Other assorted freedoms

Today dawned with yet another election, this one for the local council. By some quirk of malevolent fate one had dropped off that mailing list again, so nothing arrived to announce the upcoming attraction. Actually as we don't watch the news or read the local paper we had only a hazy idea when it was due. Oh we vowed to go and vote early, but life being what it is that idea disappeared where all good ideas do.

These circumstances were how one came to realise on Friday that one had no way of getting to the polling booths and even less ideas about who the candidates were... not that there is much difference between them. If they aren't slightly corrupt to begin with, they are probably going to end up that way. Being of cynical persuasion one finds it very hard to believe that no one is taking advantage of all that foreknowledge about things like infrastructure going in... like proposed rail routes... to cash in on some little land deal. But one digresses...

See when they organise these events there is little thought about the people who are going to be using them. They open at 8.00am and close at 6.00pm... rendering them nearly inoperable to those dependant upon public transport and working. Not that any of the polling booths are on a public transport route to that work. Oh that's a lie... there was one. All one small slave had to do was brave 6 lanes of roadway and hope the bus saw one in the night... 'cos there was no way to actually do the voting before work... there simply wasn't enough time.

So after organising two separate lifts and warning work one might be a little late, one stood in the queue waiting with the other equally disgruntled and damp... oh yes to add insult to injury it was raining... citizens. Well most of us were... there was one young gentleman who just looked ridiculously happy. He turned and gave one a beam that nearly split his face in half... honestly it was the brightest thing one saw all day. In fact when it was his turn to register he literally ran to the desk, with a wonderful loose, loping style that made one more than a little envious to watch.

As one watched him clutch his ballot papers and rush to the booth it made one realise something. There are parts of the world where people are literally dying to vote. And here one is whining about having to do that very thing. It kind of put it all into perspective...