County Council budget

I am not sure quite what the Tories at County Hall are doing - unless they expect to get these cuts through on the quiet.
This is the moment the Labour Party needs to recover from the sense of doom that seems to have affected it since the General and County defeats. Of course the local press coverage is appalling (but what's new) as they don't expalain what will happen so leaving people confused until it is too late. Anyway I am so annoyed and angry that the following is the letter I've sent to the LEP and the Advertiser. Wonder if it worth me sending elsewhere or feel free to use it to your local paper putting your name to it.

"County Council Budget proposals

I read the details of the County Council proposals for Adult and Community Services with a growing sense of horror and disbelief.

The first proposal to reduce fees paid to care homes is both cowardly and cruel. The problem is that care homes like householders will be facing higher bills for energy and food as well as insurance which I am sure will be somewhere around 4% or more. Instead of being able to meet these costs the operators will find that their income will reduce. They will either have to cut costs in some way which may well impact on residents or seek higher top up payments from residents and their families. They will be blamed either way when in fact the responsibility will lie in County Hall. In addition they will cut the income to the care homes they operate and how the County Council will meet this reduction is a moot point and not clear from the documents. The statement that “Reducing fee levels should not affect the overall level of service provided to service users” frankly cannot be justified. It may help County Councillors who vote for this to sleep at night but it is simply a smokescreen that they cannot deliver. This particularly true when added to the freeze in future years which will create ever greater problems and serve to reduce the choice available to residents of Lancashire in future.

The second attack in the form of the removal of services from people with a assessment of moderate need is equally callous and mean. It is also very problematic as the Council cannot know what it will save so there is no guarantee that the saving will be achieved. I was proud of the fact that Lancashire was able to maintain this level of service during my time as Cabinet Member for Adult and Community Services. This cut will will probably not save as much as expected in time as the Council estimate as the speed with which people reach a substantial need will increase and so more people will need a service raising the Council's costs. At that point will they then cut adrift those with a substantial assessment and restrict their service to those defined as critical?

The cuts to non-residential are the third example of blind slashing of the adult care budget. The bland statement that “The level of demand continues to rise both in terms of numbers and complexity of need. Alternative supports are not appropriate or available” is clear proof that people using these services will be abandoned by the County Council with a shrug of their collective shoulders.

Of course they will probably say “we don't want to do this” and maybe they will mean it but then they kept saying they would “protect front line services” and that is a promise this budget has not kept. I do recognise the problem this government has created for the County Council and every Lancashire MP who supported the budget cuts that produced this cruel and vicious budget should hang their head in shame alongside any County Councillor who votes for this budget. I only wish my Tory successor had the decency to resign over this budget but I suspect he won't.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Cheetham

Cabinet member for Adult and Community Services 2001 – 2008

Lancashire County Council"

Not sure if its the weather or the good news from Anfield but I am spoiling for a fight so how do we make them jump? I know we can't stop them but we can make them squirm surely!

Promises

Of course as an ex-politician I should be careful about making promises. I did say I would keep this blog up to date but then the storage unit got wiped out and I sort of lost focus as we went through all the stuff we had lost. Still we can't do much about it and have to live with it. The stuff we both miss most is all the things we could never replace - pre-travel photos and other souvenirs as well as the souvenirs we have collected over the last two years. All we have left are a moroccan rug, Arab scarves, a plant (living at Lynda's mums) and the little cat.
But as we are still here I am beginning to become really depressed about the way this country is going. I made the mistake of listening to Jeremy Vine at lunchtime - well until 1.00pm - and I am amazed how a guy who clearly takes his facts from the "Daily Mail" manages to be so universal in the BBC. Mind you his phone in people are generally even worse. We have become a nasty, narrow minded society where ME is the most important thing in the world and if a policy does not benefit me then it is BAD. And after 13 years in power the Labour Government seems to have made it worse not better if the poll in yesterday's Guardian is right. We have forgotten that there is such a thing as society and social justice is what we were supposed to be about. but rather than attack the right wing Murdoch press and the picture they have created of the poor ( all living high on the hog off benefits watching Sky on their 42"widescreen TV's) we have pandered to it.
And now we and the country are reaping the whirlwind. Education is being privatised - universities first but more will follow. The poor are being excluded because a policy we introduced is being taken to its limits with student tuition fees or maybe beyond and EMA's are being slashed. NHS and social care spending will be limited and the most vulnerable will suffer. The problem is that social care spending was often insufficient under Labour and this lot will make it worse - much worse. And the Labour party did not even interview me for the Saddleworth seat - pah!! And I would not want to be a District Council given some of the people on West Lancashire Labour Group (oh and the MP as well). And I can't even read my little red book - it went up in flames.

