Thursday 5 May - part 1
A heady mix of chaos and order in the office - speaker cars out, polling stations manned, returns returned at regular intervals, serious telephoning going on. We haven't got enough lines or enough computers. I hand over my laptop and my line.
John Miller and Dave Corrigan call in at different times, John having raised on Look North and local radio the question of the difficulties serving forces are now facing in registering to vote. Under the new arrangements they have to re-register on each deployment rather than having a permanent postal vote.
Newton Aycliffe itself is an occupied town - police on bridges, roadsides, corners and any raised area, car parks shut, the massed vans and towers of the media crammed behind the Leisure Centre looking like a fairground.
I go for a lie down around 4pm, having accumulated a list of interviews for later in the night.
- ©Reg Keys, 2005 -
