Back in July 2005 I posted my first blog post here. I'd just come fresh-ish from the General Election and was looking to getting some sort of semblance of normality back in my life before the next phase of electioneering really heated up in 2007. Last night my last post was my 2000th; therefore this is 2001.
I started blogging to really start to put down my thoughts about political and local issues hoping that somebody out there might read them from time to time. Every time I run into a group of Lib Dems these days somebody new seems to say they have been reading it. every so often when I go out campaigning somebody also says they have read it.
Of course the six months after I started this blog wasn't as relaxing a regrouping time as I had hoped. Within a month my MP at the time, Robin Cook, died leading to the second by election of this Parliament. Shortly after the person I had 4 years previously uprooted myself for told me it was over between us. To help me get over that I plunged myself into another by election that saw Willie Rennie elected as MP for Dunfermline and West Fife.
The easy option in 2006 might well have been to head back to Northern Ireland or move somewhere else. But I knuckled down and got on with campaigning. Apart from a one year gap from late 2006 to late 2007 I'd also kept blogging. After the return I had to build up the readership again, without being the blog on the spot in a by election campaign this time. But one thing that others have said numerous times is that the quality, diversity and regularity of the writing is what brings them back time and again.
Now we are in 2010 on the cusp of the next election. A recent review of this blog made me laugh when it said I eulogised the leadership too much, regular readers will know I've had my run ins with them. Indeed on occasion I'm not sure if I've seen fear in their eyes when it is my turn to speak, or ask a question at a bloggers' interview session.
However, I am proud to be a Liberal Democrat, if I wasn't I wouldn't pin my colours so clearly to the mast. Our message going into this election is the most honest and clear of any of the four major parties in Scotland. It is centered around fairness, with the backdrop of the mess that Labour and our banking sector have landed us in.
In the next few weeks there may well be a piece of personal and local news that some might have expected for some time. Whatever that news however it will not affect my use of the blog to get my thoughts across. This is where I talk about what in the world has affected me that day, this is where I give my reactions to news or policy announcements or others opinions. It will continue to do so as this Odyssey continues.
Thank you for reading, commenting and on the occasions you have done in the past voting for this blog.
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