Still behind the times!

Phew - nearly published a blank blog page!
Monday 28th
Despite assurances from the camp site that tomorrows general strike won't have a big effect we decided to go shopping at the nearest Carrefour to keep us going until the end of the week. Our mail has arrived but we are waiting for a delivery from Amazon as we have almost exhausted our stock of books and are reduced to reading authors we would not normally touch by swopping the books with passing Brits! Spanish bookshops that sell english books are not afraid to ask for money so buying from Amazon is cheaper. The weather has returned to normal service and its really very warm by day and night. Still should not complain as it it more fun than the rain.

Tuesday 29th

Went over the ridge behind our village and into the Ebro valley. That's a climb of over 2000 ft on a road that winds up the face of the ridge. Poor little Fiat.
Still the run on the other side was like a day out in a very sunny Dales or White Peak. At the end we found the Bodega Irache. And the fountain of wine (and water) - both free - for the pilgrims on their way to Santiago as one of the routes passes the bodega. We wandered into the offices and were served by the Export Manager no less. She spent a year improving her English in Manchester (?) so was really pleased to meet some northerners. The wine's good as well but what it costs in the UK I dread to think.
We then went into Estrella/Lizarra and had a drink in the square (non-alcoholic) and watched people stream out of a funeral at the church opposite. Very informal it was with at least one pall bearer wearing shorts. Certainly black seemed to be very limited except for the young woman in a little black number. Wandered around the town to see the sights in the "zona monumental". It was a fiesta in one part of town with pony rides for the children as went in one direction. Heading back it had changed into a strange affair where a young calf on a long lead seemed to chase the young kids arounfd the square. Very odd.
As we headed back through the town towards the very impressive bus station and car park we stumbled across 100 or so protestors carrying placards denouncing the Governments austerity measures and changes to the labour laws. Not a mass protest but they were facing half a dozen cops dressed for riots (crash helmets, shin pads and one guy carrying a tear gas/rubber bullet shotgun). Seemed overkill as they were in turn watched by local cops who seemed much more relaxed. And so back home as Spain dug in to watch the World Cup and beat Portugal - good result.

More catch-up

Oh well the erratic nature of our internet connection continues. I can see the Guardian, LEP and even the Skelmersdale Advertiser as well as the BBc site but it won't connect to my e-mail server or Facebook or Google mail or my blog site. So back to stockpiling.

Thursday 24 June

We went to Pamplona today. Its about 25 miles away and so unmissable. At least its not the feast of St Firmin - yet. But in two weeks the place goes bonkers. The bull running starts and goes on for 7 days. The arrangements are being put in place with the wooden barriers being put in place at all the junctions on the route and the shops selling t shirts advertising the event. Some are tasteful others including the one with mock blood spatters a lot less so. Still it must be the only bull related event in Spain where the bulls have the upper hand. We walked most of the route which is fairly short but then there were no bulls chasing us.
The old city is full of narrow streets made to feel even narrower by the tall apartments around them. The atmosphere is busy but not horrendously so and the scale of it is quite small. We went into the Plaza del Castillo, the main square, and had the menu del dia at the Cafe Iruna. Its a wonderful belle epoque dining room which puts quotes from its most famous customer on its menu. The whole place is Hemingway crazy down to having part of the cafe called The Hemingway Bar complete with a statue of the man himself at the bar! He publicised the bull running and turned it from a local event to an international one so they gave him a street outside the bull ring.
The Cathedral is wonderfully cool even if it's being restored and parts are off limits or in the case of the front invisible under scaffolding and screening. The quiet of the cloisters are only interrupted by the sound of a small fountain allegedly surrounded by railings made of the spoils of victory over the "evil" Moors. The other oddity was the work in the cloisters to disinter the bodies buried under the floor and it was fascinating to watch one archaelogist carefully brushing soil away to expose the small bones in one grave whilst her colleague removed the soil from the next grave in a barrow leaving the skeleton exposed.
A visit to Lidl finished the day as we stocked up for the weekend.

Friday 25 June

Today is a domestic chores day.

Saturday 26th June

Went to Vitoria/Gasteiz. The city is really very nice with an old medieval quarter and a livley more modern wrap around. The trams are good as well - shows what you can do with some public spending! They were having a youth festival and bands were playing in the main square. It was like a heavy rock show with loads on black tee shirts and tattoos all over but very friendly and relaxed - even if the amps were cranked up to the maximum! Against this background people were getting married in the church overlooking the stage and coming out to have a boogie on the platform in front. The weather was getting more and more sultry by the time we got back so taht about an hour later we had a grade A thunderstorm.

