Leafleting with Andrew Pakes on Springfield/Woolstones

I had to kill a few hours so made myself something to eat and rested as still felt unwell with this cold and felt wiped out from the mornings activities.

I was reading what I call my guilty secret a book that I have found differcult to put down by the former General Secretary Peter Watt called Inside Out you know when you are getting old when the General Secretary is a month younger than yourself and earning £100,000 a year a figure I can only dream off! not good timing dishing the dirt near to a General Election but so interesting to read of the workings between 10 Downing Street and the Labour Party Headquarters at Victoria Road, London and the battles between Tony Blair and Gordon Brown.

The other book is the Total Politics Guide to the 2010 General Election by Iain Dale facts and figures on each constituency which I could not get enough of.

I had a good chat with Liberal Democrat Cllr Rex Exon of Bradwell Ward on the doorstep as he was leafleting tried to get out of him their plans for the election he said that St.Albans may be the nearest target to campaign at as he admitted the Liberal Democrats do not stand a chance wining either Milton Keynes seat and felt his group will find it differcult to hold on to some of their target seats, a nice chap who I have a lot of time for, said I had better let him get on with his leafleting (was surprised he handed me a leaflet not sure I would be so generous if it was the other way round?) hope he did not think it was a ploy to delay him as this is a tactic applied by party members who are canvassed on the doorstep during an election campaign from one of the opposition parties.

I recieved a text message from Andrew Pakes to meet him at 2:00pm at the Springfield Local Centre and not as planned the Stantonbury Local Centre as appparantly that leaflet had not been printed yet.

I arrived twenty minutes early (seem at the moment that I am arriving to everything early as I am usually late for everything), I found it differcult to park as I soon realised that it was the ending of the Friday Muslim prayers and they all spilled out from the Springfield Meeting Place in their colourful dress with their numerous children.

Andrew Pakes pulled up with his Election Agent Pete Marland and Cllr Jess Holroyd (formally a Councillor for Wolverton Ward and was beaten at the 2008 Council elections by Mike Galloway of the Liberal Democrats, and now a member of Wolverton and Greenleys Town Council), then to my surprise George Conghie turned up we were both elected on to Milton Keynes Council in 1996 he was Chair of the Community Care Committee and I was his Vice - Chair I like to think we worked well together I have a lot of time for George (he represented Loughton ward and lost his seat in 2000 to Conservative Andy Dransfield) sadly like a lot of party members he resigned over the Iraq war but is still heavily involved with the Co-op Party I did not have the heart to ask him if he had rejoined but I guess as Andrew Pakes is a Labour and Co-op Party candidate he felt he should campaign for him.

As I was informed by Dr Starkey when it gets nearer to a General Election former party members come out of the wood work as they realise that the thought of a Tory Government is too much to contemplate.

Andrew Pakes was full of cold and coughing and I wished him a Happy New Year and handed him a copy of the Liberal Democrat leaflet (which he said was being delivered in Newport Pagnall) and the survey's from Cllr Kevin Wilson, he asked if myself and George could leaflet a section of Woolstones while they leafleted a section of Springfield.

As I went in George's car it reminded me of old times when I did not have a car and when we went to meetings he would collect me from my house on Oldbrook.

We leafleted separate sides of the road at one Cul - De - Sac I thought there was mainly carports and back gardens it was not until George joined me that he pointed out the front doors were acessed along pathways from the carports I felt a right plonker!

At one house I was about to put a leaflet through the door when it opened quickly and made one pretty young mum holding her baby in a carry cot jump as she was obviously about to go out and I thought she saw me walk up the pathway and was opening the door for me.

At one road my mobile phone rang it was Andrew Pakes asking about our progress I said we were going to leaflet one more street and we would be finished I did say that I thought I was sweating out my cold but he was very charitable and said that the sun was out and it was getting warm!

We lasted an hour and a half and I was dropped off back to Springfield to collect my car and took our leaflets which I am to give back to Andrew Pakes who I will be seeing tommorrow to do yet more leafleting.