South West Devon Lib Dem PPC Anna Pascoe just keeps on running, on the treadmill, on the road and… for office.
Monday, March 15
A busy Monday daytime shift at the hotel started off the week, followed by a training session for the Plympton Plymouth Round Table run. The kind of feeling no-one wants to experience while on the treadmill – that of some kind of crucial connecting tissue type stuff appearing to snap – unfortunately happened only about 20 minutes in to my training run, so the session was abruptly cut short as I stretched and paced around, trying to ease the throbbing, before retreating to bed early to try to rest it.
Tuesday, March 16
Another day shift at work and it seems that Tuesday is the new Monday in terms of the emails flying in to the inbox and the phone ringing off the hook (you heard it here first). Having had two days rest prescribed for my newly duff ankle, I limped along to cheer on the netball team play (but unfortunately lose) after work before burning some more midnight oil on campaign admin afterwards. Our leafleting plan is now nearly finished for the upcoming Plymouth City Council elections and we’re looking forward to getting out on the doorsteps delivering and chatting to local residents.
Wednesday, March 17
I finished off the election expenses return for the Ivybridge Filham council win this morning. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, I met a friend more experienced than me at election agenting to have a look through my debut paperwork to check it was all in order and fortunately it was, so the envelope has duly been posted off and Councillor Tony Barber’s victory is one step closer to being official!
No time to celebrate though as it was off to work for the afternoon/evening shift.
Thursday, March 18
My two days of ‘resting’ my ankle were officially over, but unfortunately the tense and throbbing pain was not, despite valiant (but within recommended guidelines!) consumption of ibuprofen. After work I went to a council presentation on fuel poverty (fuel poverty is when a household spends more than 10 per cent of its income on gas/electricity) and then answered some casework emails at home afterwards. Still no training and the Plymouth Round Table 10k just three days away, not looking very promising!
Friday, March 19
It was the first of the round of pre-election hustings today and so it was off to Coombe Dean School in Plymstock to be grilled by its Sixth Formers. With no Labour rep on the panel, it was down to myself, Conservative MP Gary Streeter and UKIP candidate Hugh Williams to answer the questions fired at us. The topics ranged from tuition fees, to grammar schools, to sustainable fishing, to how government should be arranged. Was disappointed to hear that the other parties did not support votes for 16 and 17 year olds – if you’re old enough to work, pay tax, have a child and make your own decisions about pretty much everything else, I don’t see why being allowed to vote should be a problem!
Just time for a quick campaign team meeting before an evening shift at work.
Saturday, March 20
After a day shift at work I spent the evening reading through community campaign literature and then settled down for an early night in the hope that all manner of heat treatment and strapping would make my ankle feel a little bit better in advance of the Plympton 10k the following morning.
Sunday, March 21
Early to bed and early to rise, so plenty of time to catch up on some campaign admin before making the short journey from Roborough over to the Coypool park-and-ride ready for the Plymouth Round Table 1k race.
The spring sunshine was blazing down and it was nice to have the customary pre-race nervy chatter with some of the other ladies running. Ankle pain soon set in after about 2.5k, somewhat earlier than I’d hoped! Taking in the beautiful scenery of Saltram and a very welcome cup of water at the halfway point helped a little.
It was great to see so many young people helping out the stewards at the kilometre markers and first aid points round the course and their cheers and claps certainly boosted the runners’ moods. Was pleased to finish in just over an hour despite the dodgy leg and somehow found myself taking an entry form the Ivybridge 10k from a lady at the finish line… just about retained the sense to turn down the Tavy half marathon though!
Got to chat to a worker from the Plym Valley railway after and was really interesting to hear his views about sustainable transport solutions for the area. As the adage goes, there’s no rest for the wicked, and so it was straight off to work after that.
Come and enjoy Devon – book a hotel and get away!
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