Two bloggers, an election and a polar bear - another reminder of Andrew Reeves

My head hurts, and I've had about 4 hours' sleep. The headache is probably due at least in part to the overconsumption of Chardonnay last night.

I was not impressed to be awake before 6 this morning. However I have caught up with Coronation Street. Can't believe Weatherfield's police are so completely rubbish is my only comment. And please don't tell me off for watching a soap. You know I like trash. What can I say?

But before I'd got out of bed, I'd looked back at 8.5 months' worth of text messages from Andrew Reeves, going back to the day I got my iPhone last September. There were some corkers in there - and in total they show all sides of him. There was the professional campaign manager enlisting my help with proofreading, there were several during his Twitter suspension in December when so many of us campaigned to Free the Twitter One. And you know how some people argue about Scrabble words? Well with us it was a bit more low rent than that - it was about the legitimacy of check-ins on Foursquare. There were texts of encouragement on the day I edited Liberal Democrat Voice last October. There were more than a few exchanges of smutty innuendo, in which I was, of course, the entirely innocent party.

And then I found a blog posting I'd missed yesterday, from Paul Walter. He'd guest edited Liberal Democrat Voice the day I went on holiday in April. I'd had no internet access so I hadn't seen it. He'd given various bloggers the chance to write articles on anything they wanted.  So what does our campaign director write about, in the middle of a high pressure election campaign? The passing of Edinburgh Zoo's polar bear, Mercedes. It was a piece of writing of his I'd never seen and so it was really precious to see. And I'd written about the same bear the night before as we'd often seen her at the zoo when Anna was wee. That little bit of symmetry in our thoughts, in the middle of a hectic time is both searing and pleasing.

Hon Lady Mark has also posted a memory of Andrew from the Glasgow East by-election.