Election Result.

As some will be aware, in yesterdays election, the outgoing Conservative councillor, John Berry retained the Cullompton Rural seat on Devon county council. This is the seat that includes Silverton. Whilst not sharing the politics of Councillor Berry and taking into account national trends, it is undoubtedly the case that the size of his victory, taking over 53% of the vote, is in part at least, a tribute to his hard work as a local councillor over recent years and the very effective campaign he conducted during the recent election.

Interesting to note also, that Labour finished bottom of the poll in this ward, coming in behind the Greens.

Stone Cold.

I notice that one of the effects of the recent hot spell has been to encourage Rory to take a closer interest then previously in The Lamb Inn. During the hot spell it has become my custom to pop into that establishment whilst on my morning walk for a refreshing pint of cider and I notice that Rory is now leading the charge to the door to get in. The attraction for him is not any beverages that are on sale there but the nice cold stone floor that he can lie on.

its probably just as well that we all dont follow his lead. It might cause a bit of a stir if you went into the pub and fould all the regulars lying on the floor panting.

Well, that early in the day anyway.

Chicken Run.

Whilst out on the morning walk with Rory he became interested in something in the hedge opposite The Chicken Shack in Babylon Road and after some sniffing around. flushed out a large, and very irate chicken that made off down the road. I assume this was an escapee from the chicken farm.

Now wse know why the chicken crossed the road. Because the dog was chasing it.

Who To Vote For ?.

Tomorrow is the day when we are supposed to be voting for our representitives to represent us in the european parliament but as we all know what will actually happen is that, those who actually bother to vote, will use the occasion to kick the established parties as hard as possible and accelerate the pressure for an early general election. Beyond calling on people not to vote for the motley collection of thugs, racists and convicted criminals that constitute the inner circles of the British National Party or UKIP which is essentially the BNP in blazers some of whose current representitives seem to have a penchant for claiming vast expenses from europe whilst others seem to have a nice line in benefit fraud. I cant see that it makes much difference who you vote for as the European parliament will remain essentially a talking shop. If I can drag myself to the polling booth I may vote Green or, even more reluctantly, for the No2EUYes To Democracy list but I cant say I shall do so with any enthusiasm.

On the other hand voting in the County Council elections should, in the current circumstances be more important given the importance that the CC has for the local community. All I would urge for that election is that people vote for candidates who have shown a degree of commottment to our local area rather then just being names on a list.

Racist ?. pt 3

I see from todays Express and Echo that besides Bryan Lee, a number of others of the 40 or so objectors to the once proposed travellers site at Oak Meadow who made submissions to Mid Devon District Council regarding the proposed site, received letters threatening them with action because of the alleged racist content of their submissions. I have not seen all the submissions and cannot comment on all of their contents but would only comment that someone at MDDC was being over zealous at best in regard to what I did see. The only document I saw that came near to being what could be construed as being racist was the anonymous letter that was widely circulated within the village and was condemned for its contents by most who saw it.

While it may well be that the accusations of racism were lodged by an over zealous official who has now had his/her knuckles wrapped, I wonder if I am alone in thinking that there perhaps were those within MDDC planning who thought that by using threats of action against opponents on the grounds of racism they could silence opponents of the site to the extent that it would be passed thus enabling the Council to get nearer to its statutary obligation for providing travellers sites ?. Perhaps thats overly conspiritorial but inn the current climate you naturally expect the worst of some of our public institutions.

A Vital Difference.

Out and about with the dogs last night, which was once again a most pleasent summer night, something struck me which although obvious is perhaps something that people who have always lived in the country forget. When I lived in Prestwick, near the main Ayr-Glasgow road, if you were walking at midnight you were never far from the sound of traffic. The traffic rarely, if ever ceased and the usual low rumble was often punctuated by the sound of sirens, particularly if there was a disaster practice at Prestwick international Airport which was not an uncommon occurance. If you live in Wyndham Road,Silverton and are out and about at midnight you usually can only hear the sound of silence.

The lack of noise pollution is something we all tend to take too much for granted in these parts. It is something we should all have cause to be thankful for.

Hot Summer Nights.

We have certainly had a few hot days and we seem to be having some uncomfortably hot summer nights also. I must admit that I have not been too discomforted by the temperatures so far but I know that some are finding it very difficult to sleep and someone of our aquaintance could be found in their garden at 2.00am this morning drinking coffee and staring at the stars. What thoughts may pass through the mind at such a time and in such a situation we can only guess at. Considering the state of the garden perhaps or the state of their life in general. Perhaps they wished upon a star but you never know these days if the star you are wishing upon might not turn out to be a satellite and as Billy Bragg pointed out in his song 'A New England' which was a hit for the late, lamented, Kirsty McColl back in the eighties 'its wrong to wish on space hardware'.

Others no doubt, will have been tossing and turning under the duvet and counting the chimes of the distant church clock whilst wrestling with family problems or thinking about the tasks that face them when daylight breaks and, as always happens, falling soundly asleep just before the dawn chorus wakes them up again. Then there are those who rouse the dog from its slumbers and prowl the silent streets attracting the suspicious gaze of the occupants of passing taxis and police cars. A couple of nights of heat induced insomnia and people begin to berhave in all sorts of strange ways.

Inevitably though, the heat will break and more normal patterns of sleep and nocturnal behaviour will return. Those lucky enough to have partners can cuddle up to them again safe in the knowledge that they are unlikely to be cuddling up to a turkish bath. Given the time of the year that it is however, I dont doubt that it will not be long before the attractions of the garden seat again become apparent as the temperature rises once more.

Racist ?: Update.

Following on from yesterdays post, The BBC regional Television news at lunchtime reported that MDDC have now apologised to Mr Bryan Lee over the accusations of racism made against him by an official of the planning department.

As indeed they should and should remember that those who cry 'wolf' often live to regret it.

Racist ?.

I see that Mid Devon District Council have threatened one of those who objected to the proposed travellers site at Oak Meadow withreferral to the police on the grounds that his letter of objection to the site proposal was 'racist'. The letter from Bryan Lee contained objections to the site proposal based on events he had experienced in relation to a similar site near property that he used to own.

As someone who has been actively involed with anti racist work in the past I could not see anything in the letter which constituted racism and in any case the definitions of what makes travellers a specific 'race'nare drawn so widely as to make the term almost irrevelant. By bringing the real, and ever present problems regarding real racism in our society into disrepute the planning department of Mid Devon district council are undermining the very thing which they say they are trying to uphold.

Condolances

The blog is sad to report the death of Joyce Barons of Wyndham Road who died in Hospital yesterday after a long illness. Joyce will be remembered by all who knew her asa dedicated mother and grandmother and, before her retirement as a hardworking example of those who work in social care.

We send our condolances to Peter, Paul, Dawn, Robert and Julie and to all of the rest of her extended family and to her friends.

Charter Signing.

Good to see a good turnout for the signing of the twinning charter on the little rec yesterday. Good also to see the display by the morris team, which I belive has one of our regulaR correspondants in its ranks. There was however, or so I have been told, some controversy about the flag that was flown alongside the Devon flag on the flagpole on the grounds that some people were not happy about a French flag being flown when the Queen had not been invited to a WW2 commememoration over the channel. The sort of people who object to ther flying of the Breton flag on these sort of grounds are doubtless the same sort of people who, in other parts of the world, start wars over football matches. The sad fact about the European union is that because of the way it has been run it has reinforced just this sort of petty nationalist crap amongst certain people which runs exactly counter to what its founders invisaged.