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I can’t believe Mel Stride is out of the Tory leadership race. Or that he was ever in. I read the list of candidates many times and never spotted him. And have never heard his name before I read about him losing the leadership race that I didn't know he was in. He is the greatest PM we never had. It's a real Fish Pie Mix-up moment (it's catching on).
Is it possible that Mel Stride is someone who has been placed in the race as part of some TV prank show? Like when Simon Brodkin got into the team photo for that football team. Let's face it. I am not sure even Tory MPs know all the Tory MPs (even in their depleted numbers) so someone could just walk in (or stride in - is that the joke?) and say they wanted a crack at it. He does look like what you'd get if you asked AI to create a dull Tory leadership candidate. Is Mel Stride an anagram? SL demerit is the best I can do. Small/Large demerit.
Is it possible he never was on the list, and just came in for this round of voting. It's the only explanation as to why I never saw him in the coverage before. Or is his super power to be so average as to become invisible until someone actually points him out?
What if he'd snuck through to the end and then won by default as everyone else had been knocked out without spotting he was there?
Even now I am writing about him I have to go back and check what his name is. And I am sure if you ask me tomorrow I won't be able to get it, or if I do it will only be by reverse engineering S/L demerit. He's worth remembering in case you ever get on Pointless and they do Tory ministers of the 2020s (if he ever was one). Who are we talking about again?
A man came round to work out how much it's going to cost for us to move our possessions to our new house. There aren't many good things about having bought a house when you've failed to sell your existing house, but one of the good things is that we don't have to move everything across in one go. Our new place is smaller, so we will be getting rid of some things.
I liked the no nonsense man who turned up who coolly worked out the cost implications of moving beds and snooker boards (actually I forgot to mention the snooker board). But most impressive was his seemingly encyclopaedic knowledge of his customers. He had moved the former owners of our new house to their new place and remembered everything about them. Fair enough, that was only a few months ago. Then he told us that he'd also moved out of our current house before, not for the last owners (who moved seven and a half years ago) but the owners before them. I knew that the people we bought for had been here for about 20 years. So this guy was telling us about people he'd moved over a quarter of a century ago, yet remembered what they did (and I am hoping what all their possessions were). He must have moved hundreds of people in that time, but he said he always remembered the houses and through that the people.
Is there a sitcom in an immortal removal man who forgets nothing? I think so. He can remove everything but himself.
Out on the Stocean for what might be one of my final Stone Clears (unless I come back here especially to do them, or find a new field in town). I have just over two weeks to get every last stone off that field. Can I do it?
Stone Clearing Chapter 172 is up here. 
