Batteries recharged!

My two weeks of holiday were superb. Two weeks of good food and local wine, no TV, no internet access and no telephone were just what the Doctor ordered before another round of electioneering. That, and considerably more sleep than I usually manage to have at home. We stayed in a small village with just 7 houses so needless to say there was no light or noise pollution at night – perfect for light sleepers.

I’m fairly enthusiastic at the best of times but at the moment I am more energetic than usual. I am however board gamed out for the next few weeks! Whilst I will happily play Scrabble or Rummikub every day – it may be some time before I agree to play Monopoly and Cluedo with the family again. Monopoly brings out the worst in some of my nearest and dearest!

I’m holding Constituency Surgeries today and catching up on the last of my Inbox “to do” list. Tomorrow I hope to spend a few hours in the garden tidying up the growth spurt that happened whilst we were away. Amazing how fast weeds grow at this time of year.

A funny sort of week

It’s been a funny sort of week - and my blog has suffered a bit over the last few days as I picked up the stomach bug doing the rounds in our villages and managed to get 2 days enforced rest and relaxation - whether I wanted it or not! My entries will be sporadic over the next 2 weeks as I'm trying to take time off to spend with the family before I subject them to another round of electioneering. My other half is looking forward to all the exercise and fresh air he's about to enjoy out delivering leaflets!

My father turned 70 at the weekend and my Grandmother (who is fitter than most people 20 years her junior) will turn 94 at the end of the month. My mother will disown me if I publish her age!

Having such fit and healthy relatives has been something I've always taken for granted. But the work I've been doing with the relatives of people attending the Day Care Centre at Home Meadow in Toft over the last few weeks has made me realise just how lucky we are in the gene stakes in the Whelan family.

I'm thrilled that at the last minute there has been a change of heart and the Day Care Centre will now remain open for another 12 - 18 months. Of all the things I've been able to achieve since I was elected this is the one that means the most. I hope that the momentum of interest in this issue wont fade and that the working group who fought to keep it open will be able to look at helping others in coming months.

Multi-tasking and toffee

Having 2 weeks off with the family over Easter will be fantastic – but it’s proving interesting trying to fit everything in before I go.

So far this morning I’ve bundled up 300 leaflets to drop off to a kind soul for delivering, replied to some emails from relatives concerned at the impending closure at Home Meadow Day Care Facility in Toft, drawn up a recap of my meeting with Social Services last Friday, chased up a Road safety Survey for a street layout in Hardwick – oh and got 2 boys off to school (on time and without argument!), and sorted out the dishwasher and washing machine in between doing a few other things – but I did forget to buy my son a compass – so as far as he’s concerned I can’t multi task for toffee

Still it’s only 8:30 and I have three more meetings after 2:00 this afternoon (I'll be at Home Meadow with relatives for their meeting at 2:00 pm and 6:30pm) so I may just manage to squeeze it in and get out of his bad books!

That EUREKA feeling!

I don’t think I shall ever match the prolific blogging capacity of the County’s Chief Executive, Mark Lloyd, but a second blog entry today as I am bursting with enthusiasm having finally mastered the art of the U turn on a motor bike.

It turns out that all that was needed was a slightly smaller bike – now that I’m not on tiptoe, and the centre of balance is better, I feel in control of the bike rather than it of me! All suddenly becomes clear as to why I’m so confident riding the bike and why I turned into a gibbering wreck as soon as we pull in to a side road and I know it’s time for the dreaded U turn.

A much more rested night’s sleep tonight I predict!

A roaring success

It’s a beautiful day today – one of my favourite times of year because I love seeing all the local villages in bloom with lots of daffodils. The hedgerows as you pass through Toft are just spectacular. Well worth a visit if you haven’t seen them.

Last night was a late night as I hosted an evening for those new folks who are standing to be a County Councillor in the elections on June 4th. In keeping with others turning their lights off for an hour to highlight how we waste energy; we spent a twinkling evening by candlelight. I’m also grateful that I remembered to change the clocks last night so I woke up in time to witness Jenson Button’s spectacular win in the Australian Grand Prix – never have I seen three grown men smile quite as much as Jenson, Reubens and Ross – although Jenson’s father came a very close second!

My bike test is coming up soon, so today I’m out for a special session to help conquer my Achilles heel – U turns. It’s becoming a family game to talk me through the steps - mind over matter and it should all come good.

Wait for a problem and three come at once - NOT like buses!

My phone and email continue to go crazy today. I spent the morning at Shire Hall talking to an officer about the 09:00 service on the No. 18 bus from Toft which will disappear after 12th April. There are a lot of angry people who are going to be seriously affected when / if this service goes.

One option I’ve asked the Council to explore is funding a 09:00 service themselves – if a minimum number of passengers use the service it would be self supporting. I’m waiting to hear what that magic number is and then I can canvass Toft in the coming days to see if we can go down that route. Other alternatives I’ve asked to be looked at are to drop a service in the afternoon in favour of the 09:00 run. I meet with our local expert on buses tomorrow morning to get a history of what's been going on over the years.

Caldecote bus passengers on the other hand would love to have the above problem - they have nothing other than the 07:30 No. 2 service so I’m continuing to plug away on their behalf and Saturday will see me knocking on more doors with my bus usage survey.

But my main activity today has been about the closure of Toft Day Care Centre at Home Meadow. The stories I’m getting from carers about the effect this closure will have on their lives reminds me exactly why we are elected – to make sure everyone gets represented .

There are lots of discussions (many of them heated) going on in the background at this stage to see what we do – and I will be updating as soon as I have anything concrete to report.

What ever happened to care for the elderly?

It’s a funny old life being a Councillor – a bit of a rollercoaster ride at times. Some days you get to the end of and think of what you’ve accomplished and other days you look at how long it is going to take for money to be available for a particular project or for someone to reply to you and frustration takes over.

I can’t believe we’re only at Tuesday, so far this week, because my phone and email have not stopped since Sunday with distraught relatives phoning to ask what I know/knew about the closure of the day centre in Toft. The short answer on Sunday was nothing – the answer today is much longer!

Having spent yesterday and today talking to relatives and putting them in touch with each other for support, I got a group of about 20 together outside the home (on the public footpath) for a photograph and tomorrow we hit the papers to make sure this doesn’t get brushed under the carpet. I’ve spoken about it on Antonia Brickell’s programme on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire this afternoon, and I hope that the more noise we make, the more likely someone is to hear what we are saying and do something! This is the third day centre in a year that one attendee has seen close, and another relative told me of her desperation – the only time she can do anything such as shopping is during the time her mother spends at the day centre. No local Councillors were informed, no relatives / attendees have been officially informed – not even the local doctors have been informed. So much for the “consultation” promised!

Yet again it seems that our most vulnerable citizens draw the short straw.