Campaign Trail – Days 13 and 14

If I start with Day 14 first, I bumped into a couple in the pub this evening after playing cricket (unsuccessfully) for Stradbroke, and had a long conversation with them about the parish council elections. The most concerning thing I heard from them was (again) that they weren’t aware that there was a parish council election, and that they didn’t know how to vote for the parish council, so I hope the Stradbroke Monthly drops through their letterbox as soon as possible to enlighten them.

What I found really interesting was their view of the parish council – and these are two people who have lived in the village for an age. I quote. “The parish council are all just farmers and landowners in it for themselves, and they try to make as much money as possible for themselves by approving the selling of their land to build houses on. We don’t want more houses here, because Stradbroke will stop being a village. We don’t want them on the parish council any more because they’re just in it for themselves.” I am incapable of transcribing the Suffolk accent, but I think the message is fairly clear.

And that’s another reason I’m standing for the parish council, and strongly supporting the candidacies of Caroline Barnes, George Chaplin, Oliver Coles, Lynda Ellison-Rose, Brian Goffee, James Hargrave, Maureen John, Velda Lummis, and Ellie Wharton. These are all people who want the parish council to change from what it is at the moment, people who care deeply about Stradbroke and its people. They are good and honest men and women. Please support them. Oh, and me.

Reverting to Day13, I am overjoyed to say that I have finally managed to winkle out at least one hater, although I am very disappointed that it’s taken two weeks of campaigning to do so. The hater, of course, was anonymous. If it was only one hater, of course, because there were two comments on my blog, although they were so similar (and one of them was deleted for some obscure reason) that I am sure it’s the same person.

Now, of course it could be one of my legion of ex-girlfriends who left the comments, but I doubt it somehow. I’m not sure they’d be bothered to track me down to the wilds of Suffolk, and I’m convinced there aren’t any outstanding paternity suits against me. So it can really only be someone with a vested interest in the parish council elections. I, of course, have no clue as to who this could be.

Those comments in full:

More self-righteous crap from someone who hasn’t got a clue.

Ok.

yet more sanctimonious BS from someone who has no idea what he talking about.

Even better. The grammar especially has me fearing for my intellect.

A couple of definitions:

self-righteous – having or characterized by a certainty, especially an unfounded one, that one is totally correct or morally superior. I have to say that I know I am morally superior to those people who are out-Casual-Vacancying The Casual Vacancy  in this village and have been doing so for well over a year. I also am absolutely certain that my post yesterday was absolutely factual about the disclosures on my day job (although, in the cricket dressing room today, the rumours and accusations resurfaced that I am actually a paid hitman, and those rumours I cannot and will not comment on).

sanctimonious – making a show of being morally superior to other people. I refer the gentleman (or lady) who wrote those comments to the above comment on the definition above. And, actually, as far as my morals are concerned, please look at my less than light-hearted comment about my ex-girlfriends and paternity suits. And if being honest and open is interpreted as being sanctimonious and self-righteous, I have to accept that I am obviously both of those.

I think I’ll leave the long-term final judgment on all that to my God. In the short term, however, I’ll leave it to the good people of Stradbroke, like the couple I mentioned at the beginning, whom I left in the pub after being thanked for talking with them, and who said they’d vote for me. That’ll do me.

Promoted by Richard Pierce-Saunderson of Spring Cottage, Church Street, Stradbroke, Suffolk, IP21 5HT.