It was down to Sorell via Tunnack and Country Marsh Road today - dropping in to various places en route. Tunnack turned out to be very easy. At the third house the husband said his wife was doing her walk and could be found at the fire shed. So I tootled down there and found three of the locals letting themselves in for a cuppa. Fortunately two of them are long-term locals who talk to everyone, so having secured their votes and consumed two cups of coffee, I headed into the wilds of the dirt road, visiting some of the more obscure places where I know people and on to Sorell where I bought some lunch and started distributing more flyers and chatting to many people. There seems to be a new development pattern (I have noticed it in Brighton too) which is ideally designed for campaigners, but not necessarily for ease of emergency vehicle access. It is basically a cul de sac with various similarly truncated offshoots. Lots of houses on small blocks of land close together.

It was a bit disheartening to find some had already placed their vote, but the last one I spoke to said she had voted for me that morning which was less discouraging.

Having distributed 200 odd flyers I headed home, have walked the dog, am currently printing off more flyers and will head in to clean the bank shortly.

Today I went down some back roads and called into various houses, one of which turned out to contain a former work colleague "I seem to remember someone of your name who once tried to get a job as a firefighter" said he, so I 'fessed up and we had a good chat for some time. Surprising who you meet. Also a few locals, but sadly not the chap I particularly wanted to catch up with along that route - we had a long chat when I was standing for Council and I wanted to thank him for that. Buckland to Copping via Kellevie in case you know the territory.

I also met a small, unsupervised terrier which took a chunk out of my finger quite unexpectedly, having given all signs of being friendly. So I clearly misread it. Fortunately I keep bandaids in the ute.

I have made my last formal post on my page - we go into media shut down on Wednesday, so I am putting this out on a major post boost - and have already had responses from two people - both friends, but neither following the page - so I assume it is working.
Having a glass of wine with dinner tonight - my friend of long-standing has given me two bottles that were given to her as thanks for looking after her neighbour's rabbit which she did not fancy - lord knows why, but I suspect she prefers the sweeter varieties.

We said goodbye to Monika today - it was an odd sort of funeral, particularly in the setting. St Peters at Oatlands (Anglican) seemed an awkward setting for someone who did not have faith, and the minister was the local Uniting church chap who did a good job until his screen told him to talk about the Easter Season, but he recovered well. The music was either '80s rock or 'ballet music' - that was the description in the program - for periods of contemplation and the turnout was as diverse as I would have expected. Family from both sides attended and poor Kevin is left alone with his parents after Monday. They do not get on well.
Only one of the twins attended and was very sad, but after the interment had reverted more to type. She and her father headed home together to join her brother. It was one of those cardboard coffins you get to write on, and we blew bubbles as it was lowered into the grave. All very sad. The pall bearers were a motley crew including a local drug user, our heritage professional in chief, and various others. Just like Mon's mix of friends.

Afterward there was tea and cake at the Gay Street Hall where various councillors attended - not because they knew her but because that's what country councillors do. One has recently written to others endorsing another candidate so he was delightfully embarrassed when he discovered I too was a candidate. Especially when he found out I already knew about his actions. So there was a certain pleasure to be had from that. And the other was having difficulty recognising me as I was dolled up in my black suit and he is used to seeing me in flannies and jeans.

Apart from that I caught up with my washing, printed off 200 more flyers and will cut them up once I am done here. I have boosted several posts on FB and that is paying very positive dividends, and have been picked up by some of the alternative news sources who are endorsing my candidacy. So too have been various commenters who I have never heard of, so not all is lost.

My left button on the mouse is playing up at the moment. I think I have a wifi mouse around somewhere so will see if I can track it down if this keeps up. It is probably just a cat hair blocking the contact points though so I will persist and see if it dislodges itself.

Today, since I had bought the wrong size toner cartridges I took them back to the shop and they happily exchanged them even though I had opened one of them, which was kind of them. He was very distracted when I was in last time as was I, so between us we stuffed up and he was rather more focussed today.

Then I called in to visit the returning officer to talk about some of my concerns and that degenerated into a typically Tasmanian conversation - who are your lawyers - oh really? That's where my wife works and on from there (we were at the time discussing candidate options for legal action which I had already pointed out was hardly likely to be something I would initiate). There have been some very dirty tactics in this election behind the scenes and I am  not the only candidate concerned about the shenanigans, which was the general tone of the conversation. I found out I had accidentally compromised myself - who knew you had to authorise your twitter profile?! - but remedied that before we spoke and he assured me that was fine - phew!

