Flow

Very much a quick effort at one of my favourite blipping spots on my way up the hill to the local school to do my duty and cast a vote in the local and European elections.

Can't say there was a great electoral choice. The usual party stalwarts plus a handful of no-hopers and also-rans. So I avoided the 'Let's have more Catholic values and ban gays' candidate, the 'I'm a farmer' candidate (so?), and the 'I may be completely nuts but I know what you need' candidate. Instead I voted for a man who bothered to come to see us and understood the need for proper broadband, even though he was seriously overweight, and a local woman who, despite looking terribly scared on her posters, does good work. Oh and someone I don't know much about for Europe but already knows the ropes.

Ireland has just removed local town councils so we now live in a huge constituency governed from Cork city, over 50 miles away. It remains to be seen how that works but I can't see remote rural areas doing very well out of it. The savings probably satisfy the Troika who are the real power-mongers now - and what do they know?

Off for a few days to the Aran Islands so see you all again when we get back. And I get a cheap flight on my bus pass in the smallest plane ever - how cool is that?