Monday, March 29, 2010

The most challenging Focus delivery round on the planet

I did two delivery rounds today and my legs are now feeling the effects. I walked from my house in Sunniside to Whickham and started by delivering the Cedars with a leaflet highlighting how the Conservatives cannot win in Blaydon and only the Lib Dems can beat Labour here.

From there I headed over to the Broom Lane/Cornmoor Road area. On the latter road in particular, the drives are long. I mean, really, really long. This street started out in the late Victorian period as large allotments on which people built bungalows. It was all done through an Victorian allotment society. Quite a few of the bungalows are still there but many of the houses are now very large and many back gardens have been built on.

So what started as small houses with very big gardens is now quite an exclusive area with some substantial houses. And it means long, long drives. They all got their Focus newsletters in the end. And I had some interesting conversations with people about the drains, the history of Cornmoor Road and why someone who normally votes Labour has decided to switch to us because she doesn't like the current MP.

Some 260 houses in the Broom Lane/Cornmoor Rd patch and 120 on the Cedars patch (the latter patch I can do in little over half an hour.) I was wondering if any of my Lib Dem readers know of more challenging patches. No doubt I will be told stories of having to drive between houses in rural settings where there are more sheep than Focus leaflets. Nevertheless, my legs need time to recover before going out canvassing tonight.

3 comments:

Belinda BG said...

I think Eriswell and the Rows in West Suffolk may trump this Jonathan. Large rural ward with long drives, and lots of space between development. Then there is the fact that lots of people sell the delicious fruit, pumkins, courgettes etc they have grown. It is not easy to deliver with a carrier bag of fruit and veggie but worth the effort. Where else can I get 6 fresh grown corns on the cob for less than £1?

Neil said...

I waled for 30 mins in Epping once delivering to about 5 houses in total!

Jonathan Wallace said...

Okay, I think you've beaten me! Yes, these patches look quite challenging. However, there is one delivery patch in my ward with 11 houses which takes an hour to walk so if anyone can beat that, please tell me!