I may be the candidate in a by-election, but I still have other commitments, and one of those is to accompany Ros to events. A Friday in North Walsham might not be everybody's idea of a 'day off', but I enjoy travelling with Ros when she does school visits as part if the Lord Speaker's "Peers in Schools" program.
And so, we set off mid-morning for the lengthy drive up the A140, across the A47 southern by-pass and across country past the eastern fringes of Norwich before joining the road to North Walsham, where Ros was scheduled to speak to the Year 8 students as part of their series of inspirational speakers.
Having had a healthy lunch, we arrived in good time and were introduced to the headmaster. We also had the company of Andy Newman, who does PR for a group of local schools, and was also covering the story for the local press. And, as we were having tea (and I was avoiding the flapjacks), it dawned on me that this might be an old university colleague. So, I turned to him.
"Were you at UEA in the mid-eighties?". "Yes.", he replied. "In EUR?" "Yes". And then I asked some fairly personal questions, to his increasing bemusement, before introducing myself properly. Andy and I were, indeed, at UEA together, and I had visited him whilst he was on a year abroad, teaching in a lycee in Cambrai. It was one of those coincidences that seems to happen more often than is credible.
Ros gave her presentation, before opening the floor to questions, her favourite part of the session. But don't believe me when I say how good she is at this, read the report for yourself...
All too soon, it was over, and we had to get back to Suffolk - there were postal voter letters to fold and stuff into envelopes. I'm pretty good at folding things, I have a good eye for size, and I'm content to carry out routine, repetitive tasks. I'm even quite quick (it's all those years as a civil servant that develop such a skill set). And, between the two of us, it didn't take too long to have them all ready for delivery.
A key weekend for the campaign lay ahead...
No comments:
Post a Comment