Touchy - people can be scary

Handing out how to vote leaflets proved to be a little tricky.

I have to take some of the blame because I am, as with most things I tackle, an enthusiastic participant. So volunteering to hand out, "How to vote cards", for the Greens", at yesterday's Federal election saw me arrive at the Polling Station, (the local primary school) around mid-day for a two hour stint of smiling and plying my wares to the general public.

It looked easy enough. As people came towards the queue I, and a number of other volunteers, proffered our various leaflets. I had been prepared for people to say a simple, "No thanks", what I was not prepared for were the three rude individuals who, when offered a leaflet, were openly aggressive. One calling me a "Communist" and another snarling they had read the "Greens' manifesto and it was a load of rubbish, whilst the third was plain argumentative. Actually I could not work out if he was having fun and simply stirring. Still the three encounters were enough to dampen my enthusiasm and remind me that people and politics can be a very volatile combination and not for the feint hearted.

It's the first, 'hung' parliament since 1940, and it looks as though I had the last laugh as the Greens and another 4 Independents will hold the balance of power.