Where to start?

I gather it's always the problem, when writing anything. And the perennial answer is "start at the beginning". It's not quite as simple as all that, though, is it? Do I start from the beginning of my interest in politics? Best not really, or you will get the last twenty-four years of my life, from the three-year-old who could tell you the name of the prime minister and leader of the opposition on up.

No, I think it might be best to begin by explain what caused me to join the Liberal Democrats, after a good ten years of following them, knowing more than is healthy about their history, and agreeing with more than nine tenths of their policies. That particular story commences, rather unusually, with a life-threatening illness.

Last January, I was unfortunate enough to suffer a tubo-ovarian abscess. Look it up if you must, and if you have a strong stomach, but here it suffices to say that I was literally at death's door for some time, and my life was saved by a timely emergency operation in my local hospital, Withybush General. During my recovery, which was long and boring, I discovered during my long hours on the Internet that the aforementioned hospital was under threat from Welsh Assembly Government proposals which might have seen it reduced to a mere clinic and many of its vital functions moved to Carmarthen. My alarm and concern was sufficient to see me board a bus to a protest in Cardiff, where I met John Gossage, our local PPC (Prospective Parliamentary Candidate) and Bill Powell, another candidate and a councillor in Powys.

I filled in my form to join the party there and then, and was warned that promotion comes quickly. I raised an eyebrow and said "oh yeah, so you'll have me posting leaflets in no time then?" Little did I know.. 

You know, the difference between involvement and commitment is best explained in terms of a bacon and egg breakfast: the hen was involved, the pig committed. Over the course of the last twelve months I have definitely moved on from being the hen to the sacrificial pig in this equation! On the first of May there are local elections across Wales. I am most concerned with a small town called Pembroke, where my name will be on the ballot paper.