Howdy y'all and welcome to the blog and please excuse me if I focus again mainly on the Local Government Elections, but seeing as I'm like in it and all...and also please excuse me if I spend some time praising myself up for my effort at the CAS Forum, but I'm just mildly thrilled about the fact that a tiny remnant of who I can be still is, and that that remnant joined me on stage Friday night...(get any sleep yet?-Ed)...a few hours last night, but man, I am knackered...(fair enough after that huge, extended adrenaline rush and lack of sleep, etc-Ed)...indeed...
It was a decision I was still making going into the forum, and the promises I'd already made about 'behaving' myself were certainly a factor, but it was still a last minute choice to engage in a strictly appropriate manner...and a decision well made and well rewarded, although it hasn't stopped me givin' myself a hard time since for being too soft, but I'll get over that...(indeed, but rewarded how?-Ed)...with the response afterwards, eg, the comments about how seeing me conduct myself in public, under such enormous pressure had, for a coupla' people, turned them around about how I conduct myself on this 'ere blog...
Essentially I had a range of answers lined up in my head, starting from
polite and innocuous, through the various shades of rage, to 'it's kicking-off', whereby should someone want to take me on directly...(not a chance-Ed)...sorry?...(not a chance, no-one on that stage was stupid enough to take you on directly-Ed)...well that's very nice of you to say Ed, about all of us...are you suggesting that perhaps my reputation proceeds me a bit?...(yeah, sortta' the way the sea suddenly drawing back proceeds a tsunami-Ed)...charming...but that was the real beauty of Friday...(sorry, you've lost me there a bit-Ed)...
Well I do have a well-nourished, well-circulated reputation designed to undermine me and/or this 'ere blog...a reputation for being just another angry blogger madly, irresponsibly, inappropriately flailing away at all and sundry and capable of little else...but then, in a public meeting, with all eyes upon It, up stands the politest, most well-spoken, passionate and clearly reasonably intelligent ManBear StuffPig, who embraced his failings and clearly explained why they were strengths and 'off the cuff' nailed every answer to warm applause...and people were shocked, and credit to them that they came up to me and said it...
And a reputation apparently well spread...(as is this 'ere blog?-Ed)...indeed...and definitely well earned and now only embellished in ways that simply cannot be taken away from me...some people there had no idea who I was or anything about the blog, etc, a few people I knew, or introduced themselves as blog readers, etc, through to those who hated me going in and hate me even more now because I've sucked the living justification out of their hate, so all they'll have left is even greater hate...(classic-Ed)...and then there were those who 'came across to the dark-side' (insert sinister laughter here)...
I have cut crook about the forum's facilitator Dr Sarah Mott previous in this blog, and that all changed Friday as far as I'm concerned, and I told her that, and I'd reckon she gets it...and the catalyst that allowed this, that 'opened that door', was a slight slip of the tongue during the '30 second surprise questions' in between the main ones, and I was 4th maybe, about halfway through, and she accidentally said "30 minutes" and I stood quickly, reaching for the microphone, saying "beauty, 30 minutes" to which she she laughingly drew back and there was good-hearted laughter across the room...
It sounds a bit convoluted I know, but it was a briefly perfect momentary faux pas that my natural wit turned to my advantage and the warmth of the laughter indicated that the audience were already feeling positively disposed toward me...(good call, I can see that-Ed)...and I can't imagine what Dr Mott has heard about me previous like, but I reckon that all changed Friday night when she too was exposed to the Nick Fletcher that isn't quite the complete arsehole he's been portrayed as...
Politest Massacre Ever: is the only thing I can think to say to fully encapsulate the way that I quietly flayed all and sundry at the Mayoral Forum Friday night, with Paul Jenner sortta' trailing behind a bit, and daylight third...and as genuinely pleased as I am with how well it went, I'm only stating that which was said to me immediately following the forum...a bunch of people I don't/didn't know congratulated me on my passion and empathy and presentation, etc, saying that I'd clearly 'won the day' as it were, and that Mr Jenner wasn't too bad, and then that was it...
Didn't take many notes as such because I was concentrating on what it was being said, what I wanted to say, etc, but 2 things really stood out, and one was a case of most fortuitous timing in that my answer was the last (second last?) on the issue of sustainable transport, and several candidates including current Councillor Allen Smith and Bob Sandow said that Mt Gambier's bus service is just great...(say what? they ever caught a bloody bus?-Ed)...well indeed...it provided me the perfect launching pad into 'I caught the bus for 7 years, it don't run weekends, public holidays, etc, that means 7 days outta' 10 across Christmas/New years there's no bus at all', etc...(as you say, a polite massacre-Ed)...absolutely...
And I was only part way into that answer and there was some applause, and then I explained that I've been trying to organise a bus service for weekends and one to Pt MacDonnell and Brown's Beach for the Christmas holidays, and by the end of my 1 minute I received loud applause...(what about the 'fortuitous timing' bit?-Ed)...ah yes...if I'd gone first or second and spelled out the problems in an un-challengable fashion...(as you do-Ed)...as I do, then the others could have fallen in behind that with promises of improved services, etc...(but because you were last they'd already nailed their colours if not their own scrotums to the mast, allowing you to come along behind and reap a rich harvest-Ed)...exactly...perfect timing...
Secondly, I dropped my Rail Corridor BikeWay Plan on them and there was again applause whilst I was talking and loud applause when I finished...it was commented on repeatedly in the chats I had afterwards as being a fantastic idea that should have happened a decade ago...actually, thirdly, I also received repeated applause for my comments re my mental health experiences, including one of a coupla' pieces of open criticism I did conjure (the second being about the lunacy of Fracking, particularly as it's being forced on the South East, etc)...(well I'd call that factualising not criticising-Ed)...fair enough...
But my other open criticism was for the rank political bastardry of the recent Headspace announcement (by Liberal Member and former Mt Gambier City Councillor, Tony Pasin, and others, eg CEO Mark McShane), and how these promises of a new building and a fully staffed service by 2016 or soon after, are known by the Promisers to be unsupportable lies, already proven such by the unrelenting reality of the ongoing problems with staffing, funding, attracting specialists, etc, etc, etc...I believe I called it "a disgrace", and yet again received rousing applause...
Excuse me, but I am absolutely knackered, and it's nearly 2230hrs already, so I'll finish here and do a bit more Forum stuff, including about the media throng that, well, thronged me after my glorious victory upon the dais upon the day...(media? who? I didn't see anyone anywhere near you-Ed)...my point exactly...(ahhh, clever-Ed)...
Tomorrow: Lotsa' Stuff
Written and Authorised by Nick Fletcher, 16 Kooringa St, Mt Gambier, SA 5290...cheers and laters...
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