I'm back just to say thank you to all of the people who've been in touch since Thursday last week.  I'm immensely grateful for the good wishes of so many people; constituents, readers of this blog, colleagues (and opponents), and council officers. 

I'd also like to thank those bloggers who've said some really very nice things about this blog, I certainly didn't expect the sort of positive impact on all sorts of people when I first pressed publish back in February 2004.

It is very touching.

Now, what about nominating me for a posthumous award?

The Times report on some new regulations on recycling batteries:

"Almost half of the batteries used by householders across Europe will have to be recycled under tough new rules announced by Brussels today. The cost of complying with new EU legislation could run into millions of pounds in the UK, where the number of batteries recycled is currently less than 1 per cent."

Apparently we'll take the batteries to shops where they will sent back to the manufactures and by 2012, a quarter of all batteries sold must be collected once they run out. By 2016, the target will rise to 45 per cent.

This sort of approach - getting manufacturers to contribute to the cost of recycling - is very welcome and I'll be interested to see how these regulations roll out.

So the campaign is all but over* and now its your turn to decide which of the candidates you want to represent you for the next four years, and the sort of politics you think will be best for Blackheath and Lewisham.

I, of course, hope you want to return Gavin and me and to elect Rachael so that we can continue to work hard on your behalf.

I have to say I'm proud of the campaign we've run; we chose to focus on our positive vision for the ward and to fight on our record, rather than smearing our opponents.  In Blackheath we have delivered more than 25,000 leaflets, knocked on thousands of doors, spoken to many hundreds of people, collected hundreds of signatures on our petition to improve access to Lewisham and Blackheath stations for those who have mobility problems, and held 2 street stalls. 

There are some people I and my fellow Labour candidates need to thank.  Our volunteers who gave up their evenings to canvass with us or to deliver our leaflets, in particular Ann, Alan, Jenny, Martin, Christine and Paul.  We also need to thank our families, who haven't seen much of us this past month.

Personally I want to thank all of those who have sent me messages wishing me luck; its nice to know people are thinking of me.
 

 
*We'll be working like dogs tomorrow trying to persuade as many of you as possible to come out and vote.  And then once you're thinking of going to bed we'll go to a school hall in Forest Hill and wait there to find out whether we've been successful at some very small hour in the morning.

I've used Picasa to create this collage of some of the photos that Rachael, Gavin and I have used in our campaign this year.