A New Season

I can't remember the last time I was able to celebrate the start of the cricket season by being there, but there again April 9th is very early. However the cricketing gods looked favourably upon the Oval and the sun shone. A crowd of close to a thousand witnessed the first day of Surrey v Derbyshire. They also saw the season's first century sadly not scored by a Surrey player. The lunch interval gave me the opportunity to explore the Club Shop . Now Surrey have been associated with Chocolate Brown for as long as I can remember, whoever proposed that the new one day kit should be lime green and black, has no respect for the County's tradition and little sense of colour co-ordination. In short it looks like a kit Pakistan rejected. Interestingly the shop is selling a traditional wool Surrey cricket jumper complete with brown trim and county badge. Now that's more like it.

You're never far away from the General Election if you choose to be. I spent the morning producing the first press release for Brentwood & Ongar's Green Party candidate, Jess Barnecutt, my first active involvement in election campaigning for many years.

At Oval Station last night I was approached by a Conservative giving out leaflets, did I choose to ignore him. Afraid not, I politely informed him that I'd rather pull my teeth out with pliers than vote Tory. He seemed slightly taken aback, but I felt better.

Got home in time to watch Caroline Lucas on BBC's The Campaign. Putting her in the same studio as Kelvin McKenzie , former editor of the Sun, meant that a strong chair would be needed. Unfortunately that didn't happen, McKenzie was able to rant that the Greens were bonkers. Caroline in fairness resisted the temptation to trade blows, stayed calm, and made many good points. She pitched for disillusioned Labour voters pushing that the gap between rich and poor had grown under Labour. In a campaign dominated by the three main parties, publicity is all important, and her campaign in Brighton is certainly capturing the media's attention.