The Ticker, the Book and the Knocker!

Quite apart from enjoying what have been the warmest April days for more than my lifetime - a welcome treat after Easter snow! - this has been a satisfying week that has included two firsts for me ... possibly three, depending on your definition of 'first'.

The questionable 'first' - debatable because it's really a one-off, so there is no multiple for it to be the first of - was the return to me last weekend of my father's pocket watch, now cleaned and serviced and once more in working order.  A friend had heard of a local watchmaker willing to undertake such work, and reported great satisfaction with the result.  Thus inspired, I recalled this item that had lain unused in my mother's drawer for her eighteen years of widowhood, and has now spent nearly as long in my possession, in a similar state of redundancy.  This is one of very few mementos that I have of dad; he wasn't a man to hoard possessions, but a man of hard work and little inclination to take things easy.  To have it 'alive' once more, ticking by my side and reminding me of the responsibility to keep it wound now it's working again, is somehow most satisfying.

I flagged up last week my intention of going to a conference on Saturday.  This was an afternoon of Bible study that took place near Reading.  I discovered that there is a National Trust property only two miles away, so I made a day of it, and visited Basildon Park first.  This is well worth a visit and was the home, after de-requisitioning by the Army following the end of WWII, of Lord and Lady Iliffe who, being both wealthy and caring, spent the next decades filling it with appropriate furniture and impedimenta, much of which stayed in the house when it was handed over to the Trust.

The study afternoon was run by an organisation with which I made contact some years ago, but of which I had been rather sceptical.  However, I'm glad I made the decision to explore them further, for I found a very warm welcome and a wealth of unbiased Biblical knowledge.  They have published a whole library of inexpensive study guides and booklets that I think will be both interesting and useful in coming years.  I began making use of this resource by placing an order as soon as I returned home and I shall almost certainly be going to more of their events in due course.

Some weeks ago, I succumbed to persuasion to become a candidate in the district council elections.  Initially, I had opposed the idea on the basis that my life is full enough already.  However, it was pointed out to me - and to many others, too - that if our party didn't field a candidate in every ward, then there would be any number of would-be supporters who would either have to vote for someone they didn't really support, or else be effectively disenfranchised.  So, although with little chance of winning against a very strong Labour councillor seeking re-election, I'm faced with the challenge of presenting a credible candidacy, with no help from other members, since the main thrust of our effort is going to assist the campaign in the target ward that we feel we have a chance of winning.

As a consequence of this, I found myself on Tuesday evening, knocking on a few doors to introduce myself as the local candidate for the Liberal Democrats.  This is a task that I've been putting off for a long while, and the longer I'd put it off, the more difficult it had seemed in my imagining.  However, when it came to the crunch, it was not so daunting an experience as I had feared.  I met several interesting people, some with opinions clearly not the same as mine, but equally, others who might well be supporting me on polling day.