The poll to change the future - for five minutes

In a democracy we get out and vote whenever a poll is held, and I was certainly there queuing today for the poll to elect our representatives for the EU - even though Britain is almost certain to

have left Europe within a few months.

It means, really, that the poll is an expensive waste of time, because the elected may attend one or maybe two gatherings of the EU parliament, and then no more

That's because it seems the UK government will eventually follow the wishes of a narrow majority and leave the union.

It most probably is a waste of time and almost certainly a waste of millions of pounds. Well, not probably, it seems.

£109,000,000

BBC News reports that the estimated cost of taking part in the European Parliamentary elections has been given as up to £109m.

Of a waste of time, astoundingly more voters coincided with my arrival at the booth today than I have seen before on any other poll.

The summons to the neighbourhood station was to vote for the political party, or individual, of our choice.

One or two parties want to remain part of the EU. The majority of those on the form want a departure.

So there I was queueing.

Eventually a pleasant person issued me with the oddest voting paper I've seen. I took it to the appointed private area where, after wondering about it, I could tick - 'mark with an X and nothing but an X' - my choice. The voting paper was not quarto nor fullscap but more like the sort of rolled up script a town-crier carries in a film of medieval times.

Below all the political groups named on the form, came a countless - they seemed almost countless - list of individuals putting themselves up for nomination.
Continues on the blogs for my ocean adventuring book, Sailing to Purgatory, at 
http://sailingtopurgatory.com/index.php/feeds/395-the-poll-to-change-the-future-for-five-minutes