From there to Pet Barn and so home via yet another back road to call into more remote spots (I like having multiple ways of getting home, helps me cover a fair bit of the territory without making life hard for myself), and after walking the dog decided the bank could wait to be cleaned tomorrow. I had only four hours sleep last night - I blame the flu vaccine I had yesterday.

With all that has been going on I did not have the opportunity to prepare my responses to predictable questions from Leon Compton today so fluffed the interview badly - I spoke with confidence but my answers sounded too defensive at times, and failed to elaborate on the link between my experience in coastal planning and my views on fish farms. I have elaborated on my responses in a post to the FB page which I have boosted for broader circulation, so hopefully that will be a sufficient recovery.

The rest of the day was spent on the town as Dawn (Monika's friend from the mainland) signalled she might need some adult time away from the family. That didn't happen but I ran into a local who was aggrieved none of the candidates had visited her, and sat with her in the coffee shop chatting about general issues before introducing a remark that I had not felt it appropriate to doorstep locals asking for their vote. We talked about incomers and the way they try to change things and I referred her to a local gardening service. Maybe I have her vote, maybe she will get a new gardener - who knows.

I ran into the Duke at the other coffee shop and sat with him and his partner (wife?) for some time chatting about the election and the dirty dealings going on. I mentioned the letter my friend showed to me and he told me the Labor Party has written to people urging them to vote for their candidate (a breach of procedure).

There are so many examples of dodgy behaviour on the part of various candidates it defies belief, but no doubt one of them will be successful.

While we were standing around following the radio presentation I noticed the poor chap from T4T (Tasmania for Tasmanians) was being totally cold-shouldered by everyone so went over to chat to him. He seems a really decent chap and certainly has far greater experience dealing with regional Tasmanians living in poverty than the rest of us put together. He tried to recruit me to the Party but I explained that not only was I done with Party politics, I felt the name of the Party was too parochial and to provide a future for Tasmanians we needed to be more outward looking and welcoming of change. I did suggest if he wanted to stay in touch I might be of some assistance informally however, since microparties need to become more dominant in politics in this State - just the right sort of micro-party.

So the fire is lit, and I am planning dinner very soon. And heading to bed once again.

Today was the Anzac service in Sorrel. I confess. I attended it with the intention of self-promotion. But as soon as I got there I realised that would be a seriously offensive thing to do. So I joined the crowd of locals, shared comments and jokes about our bad singing and listened intently to the speakers. One was a young lad from Sorrel School. School kids are often dragged into these ceremonies and to be frank their performance is usually smirking, self-conscious and read out with as much passion as I would apply to a laundry list. But this lad was special. He moved me to tears with his words and his delivery. And I realised that these services - especially in country towns - are still an act of commemoration rather than the self-indulgent displays of the polished performances that are televised.

After the ceremony I approach him and congratulated him and asked him if he would be willing to let me post his comments on my Facebook page. He was reluctant as that was the only copy he had. Later, as I exchanged some pleasantries with the Mayor (who you will recall I met earlier), he came up to me with his mum who was bursting with pride (and justifiably so) and gave me his speech. I explained carefully to them that I was a candidate in the election and that I would be posting it on my candidate page with some comments based on my own service in the Army Reserve and with Veterans Affairs and they were very happy to let me do that. So once I have finished my dinner I will do just that.

The rest of the day was supposed to be spent door knocking but instead I called in to visit a friend and supporter to update her on progress, then on to visit another friend who had called in to see me on her way past but found me in Pontville. And home, via the shops so I have more to eat than the one weetbix with sour milk that started my day.

Today was rather better and started with a discussion on ABC radio about a proposed luxury resort near Swansea. I had about two seconds of air time during which I highlighted the lack of local employment opportunities at such developments and the need for the proponent to engage with the community during the development phase to help identify employment pathways, facilitate training for locals etc.

Then I headed to town to collect some more toner and a pair of shoes as my present ones are about to give up the ghost. I found a respectable looking pair for $40.00 and apart from the fact they make my feet sweat they are very comfy. I will just wear thicker socks.

On my way home I letterboxed and doorknocked the southern end of Campania, getting home in time to walk the dog and collect my mystery parcel. Thanks so much Jeanette! What a lovely surprise!

I will have some time on Thursday to explore the patterns but between now and then I will be a bit busy as I plan to attend the Anzac Day ceremony in Sorell, do some more doorknocking then visit a friend who I missed as she passed through Oatlands the other day (I was in Pontville at the time).

On Thursday I will be on ABC radio (Leon Compton) as they are coming to Oatlands to interview all the candidates and to provide an opportunity for members of the public to meet with us. That will be interesting. I get five minutes to deliver my pitch, so wish me luck.

Then I will come home and unpack the rest of my mystery package at my leisure.