Well the seat we originally gained for Labour when I took office in 1995 has stayed Labour, but we lost a few others and as a consequence the Tories now have a working majority on Hastings Council (final tally 17 Tory, 10 Labour and 5 Lib/dems).  I popped in the town hall on Friday to claim my telephone expenses, the Tory agent was busy negotiating facilities for champagne storage - presumably anticipating the rapid arrival of the new Torys plus the county set.

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I think I was very fortunate during my time in office, I won three consecutive elections and then made my own choice to stand down. I had time to get used to the idea of not being a councillor and to some extent felt in control of my own future on Thursday night. That’s not to say there wasn’t a lot of collective disappointment, just that others have ended up leaving the council in a far more brutal way than I have had to experience. I got the smiles and farewells over several weeks from other councillors and officers, they got something closer to an episode of The Weakest Link (please remove all thoughts of the returning officer as Anne Robinson from your minds this instant).

Still, its worth us all remembering that this was the first time ever that Labour ran the council in Hastings, and with the active support of some really good officers, it used its time to shape the future of our town in a way which no other party had really done before. It has put a marker down for what we want to see a local authority doing and that 40 years of lacklustre performance is no longer an acceptable option for a local authority. Many people spent a sizable proportion of their lives campaigning for Labour in Hastings without ever seeing the party gain power. Something I draw quite a lot of strength from, particularly since its only two years until the next set of elections.

Beyond the deep South, a lot of those political changes are also reflected in the political blogging world. Stuart Bruce from Leeds – who really pioneered councillor blogs - is no longer a councillor in Leeds, and Andrew Brown, who probably ran the most informative 20six blog has now also gone. I’m sure there were lots of others who also tried blogging as an additional way to augment their councillor role, but for me these were the best of the pioneers.

Anyway, life goes on down on the allotment, I’ve planted the first of the sweet corn out, plus some tomatoes in a cold frame and some climbing French beans that I started in the propagator. Sunflowers are up (in pots) and the asparagus need a framework built for them.

Blackcurrent cuttings struck last October 

I also think I’m going to start rock climbing again soon, I've missed sessions on the local climbing wall and all those summer evenings at Harrisons Rocks over the past few years.