Hot, Hot, Hot ...

Hmm ... I've never been a big fan of the heat, but today I really struggled. We had an OfSTED inspection thing at school today - they're assessing our Teacher Training Provision. I got to spend an hour in the company of an OfSTED inspector. She asked me all kinds of questions, and it's weird, because you never quite know what you're being asked. Is there a subtext, is there a hidden meaning she's looking for?

Then, I got on with lots of work after school, and left about 6.30. My plan was to head straight to the gym, but that was thwarted by a lorry fire on the M1, meaning it took me over an hour to get home - during which time I discovered that my air conditioning is broken in the car. Like I can afford to fix that!

I did get to the gym, but I was just so hot - it was ridiculous - i couldn't do anything! I was a wee bit sweaty! I think the mistake was doing a 20 minute run on the treadmill first (especially on a gradient) ...

Still, most things seem to be ticking along quite nicely! I'm working relatively hard, and doing lots of councillor-y type stuff too. Anyway, this isn't much of an update at the moment, but I hope that I'll have something more significant to blog about soon!

Jogging ...

I guess the secret of running a blog, is updating it ... I will get better at this though!!

I went for a run this morning. I'm really starting to enjoy jogging. I did 11.5 miles this morning - this is all part of building up to the Nottingham Half Marathon in September. Although, I've only got 1.5 miles to go now ... I'm not too worried about getting round.

I did a lovely route this morning - I went up the canal to Zouch, and then came back up through Hathern along the A6. Then, I ran through the town centre (you can do that at 9.30 on a Sunday morning) ... I got accosted by old ladies on two occasions though - first to give directions to a newsagents and second to tell someone the time.

Then I carried on along the A6 towards Quorn and ran round Charnwood Water before coming back along the canal. REALLY nice. I also amused myself, imagining that I was on a hidden camera show ... I find that you have to do that when you're running more than about 5 miles or you'd go mad. I also have my tunes on ... I have a jogging playlist on my ipod. It's got all my favourite music on it, and stuff that really keeps me going. One of the best things to run to is this bit of Soundtrack from Dr Who (sad I know ... it's when the violins come in ...)



This was my route by the way: http://gb.mapometer.com/en/running/route_134571.html

Beginning of the end?

So, the BNP have got in ... In Yorkshire and Humber and the North West (and 10 miles up the road from me in Coalville) ... It doesn't make you feel great to be honest. As soon as any group of homophobic, anti-Islam, anti-Semites gets elected you'd feel pretty miserable. These are people who stand for values that I believe are singularly NOT British.

Is this the beginning of the end? What do we do now? There has obviously been a fair amount of hysteria and anger expressed all over the media and off the media, including eggs being lobbed at Nick Griffin this afternoon. I was disappointed to hear they weren't hard boiled ...

I think the biggest mistake we can make now is to ignore them. If we ignore them then we run the risk of them getting under the radar. We need to be alert to the actions they take and the way in which they do them. People need to be exposed to the BNP's views. Even today, I've spoken to someone totally reasonable who said that they didn't think the BNP were that bad. They totally are! They have become experts at presenting themseleves in a way that makes them credible. All suits and hard working local community people apparently ... I'm not convinced!

What can we do? We can sign the online petition on the hope not hate website to send a message - only a gesture, but a sign that we're committed to getting rid of them. I've done that! I've even uploaded a picture ...

The next thing we need to do is start restoring faith in the political process. We need as members of all mainstream political parties to help people regain their trust. One way we can do this is by changing the MP's expenses system. I really hope that Gordon Brown (seeing as he's still there ... I'll leave my views on this for another time), can really lead the decisive change that's needed to restore people's faith. He may not win the next election, but he can at least leave something of a legacy ...

Notts 10

On Friday night, I ran in the Notts 10 mile race around Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre. I really enjoyed it, and finished it in 72 minutes 34 seconds. That said, the 2.5 laps of the centre made things a little boring, and I think I'm going to prefer ONE lap races!! This means I managed to run 10 miles in 7 minute 15 second miles.

I read that Harley has just about beat my 10K time ... This is worrying. I shall have to find another race to take part in now, so I can try and beat my time again!! The good news I think, is that I've definitely got a half marathon within my grasp now. I shall have to find one to take part in before the Nottingham half marathon (which I'm doing in September).

Whoops ...

Been a few days since I've updated ... I've got to try and get into the habit of updating this thing, otherwise it'll all get complicated.

What have I been up to? Well, after crashing the car on Tuesday (stupid man decided to come into the right hand lane while I was in it ...) Annoyed with myself for not taking his details, and as a result not getting it paid for on his insurance. The good news is that the damage could have been a lot worse than it was, and the car will be properly road worthy again on Monday ...

Then nothing much happened in the rest of the week. I delivered a few leaflets for the local elections, and that wsa pretty much it! I was massively disappointed with the results from the elections, and am saddened that the people at the top of the Labour party have so little awareness of how their actions are affecting the hard-working people at the bottom. I was abused when delivering leaflets. To me, following a political party is not about following a particular person, but about embracing an ideal. Why am I in the Labour party? Because I believe in justice and fair treatment for all. Because I believe in local people who work hard and care about their area. I believe that's what the Labour party is/should be all about. I hope that the message of what we are, rather than the personality stuff flying around at the moment can start to be communicated.

Incidentally we did quite well in Loughborough all things considered!

Leafletting vs Canvassing ...

If you read my blog the other day, you'll know that I've been a bit miffed with the political establishment recently, so I totally 'get' that other people might be a bit miffed too.

The fact that I've been a bit miffed means I've not done as much campaigning for these elections as I normally would. I've picked up a bit in the last week for the reasons I mentioned in my earlier post. I've done a lot of leafletting in the last week and some canvassing too. I usually enjoy canvassing, but it's not so much fun when people don't really want to see anyone of a political persuasion! Leafletting has been OK though. It's been nice to be out in the sun walking round the ward. However, leafletting doesn't stop you being abused!! I feel like wearing a big badge saying "Don't Hate Me because I support ..." I'm understand where people are coming from, but please ... give us a break ... we don't get paid for it!!