Le sac est mort, vive le sac

Le sac

There has been a regular feature of my campaigning over the last decade, my trusty bag. This has carried thousands of leaflets over the years, with, maps and pens, as I have navigated footpaths and letterboxes in many parts of south Essex.

It got progressively more battered as it has suffered from being caught in gates and gateposts, the weight of hundreds of leaflets at a time, being snared by unfriendly plants, and the elements. Recently it was a minor miracle that it carried anything at all, such is the state of its disrepair.

However, it became a totem for me, a survivor, like me, of three General Election campaigns. Despite being offered a replacement I was determined to see my bag accompany me right through to the end of the 2015 campaign.

Alas, the bag retires to the recycling bin – perhaps a metaphor for my fate. Who knows? I genuinely have no thoughts for the future beyond hoping to retain my Milton ward seat next year, and to get more Labour activists out on doorsteps in my hometown between now and the first Thursday in May, 2016.