January 2010 diary column
29 January 2010
January 2010 diary column
The big freeze…
Mrs F & I left home for a week break over Christmas on 19th December. As all our children were otherwise occupied this year, we decided that a timely dose of winter sun would do us both good, and we duly headed to sunnier climes on the 20th, returning on Hogmanay. I have to say that the experience of returning from +90 degrees to -9 will not feature in my top ten lifetime favourite memories! In some ways we were lucky – my brother and his family had occupied the house while we were away, so it was warm and lived in, but we were literally iced out. (The idea of our holiday was to allow us to completely chill out, but this was ridiculous!) It wasn’t until the 16th January that we were able to get the car up the steep 100 meter drive to the house and now, as I write, you wouldn’t know that we had been locked in a ‘big freeze’ for a month.
That month saw many a broken bone across the region and brought many complaints about lack of Council services. It is certainly true that the lack of salt/grit on most of the minor roads led to essential supplies such as fuel being impossible to deliver, countless vehicle accidents and enormous inconvenience to thousands of people. Yet I cannot blame any Council, never mind one in the usually mild south west of Scotland, for not being geared up to deal with a once-in-a-generation event. But I do suggest that a serious review is needed taking into account the experiences of the last month.
In many other countries, where our Dec/Jan freeze out is an everyday occurrence, authorities make good use of local farmers and contractors whose machinery is put to good use clearing roads and pathways. Why not here? If there is joined-up thinking between Amey Ltd (who ‘maintain’ our trunk roads) and the Council who look after all the others, it is not immediately obvious. Why not? Those are just two questions that could usefully be asked so that next time we just might be able to deal with it just a little bit better.
…and warmth against it.
One of the great things about exceptional weather is witnessing how people instinctively look after each other, accepting that normal service cannot be delivered. So elderly people will find they are getting more visitors than usual, offers of help abound and a real spirit of camaraderie is engendered. It is genuinely heart-warming.
And despite the alarm bells ringing in the offices of Health & Safety, I thought it was wonderful to see people walking, skating and curling where, by and large, it seemed safe to do so. There are few better sights than an outdoor curling match on the village pond – something that was once a regular winter activity but which now, in our globally warmed climate, is something of a rarity. It was great.
Finally, people become ‘neighbourly’ again. I have a friend whose water supply was frozen up early on. He tells me his is going to write a book entitled ‘Bathrooms of the Glenkens’ having been overwhelmed by the offers of hot water facilities that were made available to him. We’d better get ours redecorated in case it snows again next year!
End of Life Choices.
And so life in Parliament got back into the swing after the break. However, much debate is about to be undertaken following the introduction of Margo MacDonald’s End of Life Choices Bill. Given that much of our debate is likely to become highly politicised with a General Election on the horizon, this Bill stands apart as being entirely non-political, with all parties giving their Members a free vote on this issue as they tend to do when ‘matters of conscience’ are involved. I have little doubt that our e-mail inboxes and postal in-trays are about to require expansion as this subject will, quite understandably, engender much public input as well as Parliamentary debate. Debate in Holyrood is often at its best on party political issues, and I look forward to what, I hope will be a rational and sensible debate on this most controversial of subjects.
Burnsian Ambassadors.
One of the highlights of the year for the Scottish Consular Corps is the annual Burns supper which I host in Holyrood. It’s a great chance for the full time Consuls-General and the part time Honorary Consuls to get together with MSPs in an atmosphere of relative informality and, at the same time, enjoy some of our Burnsian traditions. To help out, we invite some of our finest musicians to entertain, and I am always bowled over by the young talent that Scotland possesses in this field of the arts. To my great surprise, and even greater pleasure, constituents played a huge part in our proceedings this year. The 2009 Young Burnsian Award winner, young Megan from Sanquhar, gave us the Ode to the Haggis. An excellent quartet from the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama featured a beautiful singer, Robyn from Stranraer and finally Emily Smith, from Thornhill, played us out with breathtaking professionalism accompanied by her husband Jamie McLennan on guitar.
The entertainment was truly magnificent, enjoyed by all, and my heart was swelling with pride!
Postal lottery.
One of the more unfortunate moments of our Christmas holiday was returning from a short, unplanned walk to discover our hire car had been broken into and our small rucksack (which we should never have left in the car) had been stolen. It contained my wallet with credit/debit cards and the usual paraphernalia. Our fault entirely, I accept, but the consequent 2 days of giving statements to the Police, contacting the UK to cancel cards and arguing with the car rental company who insisted that the small print of our policy stated that break-ins weren’t covered (don’t you just love the small print) sent our stress levels in the opposite direction to that which we had intended.
The raising of stress levels continued on our return. I had gone back to the Parliament the day my replacement cards arrived in 3 separate envelopes at home. Mrs F helpfully forwarded them to Edinburgh. The credit card arrived the next day. A pin number for the debit card arrived 2 days after that. I have yet to receive the debit card itself and had to order another one. 3 first class letters sent to the same address on the same day. Not very impressive work by the Royal Mail if I may say so.
2010 & beyond.
So here we are a month into the New Year already, and we might justifiably wonder what it will bring. A new Government in the UK is certain. Hopefully, the recession will continue to recede and we will have a glorious summer, giving our tourism sector here in Galloway a bumper season – that would benefit all of us. I will certainly be presented with grandchild number 5 in late April and look forward to meeting him or her later in the year. Who knows what’s coming – maybe Andy Murray will even win a grand slam! Whatever your hopes and aspirations, I hope they are achieved.
Surgeries as usual.
I would just like to remind readers of my regular surgeries throughout the constituency. Nithsdale on the first Friday of each month. Stewartry (Dalbeattie, Castle Douglas and Kirkcudbright) on the second and Wigtownshire (Stranraer and Newton Stewart) on the third. Just ring free on 0800 028 7260 for details or to make any other arrangement.