Sunday 27th June

The weather had dried off and we stayed close to home to watch the Grand Prix and that game. Think we should have gone out after the Grand Prix (won by a German from 2 Brits but all driving Britsh cars). I think Mark Webber should get Red Bull to change its slogan - "Gives you wings" is not a good idea on a racing car. Still once more as the day wore on the weather got closer and in the last half hour the thunder has come back. Hey Ho! PS there is a general strike here on Tuesday - we think - to protest about the Government cut-backs!

Catch-up

As our link to the internet is non-existent I'm going to have to keep a daily log and download the whole lot in one go once we get connected.

Tuesday

Left Cudillero this morning and headed of towards Bilbao. The weather was intermittment rain at first but claered up and got brighter as we headed along the coast with the Picos de Europa popping out between the clouds. It really would be a nice place to take our time through Still driving the van through the building site that passes for the southern by-pass around Bilbao( or Bilbo as it appears to be in Basque!). Anyway made our way along the expressway that heads around the east side of the city and out to our camp site - Camping Gorliz/Arrien. Once more shock and awe for our size despite the agreement that they could cope. Still we found a space, connected up and got the satellite going. What joy(?) as we could get BBC2, Channel 4 and Channel 5. Which meant CSI!! Then it started to rain - again. We had telly so it was not much of a problem even if the cats were not impressed. The season finales ( and the second part of a two part story at that) at least means we can tune in next season and know where we are.

Wednesday

Woke to the continuing rain which was of the torrential variety. Still we will go totally stir crazy if we stayed in so we head off to the station and take the tube to the city. Good service and well used but sadly there is no stop very close to the Guggenheim Museum, which we decided was a good place to go as it was under cover and well a landmark.Despite bussing as close as we could it was a pair of very soggy people who got inside and decided feeding was the most important thing! Never been to a museum/art gallery where you have to book a table at lunch-time so we stuck to the cafe which was full of people who had made our mistake. Still at 20 euros for essentially tapas and a drink it was hardly cheap. Nice enough but pricey. So into the museum proper! It is an experience rather than an art gallery with currently showing a Henri Rousseau special exhibition and one from Robert Rauschenburg called "Gluts" on the top floor. Loved the Rousseau but the other was not to my taste.
The second floor was given over to an exhibition of Anish Kapoor's work. Huge gallery spaces were devoted to his work and some was absolutely brilliant. But they should have kept him off the free audioguide. He sounded so pretentious it spoilt the clever pieces of work he had produced. Still we wandered into "shooting into the Corner" (Google it I'm sure its there as an explanation is nothing) just as the "attendant" was preparing to fire. First time I've seen anything quite like it and been stunned by the noise in a museum.
The ground floor had display of kids work done with local artists which was nice, a selection from the Guggenheim collection including a fabulous Andy Warhol (but no Kandinsky or Klee sadly), an "installation" called the Matter of Time from Richard Serra and a permanant installation by Jenny Holzer which consisted of a humber of moving LED "signs" which ran from floor to ceiling with messages. The whole effect was absolutely brilliant and one of the best things there. But once more out to the - rain. So we made our way past a soggy "Puppy" on to the tram and back to a "fosterito" (all the subway stations were designed by Sir Norman Foster) on on home. Finally as evening drew on the rain eased to be replaced by a gale. And so to bed.

Thursday

Well at least its dry but the poor old satellite dish has blown over despite being pegged down. But we can now go and take our other visit that we had promised ourselves. 60 kms down the road is Gernika-Lomo (aka Guernica). To someone who had seen the posters of the painting and read some history there really was no choice. The roads across were sweeping up and down through small villages and woods. Then we arrived in Gernika. It's not a big place and obviously most of but not all the buildings are new or reconstructions except for the church and the Basque parliament building. We wandered around until life came back at 4:00pm and went into the Parliament, which was not in session. The "Museum"/Assebly Hall has a leaded glass roof depicting the main strands of Basque life and the all important oak tree. It is a very impressive piece of post-Franco art. Then into the chamber which is an old church seating 84 members all in close contact in a elliptical chamber. Interestingly the Regional administration is in Bilbao but the Parliament meets in Gernika - as much out of history as anything else. Outside the building stands the ceremonial oak and its predecessors trunk. It is where official oaths are sworn - beats signing a pice of paper for the Chief Executive.
From there we wandered down to the Peace Museum in the old town hall. A really good piece of work with good audio visual elements and a strong sense of international justice. What I had not realised is that although the German government has apologised for the role of the Condor Legion the museum makes the point that the Spanish Army has never said sorry. Given Basque/Madrid relations interestingly they also have a section criticising both sides in the ETA conflict. From there we wandered down the Market Place which was the centre of the attack - on market day no less. The thought crossed my mind that it was like the German Air Force in WW II had blitzed Burscough village. It was certainly a fine example of state sponsored terrorism - even if Franco was not the government at that time.

