Market stroll: Charles Kennedy, left, with Greg Stone, centre, and Lib Dem supporters during yesterday's walkabout in Newton Aycliffe
IT'S a quarter to noon. The hands on the tower overlooking Newton Aycliffe market say so. But the clock strikes nine, each one ringing out as clear as a bell over the gentle bustle below.
Aycliffe town centre is a curious place. Its peeling paint and boarded-up shops at one end have been condemned by all and sundry in the by-election, but in the sunshine, the market end is positively pleasant.
The upper walkway, painted smartly in Aycliffe aqua blue, felt as reasonable a piece of Sixties planning as one might hope for.
Children cavorted under the little trees in leaf; adults exchanged friendly, familiar greetings with one another. The sweet smell of "Scotch strawbs" (£1 a box) drifted in the heat along with the cry of "Who's next for bath towels at £3 a pair - we're looking to clean up today".
And: "Who's that over there, I recognise him from the telly?"
It's actor John Michie, "DI Robbie Ross" from the crime drama Taggart - "did you say I was looking haggard?" asks a hard-of-hearing husband.
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"I finished filming the second episode last night, had a wrap party and was flying down to London and thought I'd stop off here to support Phil Wilson," said John, surrounded by red balloons dancing in the breeze. His silky black drainpipe jeans look to be a cut above those on the stall advertising "any outfit £3".
Graham Robb, the turquoise-rosetted Tory bounces by with all the irrepressible energy of a young puppy. "More Labour hot air," he says, pointing to the balloons.
He's accompanied by Dr Liam Fox, who should, probably, have been pursued by Freda the Fox - someone in a fox suit demanding that hunters be prosecuted for cruelty. Unfortunately for Freda, her quarry had disappeared by the time she arrived and so she tries instead to corner Charles Kennedy.
The Lib Dems organise walkabouts better than any other party. They have huge triangular placards - "superboards" - with "winning here" written on them that shadow their candidate's every move.
"He's really nice, that Charlie Kennedy," says an elderly lady, having been swept into the eye of the Lib Dem storm that swirls like a weather pattern around the market.
The Christian Party candidate hangs languidly out of his shop door, the Ukip candidate strolls in the sunshine, cheerily handing out leaflets. Alan Howling Laud Hope is resplendent in yellow suit and top hat - a loony through and through. His lapel badge says: "A dog is not just for Christmas - save some for Boxing Day".
"I'm campaigning for the endangered sedgewarbler," he says. "He's flown his nest and found a new place to roost in the Middle East." Then he heads for the pub to spend his 99p coin.
"I'm the Anti-Crime Party," says Norman Scarth, 81, "a one-man band, only today there's two of me." A friend has brought along a chair for him to sit on.
A bagpiper in a kilt plays a tune. "I'm here for a party," he says, pausing to fill his pipe. He tries not to say which one. "BNP, I think it is," he says, eventually. "Aye, that's it."
A handful of young men in white shirts hand out anti-war leaflets. They won't say who organised them, where they are from, and direct questions to "the man" whose name they won't give. At the bottom of the leaflet in impossibly small print, it says "BNP".
The clock strikes 11. It's a quarter to two. Thunder rolls in the distance
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