Today, as I write, it’s June 12. I know that because tomorrow on June 13, we’re off to France with  Harry and Polly who, you’ll recall, are our Greek rescue pups who came to live with us in December. We’re taking them to France because they’re European dogs and have European passports and because they’re European dogs they have to have their rabies updated in Europe. I don’t really understand it. I asked and back came the familiar exasperated sigh accompanied by the word “Brexit”. Pickle, our other dog, is staying here because we got him from Raystede which is near Lewes and… oh, you know, he’s got a blue passport. British dog. 

Bexit’s been on my mind a bit. And not just because of Harry and Polly. There’s an election coming up and there’s been a lot of rabbit from all the parties about what we’ll do if we win and no one has talked about Brexit. Well, no one apart from the Lib Dems, but that’s a sadly quiet voice. It’s the proverbial elephant dancing away that everyone has silently agreed to ignore. I wonder. Would talking about it really be such an electoral turn-off for The Great British Public? 

So anyway. A few days in France. There are worse things. This morning on the radio I heard that Rishi Sunak didn’t have Sky TV when he was a kid. Can you imagine? Some people really do have it harder than the rest. How he’s made a life for himself after that, I don’t know. 

It’s tempting to say stuff, to use this platform to bang the drum for things we think are important (As if we would do that. As if) and it’s frustrating because so many of the things we here at Whistler Towers think they should be talking about such as Brexit, climate, food production – maybe they’re all the same thing – don’t get much air time and all you hear about is tax cuts and tax cuts and tax cuts like we’re all little children who just want to be given sweets all the time and…   Pah. Let’s not. Even if we wanted to talk more about election stuff, print deadlines mean we‘re at the printers before Labour actually release their manifesto. But keep an eye on our website – westhillwhistler.com – where there’ll be more interviews with the other local candidates. 

Ours is an interesting constituency. The sitting party has a 20,000 majority which, in normal circumstances, would translate as “All bets are off, let’s go to the beach”. But this time round, it feels different. The MP with that majority – Caroline Lucas – you don’t need me to tell you – is off. There’s a new Green Party candidate – Sian Berry, interviewed on the facing page – but did those 20,000 people vote for the Greens or Caroline? The party or the person? We’ll find out soon enough I guess. 

The election’s important, but I tell you what’s also important and is actually much more us, much more what we’re about: The St Nick’s Dog Show. That’s the stuff that’s really important. Community, togetherness, rosettes. Fun, sun and a glass of Pimms. What’s not to like?