eat myself.

While working this week I've had the radio on most of the time. There were a couple of things that stuck in the brain. A play where the main character after hanging a mirror in his bathroom stood back and while admiring his handy work exclaimed, "If I was chocolate I'd eat myself." I can't wait to use that line. The other was a series of interviews from the late fifties and early sixties. With people like Bette Davis and Brian Epstein (the first Beatles manager) where they all claimed their success was down to their own hard work and diligence. I doubt many captains of industry, actors or sports people would claim that today, without including a plethora of other people who helped. Then there was, "Hellhound on his trail" the story of the assassination of Martin Luther King and the hunt for his killer, James Earl Ray. I was just 10 when King was murdered and faintly remember it being on the news. Back then, news here in the UK was mostly local. The exceptions being the Vietnam war, Earthquakes and the odd assassination. The adaptation of the book for radio was good and filled in all the gaps and added stuff I didn't know about King and his career around the time of his death.  
The pollstations are closed and the results are coming in. It looks like the Conservatives have an outright lead . Employment, low immigration and better health care have been the three main topics regularly discussed on TV. The smaller parties have made the biggest promises. Safe in the knowledge they won't get to lead so it puts more pressure on the bigger parties. This time round we seem to be very inward looking. The Scots and Welsh Nationalists are poised to do well within their borders. England? well we don't really have a nationalist party as such. we've flirted with the idea but they've always been seriously right wing and dangerous. Now however we have UKIP. The United Kingdom Liberation Party. Most consider it an English, slightly far right party made up of oddballs who believe that most of our ills have been caused by Johnny Foreigner. Their leader, Nigel Farge is standing for election in the South Thanet constituency, which is where I live and I've come home for a couple of days. Primarily to vote. UKIP like the Welsh and Scots have picked up a lot of disaffected voters. People who believe on the whole that Governments do very little for them. So results will be very interesting.

Onwards and upwards. In the pursuit of fulfillment :-)))