Green Party Meeting

I went to my first Green party meeting last night as it happened to be in a place convenient to me on an evening I wasn't teaching. So. Sitting around in a circle in a small hall were seven men who you might describe as active elderly, of a type that Wells (H G Wells, or maybe Shaw) would have called "cranks". One had unusual woolly mutton-chops with a lovely shiny balding head. One I had met before when we went leafleting and I thought he was OK; he was like an aging punk rocker.

There were about 6 middle-aged women like myself. There were 2 young people. One was the candidate I had leafleted with, Olivia P. She was chairing the meeting and as it went on she was in despair that the time was rushing on and things were not going the way she planned - there was some dissent about focussing all our resources into the next council election at which Olivia will stand again - she feels she has got her face known now and she wants to capitalise on that. Other North West Surrey wards look more promising, percentage wise, but nobody is willing to stand. I might stand. The other young person was a tall pale young man, painfully earnest and other-worldly, and was rather a rival to Olivia. He is, apparently, on the policy committee.

I was very much reminded of the accounts of the Fabian society's early meetings that I came across in the writings of Wells when I was researching Nesbit. At first it was all very small and cliquey.

There are more plans - for a meeting in Staines debating the Europe question - I said I would help with the teas. I am, at least, experienced in teas, due to years of helping at regattas.

Walton regatta tomorrow and I am just about to go down to the Valley and clean some trophies - we have very fine, historical trophies, which we use for photographs, and then whisk them away.