Friday...time to ramble?

[byslantedlight]

I swear, if I fall over one more thing this morning, spill anything else, get nearly-caught one more time doing a sneaky at the photocopier, I'm going home... Quick - how do you turn a day around?! I need good things! (Although there was no queue at the coffee counter. But my coffee wasn't very nice. And Boss stopped to chat while not-catching me at the photocopier, and the rest of it went cold. Hmmn, not sure the coffee thing was all that successful after that brief first moment... Also she'd keyed in it before I could give her my free-coffee card, so I had to pay... That might be one on the Tory side of my day, come to think of it...)

Speaking of which... *g* Oh, godddddd! Although in a way at least it's kind of interesting, and maybe it'll make the buggers buck up a bit, and start listening to what the electors are actually saying they want/need, rather than trying to tell us that what we want/need is what they're giving us? Or is that just hopeless optimism? Either way, I reckon it's our only hope for a bit of change, because it was really a race between one horse shown from three different camera angles...

How was your voting day? Did you get to vote? Cos my goodness - queues at the polling stations! On the one hand good, surely that must mean a better turnout than usual (or does it just mean that more people left it until the last minute?) I still think voting should be compulsory, as it is in Australia - and if you just don't want to vote for anyone, then spoil your paper/make a "donkey vote", and then we'd know how many people felt that way too. But it'd be a positive outcome at least from that pov...

Right - bad start means a glorious end to the day, doesn't it? I shall be over here working on that... any clues as to how to make it happen gratefully received...

A Wonderful Thing
Oh I know - let's have a Wonderful Thing - NASA's astronomy pic for today. Except they're calling this "the antennae" - stoopid, unpoetic scientists... *headdesk*


I can't decide about this next one - is this a Wonderful Thing - Arborsculpture...? Or is it as bad as forcing kittens to wear dresses and big pink ribbons?

Comments

[hambelandjemima.livejournal.com]

I voted at lunchtime and there were no problems then. I've voted in every General Election since I was 18, because I consider it a right to do so. If it were made compulsory I wouldn't feel quite as good about doing it. I think we get enough of being told we have to do things in this country without adding to it.

[byslantedlight.livejournal.com]

To be honest, we're told what to do alot less in this country than in any other country I've lived in - certainly less so than in America, for instance, and there I found the "telling" often comes in sneaky ways, rather than openly...

I'm sure you'd get alot of people complaining about being "told to vote" if it was made compulsory here, but I suspect that'd be outweighed by a gradual feeling of greater involvement as the process became more familiar. And I should have added that my grand plan would also make polling day a bank holiday - again, letting people be more involved in the day, giving them time to stand around chatting and discussing it all, and also making them feel rewarded for being a part of the process. People who postively don't want to vote can spoil their papers in protest - and that'd be counted to show exactly how many people are feeling disenfranchised - people who can't be bothered will be encouraged to be bothered, and if they really can't be bothered can choose to pay a fine as they do in Australia (Jaycat explained that aspect well in a post about voting, though I think the lj where she did is locked...) - why, after all, should we reward laziness? Let people get away with laziness? Quite honestly I'm tired of cleaning up after other people who can't be bothered to do their own dishes, or put the dirty teaspoon down in the sink rather than on the counter where it messes up everyone else's work - I don't see politics as being all that different really...