Wet,windy and Wimbledon

Just finishing watching the amazing match between Federer and Nadal.  What fantastic players!  The stamina they both have and the mental power they must be using is awe-inspiring.

The weekend has been wet and windy pretty much all the time.  Julia Goldsworthy MP and I were both at Truro train station on Friday afternoon.  One of the first approved projects for the new Convergence funds are being spent on a Loop system to allow trains to run every 30 minutes between Truro and Falmouth.  This is a long overdue development to allow more regular transport between the two towns.

Earlier on Friday Sarah and I went out delivering some leaflets in Penryn until the rain stopped us!

Oh well it is July.

Call centres

I visited an elderly couple this week. They are having problems getting their insurance company to pay up on a claim.  I read through the paperwork and as far as I am concerned the insurance company are well out of order and they are demanding money off them!  The gentleman cannot sleep and has already been in hospital for high blood pressure.  This couple are in their 80's. 

 I rang the insurance company but of course the person you want is never around - on a training course.  And no-one has bothered to ring back even though they said they would.  I expect it will be days before I get through and then they will say I can't deal with it.  

Call centres pushing you around from pillar to post.  The funny thing is they call it Customer service.  I like a real person on the end of the phone who is really trained to be able to answer the questions.

I am determined to help this couple though as it reminds me of my mum and dad and the sorts of problems they had.  It's really hard for older people to deal with stuff like this.

Penryn Bowling Club

Had a chat with Susie at the Bowling club.  At last South West Water have come up trumps and put the cap on their sewage works in Penryn.  This means that the bowlers can now play without the awful smell they have had to put up with for several years.  But it still took time and I had to call them every month to put pressure on to make them do this work.  

Anyway must ring and say thanks for getting it all sorted.  Result!

Eating croissants at the French breakfast

Last week we had a successful late morning French breakfast.... croissants, french toast etc. It was even better as we were able to sit in the garden and enjoy the sunshine.  Leigh's boys had fun kicking a football around and playing hide and seek around the trees.

Nick Clegg visits Cornwall

Great day yesterday.  Nick Clegg came down and made various visits including one to Playing Place Post office helping with my campaign to save rural post offices.  I organised a March from Carnon Downs to Playing Place post office a few weeks ago and wanted his support on this issue.  In July we will know which post offices are due to be closed.  

Mrs Williams came along on her motorised scooter.  It is for people like her that we need to fight to save our post offices as they are so important in our communities.  The local Conservative county councillor also came along and was pleased to meet Nick.  He thanked him for coming and was impressed that a national leader of a political party gave support to these campaigns.

We then went on to Tremough campus and Nick was excellent in answering a number of questions from the students.  

In the evening we all ended up at Porthtowan village hall where Arwen and Annette had organised a full sit down meal of Cornish produce with music from the Cornwall Youth orchestra.  Great!

British Telecom surcharge

Last week I visited a pensioner in Truro who was fed-up that she had to pay extra on her phone bill unless she paid by Direct Debit.  

She likes, like many pensioners, to go up to the Post Office to pay her bills.  BT don't really want her to do this - they want everyone to pay by direct debit.  If you don't you get charged an extra £4.50 a quarter for their additional costs in 'processing' the cheque or cash.  This is £18 a year that I am sure a single pensioner could put to better use.  

BT say that they are keen to allow customer's choice of payment!

It also tells us a lot about why Post offices are losing business and being forced to close.

I would love to hear from anyone else who feels they have been denied real choice.

Liberal Democrats : Post Office

Liberal Democrats : Post Office