Funny half hour

This evening I popped to the corner shop (a Co-op) and then voted. In the space of half an hour or so there were quite a few interesting things:

• The end of one of the aisles, from floor to ceiling, was full of Polish goods. There are three aisles, plus stuff on the walls, so that’s quite a large amount of shelf space. Also, it’s not Halal, or German or even kosher – it’s Polish. I spoke to one of the cashiers and it’s permanent and not just a promotion because it sells well. There are quite a few Poles, Lithuanians and so on in the area, and it’s nice that the Co-op are making money out of them, I mean making them feel at home 🙂
• Near the voting station (the Scout Hut), there was a 20 foot deep hole in the ground and the sound of rushing water. The hole was so deep that it needed metal reinforcements up the sides to stop it caving in. Tops the Porticos’ little pot hole. 🙂
• At the voting station I was introduced to Grays Vote Compactor. It wasn’t something from Star Wars, but was a piece of plastic a couple of inches wide and two feet long, like a big ruler. It was nicely rounded and even though I wasn’t properly trained I was allowed to test it for weight and balance. Because the ballot box is sealed and the only slot is tiny, the election officials can’t stick their hands in to squash the ballot papers down, so they have a specialist bit of kit to do it. No dodgy machines or hanging chads, but proper bits of paper scribbled on with a pencil stuffed into a big metal box by an over-sized ruler. Makes you proud to be British.