Seachain an duine a bhíonn ina thost

Apologies for my extended absence. It's been a busy week.

We had hustings this week on Tuesday and Wednesday. The format is a round of speeches from all candidates, then a break followed by a round of questions. The questions are submitted in writing in advance, and chosen by the chair. Tuesday night my speech wasn't much good. The content was fine, but the delivery was weak. I'm normally quite a confident public speaker, but something about that room made me terribly nervous. I spoke too slowly, so I was stopped halfway through my second-last sentence. So close to the finish, but it made the speech sound horribly incomplete.

Never mind, the questions were fine. Apparently there was a bit of a fuss on Wednesday when it was noticed that three of the questions Tery and I were asked on Tuesday had been submitted by Spencer, but it's up to the chair to choose the questions. I hadn't prepared answers, but it all went very well nevertheless. I felt really good after the questions; I think I made up for my poor speech performance.

Wednesday was much better. I cut some of my speech out, and delivered it much more confidently. It helped that I had more supporters in the audience, and that they gave a big cheer when I was called up to speak. The questions weren't as interesting on Wednesday, and I was a bit disappointed that nobody asked about Y Ddraenen (hustings were held in JMJ, the Welsh-language halls, on Wednesday), but I'm still happy with my answers. We have our suspicions that the chair ensured all the questions were from Tery's camp this time round, but it didn't make much of a difference.

I visited Bryn Eithin the other day. That was a whole lot of fun. It's such a friendly place, probably because the halls are small enough to get to know everyone, and I'd imagine people stay in more than in Ffridd because they don't want to tackle The Hill. I've promised to go back and walk up their hill on Wednesday evening when voting opens in St Mary's so that I can fully understand their pain.

Our visit also raised some interesting issues about JCRs. The St. Mary's/Bryn Eithin JCR has had lots of difficulties this year, and I think it'd be worth discussing affiliating JCRs into the Students' Union, perhaps as Standing Committees. They'd have a stronger representative voice, and they'd be accountable to the SU, something which would help prevent the problems St Mary's has had this year.

So, party on Tuesday, and I've just received an email from friends in Dublin saying they're coming over on Monday and staying until Wednesday. How exciting! There'll be more cake, but not cooked by my flatmates this time. We've realised, by the way, that the cake they cooked is in fact a biscuit. It has become softer as time has passed. How very peculiar.