Four more years (at least)

The election's over, thank god, with Labour returned to power.

Personally, I didn't win the council seat. I don't feel I did that badly, however, having held the Labour vote at around the same level it was four years ago. Plus, my whole campaign was run for £166, whereas the Liberal Democrats (who won the seat) spent over £100,000 in Taunton as a whole.

So what next? Lots of work, and exams in September. Then another shot at standing for election? Hopefully somewhere where I stand a chance of winning.

The "global village"

On Sunday, I went to the pub for a few drinks with my mate Dave. Afterwards we went to his for a few glasses of red wine and some mindless television. Arriving back home just after 12, I discovered a text message from my friend Vicky. It said simply "I miss you". I almost cried when I read that - I miss her every day.

It got me thinking - this whole instant communication thing is all very well, but there's no substitute for actual human interaction. The people I care about are spread across the country, and indeed the world, and great as the interweb and telephone/SMS are, I wish I could see more of them. Sure, I could move closer to some of my friends, but then I'd only be moving further away from other friends and family.

In this respect I sort of envy my mother. Until we came here about 10 years ago, virtually everyone she had ever known lived in the same town, or at least within a 30 mile radius. In many ways, my life is much richer for knowing people from different walks of life and different places, but at the same time it's difficult never seeing people from one month to the next.

I don't know what the solution is. I'm sorry to sound so negative, but there it is.