I am thinking about the elections in America, as I sit here in freezing Chichester. I hope the right person wins. It is going to be so close and I wonder if knowing that, will make more people vote. In England the voting apathy at election time is both sad and disheartening. It is not so long ago that women were chaining themselves to railings and sacrificing themselves to ensure votes for women. Yet today, many women cannot even be bothered to vote. When we lived in Switzerland, I was shocked to discover that there was one area where women only got the vote in 1976! Perhaps it is because politicians and the word games they play, seem so far removed from the daily grind of making your benefits last to the end of the week or trying to get a house that is big enough for your family or applying for another job to be rejected from. Maybe voting for someone who doesn't know you and probably doesn't really care, seems pointless. In America especially today, I can't imagine how hard it must be for people who have lost everything in the hurricane, to summon up the energy to vote when their lives lie in shreds around them. But still, I hope they do. Because voting is all we have. However far removed the politicians may seem from us, voting is the only tool we have to make our voices heard. One vote is a whisper, a whole community of votes is a SHOUT!
Yesterday I was searching for a candle for a birthday cake for one of my colleagues at work. As I opened the cupboard in the kitchen, a bottle of opened food colouring fell out, turning every inch of surface and every millimetre of white grout, a brilliant blue. A splash of colour on a grey day. Not sure my boss will agree though!
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