June 8th at last!

Well, polling day has come around at last in the UK. It's not been a very pleasant campaign on the whole. Yesterday certain newspapers were once more trying to convince their readers that Labour party people supported terrorists. However, strong winds apparently blew over a van or lorry extolling the Conservatives once again as the strong and stable party. Is there a message in there? Is that karma? I wonder!

Looking through some old notebooks I came across a quote from somewhere, something I copied down at the time of the last general election: "Britain faces a simple and inescapable choice - stability and strong government with the Conservatives or major chaos with Ed Miliband". That has a familiar ring to it. And there was poor old Theresa May thinking she had come up with an original soundbite! 

A lot has changed in the political world since then.

But we have just another day to wait and see what kind of chaos is in store for us. For I suspect that whoever ends up in 10 Downing Street is not going to have an easy time of it.

If the stormy weather of the last few days continues over there, will that affect turnout? Traditionally the right have been more efficient at getting their voters out in bad weather. Forget about the influence of Russia on elections; weather is bad enough! We shall see!

Polls suggest Monsieur Macron, président de la France, might be about to get a lot of his new party elected. That will be another interesting ingredient in the political mix!

Here in Vigo, we continue quietly. Despite news reports last time we were here that fewer tourist cruise boats were going to be calling in at this fair city, both yesterday and the day before there were huge boats docked at the estación marítima. We had to go down to the A Laxe shopping centre to visit Mediamarkt. Big mistake! The centre of town was full of bewildered Brits. (Have they all organised postal votes? Does it matter since many of them may well be Tory voters? Am I guilty of stereotyping?) The young man who served us in Mediamarkt insisted on trying out his quite good English on us. We persisted in answering him in Spanish and eventually convinced him that that was the best option. However, Phil has vowed never again to go to town when there is a cruise ship in the harbour. He resents being mistaken for a tourist!

I have a different problem on my hands. Yesterday I went down to the gardens intending to have a swim. The pool was not just closed but empty! Not a drop of water! And no notices about it! And nobody around to ask for information!

The pool and the view across the bay are the major perks of renting this flat! What is going on?