I WAS talking to two of the armed police officers who now patrol our corridors.

“We’re new here,” they said, “so we’ve never seen this before.”

They were talking about what happens when a General Election is called, as happened last week, especially when people weren’t expecting one.

Parliament goes into a kind of meltdown.

All over the corridors you see MPs on their mobiles, talking to their constituencies about preparations, cancelling meetings and wondering when they can get home.

Select committees, like mine, are rushing to get their reports out before parliament is dissolved.

Business is suddenly changed as we enter what is called the ‘wash-up’ stage when huge chunks of bills are abandoned and only those parts all parties agree to can go through.

We start saying our goodbyes.

Some friends are leaving, people who we’ve sat with through many late-night sessions, who we’ve laughed with in difficult times and whose children we’ve watched growing up.

Now they will be scattered to different parts of the country.

Others are going off to fight the election and no-one knows who will come back.

I thanked my committee staff, really dedicated people who have helped set up a new system in Parliament, and one was in tears, others misty-eyed.

We’ve worked so closely together and travelled to various parts of the country to spread the message about the petitions system that we’ve become almost like a family.

Then we start to prepare for the time when our parliamentary e-mails are cut off, talking to staff about trying to get our casework finished.

No-one quite believes this but e-mail is cut off because you can’t use the parliamentary equipment during an election.

That’s also the reason we also have to rent a new office to work from.

As I write this column I have one more debate to lead and then I need to clear my desk.

After that the practical preparations for an election take over like stocking up the freezer (knowing we won’t have time to shop or cook), buying in supplies of tights and remembering my rules for surviving an election: “Always eat a good breakfast and have something comfortable to wear on your feet.”

Off now to buy some new trainers.