I was still heavily jet-lagged and therefore wideawake in the early hours but then spent several hours working at my desk and going through my papers and assessing the state of the campaign Chores which was not to bad.
Then away to collect Sam from Lincoln with Wiggly to spend the weekend together. We had a drink at the outside tables of a pub by Brayford Pool in the evening sun before checking in to the Marriot Hotel for the night.
It was not a satisfactory night. First, I was still heavily jet-lagged and therefore wideawake in the early hours and secondly, I was worried about Wiggly's rejection of campaigning and my own ready acceptance of other priorities.
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In the end, I got up and spent several hours working at my desk and going through my papers so as to assess the state of the campaign. This process settled me down as we were really in better shape than I thought.
In particular, our complete list of eighteen candidates contrasted starkly with the Tory's who could only muster four and even Labour, supposedly currently on the top of the world, could only find 11.
Then our leaflets were of good content and quality. I settled also on discussing with Wiggly the prospect of us working a bit on the elections at the beginning and end of the weekend which made me feel happier.
I also managed to go through my CIX backlog of messages after downloading them. Back to bed for three or four hours sleep and then up for breakfast and to my office. I had a few hours to organise my most important administration and ended up with a clutch of cheques for paying in.
To town to do this on my way to Wiggly. I had a few hours to organise my most important things and then packed to leave for her. Some time together at her place to begin with, finishing the bundling of her first leaflets and contacting her candidate colleagues about gathering for an initial canvassing and training session on Monday evening.
I also advised her about some outstanding casework that had been hanging over her and got her in a better frame of mind generally about the campaign. One of my cartons of soup for lunch and then we set off north up the A1 towards Lincoln to collect Sam. Engrossed in conversation, I missed the A47 turnoff to begin with but eventually got there late.
Trevor Rigby did not seem to mind this, and briefed me on his experience of Sam. He had found him willing, enthusiastic and no trouble about the kennels but also found him difficult to control when hunting.
It had taken an inordinate amount of whistling to stop him boring ahead and, after two days of this, Trevor had returned to his beliefs and abandoned whistling and even hand signals in favour of body language to shock Sam into looking at the handler and paying attention.
We drove into Lincoln after finding some open country for a walk and to get him used to me again. There we had a drink at the outside tables of a pub by Brayford Pool in the evening sun before checking in to the Marriot Hotel for the night.
After a lovemaking session in a nice room also with river views, we opted to have a meal in bed and fell asleep for an early night as my jet lag caught up with me.