'I met a man - with some garden ornaments'

'I met a man who - ..... '

Election stories seem nowadays always to start thus.

I often wonder if the party politicians ever do anything outside the so-called 'Westminster village.' They seem to marvel that 'the people' have anything to say at all outside election times. I also wonder if those party politicians forget that the rest of us even exist. They really shouldn't say such silly things as, 'I met a man who - ..... '

Today, however, even I have to report that I met a man who agreed with my line on the likely need for a cross-party coalition, akin to that which worked well from 1931 on with Mr Ramsay MacDonald as Prime Minister and Mr Stanley Baldwin as, effectively, deputy prime minister. The man whom I met - at Histon, as it happens - agreed whole-heartedly with me and then said something that amazed me, considering his appearance. He said that 1921 was the year of his birth. He is 88. Moreover, he knew exactly what I was talking about. It was a memorable occasion, that of my meeting this particular man who knew his history and had learned from it.

As it happens, the man (nameless so far as this blog is concerned) also had an extraordinary array of garden ornaments in front of his bungalow home. I asked his permission to photograph them and he also agreed willingly to be in the picture, too. Here they all are.

The other part of my team went to Great Wilbraham. Excellent results came back to HQ, but no pictures. Sorry!