Every day, in every way, life gets a little more complicated

My apologies for the silence from this corner of South London, but I've been rather busy, delivering leaflets in Knight's Hill, assessing potential London Assembly candidates, dealing with mergers (I've been here before, methinks...) and, tonight, attending the Annual Dinner of Borough of Brent Liberal Democrats, soon to be, I hope, my Local Party.

Yes, that does mean that the Valladares roadshow is to revert to a North London locale. I received an e-mail from my estate agent of choice on Monday, telling me that they had been appointed on a sole agency basis by Rachelle's solicitors (they very kindly told me later that day...). We have agreed upon a conveyancing solicitor, after it was pointed out to them that they were trying to breach the court order they themselves had drafted, and now all that is required is for me to allow an estate agent and photographer into my home to deal with floor plans and all of the stuff that goes into selling a house in these rather more complex times in which we live.

In turn, I will need to approach some estate agents in Kingsbury and Wembley, and start the process of finding a home for myself and my cats (it will almost certainly be more traumatic for them than for me, as this is the only home they've really known). Moving companies, more conveyancing solicitors, hassle, annoyance, regressive stamp duty, so much to look forward to... as if I had time for it all...

It was a lovely evening though, somewhat different in style to the Barnet event last week. Whereas Barnet's was at the rather glamorous National Liberal Club, waitress service and a speech from Nick Clegg, tonight was African dancing, a steel band, a self-service buffet and speeches from Sarah Teather and Vince Cable, a late stand-in for Paddy Ashdown, who was called to somewhere in the Middle East for a television show by all accounts, all of this in a building somewhere between Harlesden and Neasden.

Whilst I enjoyed the Barnet event, I was more comfortable in the slightly more anarchical Brent event, partly because there are so many familiar faces (I started my political activity in Brent in the mid-eighties), many of whom date back to the time when we managed to win our first ward (Barham) in 1982, and who worked tirelessly in what was often a fairly hopeless cause until comparatively recently. Last year, we went from nine councillors to twenty-seven, became the largest group and now lead a coalition with the Conservatives. It is certainly true that luck has played a part, especially in terms of the timing of the Brent East by-election, but as a famous golfer once said, "it's amazing, the harder I work, the luckier I get.". Work is something that Brent Liberal Democrats have never shied away from...

And now, nor can I. There will be much to do over the coming weeks, but at least the end of the nightmare is in sight and I can get on with the rest of my life, whatever that means...