Friday

We've decided as the weather is little better but less windy we will move south east to near Pamplona to a site who once more say they can cope with us. This has meant facing the lunacy that is the autovia system around Bilbao but for a shorter distance and then we're onto N roads - like A roads but without the by-passes! Takes us up into the mountains through oak and birch forests.The houses get sturdier lokking becoming low and squat with steep roofs and thick walls. Some have a peculiar rendering dotted with deliberate holes to show the stone walls beneath. They look like lumps of Gruyere cheese with a roof. Everyone has flowers on the balconies or patios. Its really quiet Swiss to look at. But we are clearly in Basque territory with the signs in both languages, Basque first of course, and often the local hooligans have painted over the Spanish town names so navigation is not easy as there is no commonality. So Pamplona is Iruna - which is a different place to Irun. Still we made it to Camping Etxarri at Extarri Aranatz in Navarre. And they were surprised at such a big van! Still despite the infestation of Belgians - loads of them we managed to find a spot under the tall oaks on ground that seems a bit soft but is the bast of a bad lot. Then off to the local supermarket. It might be called Netto but its not german and the prices are more like Sainsbury or even Waitrose. Still because we did not use any plastic bags we got a free bottle of shampoo!

Saturday

Woke to overcast skies - eventually. Being quiet and under the trees we slept in. Still the "Holy" mountain of Navarra is just up the road so we paid a rather windswept visit to San Miguel de Aralar. Its the oldest chuch in Navarra and it would seem home to an active pilgrimage business. Still a superb location and our old friends the vultures are back in the high mountains. From there we swept down to Lekunberri and the Ruta de Ernest Hemingway which seems to commemorate his visits to the area in the late 1950's. Sadly Lekunberri gave a very good impression of being closed. The good news was it had stayed dry but little sunshine. I bought some internet time but then discovered that the sites server was not working so I'll keep amassing the day stories.

Sunday

Again we slept in the gloom must fool the cats into thinking it's not yet morning. Cloudy skies and a Sunday meant that a trip to the coast was in order. Donostia (San sebastian) is about 60kms away so we jumped in the car and sped off down the autovia. The route is great and the views spectacular. We drove into town and like everywhere in Spain took a place in an undergound car-park near the theatre. My reason for coming was to see if it was anywhere as good as my O-level Spanish teacher at St Marys in the 60's - Harry is all I can remember - used to go on about it as he had spent time there. It was sunny by now and it seemed everyone had come to town. The buildings are a riot of French "Belle epoque", Spanish modernist and even mock Plateresque. I can bore for Britain on architectural styles - but won't. We decided to take a boat trip around the bay before lunch which seemed like a good idea as the sun might have been shining but the wind was still active creating a little thrill ride rather than a calm sojourn. Wind blown and slightly damp we went for lunch. 22 euros got us lunch(platos combinatos without the fried egg!) a drink and coffee away from the harbour whereas it would have been twice that overlooking the fishing boats. Then we wandered the streets to work off lunch admiring the views from the promenade.
And so back to the site where it was not sunny but rather chilly. Still the local weather forecast is for sunshine and better temperatures tomorrow.

Monday

We shall have to set the alarm as we awoke late yet again! But the sun is shining and two Belgians had left.
So we set about cleaning the van inside and out so it didn't look quite like it had spent the last two weeks on the Somme in WWI. Daren't wash it but wiped down the dark colours so they ceased to be grey. Then prepared a shopping list and set off after a late lunch to find a reasonable supermarket. Found an Eroski in Iruna (Pamplona but it gets painted over). Prices still a little higher but then on the way out we found Aldi and Lidl who seemed to hide themselves until it was too late. Driving back I upset a local who seemed to think that indicating left meant I was going to turn right and he could overtake me on the left. Perhaps I should have followed the local tradion and not signalled! And the best news is that the Belgians seem to have decided to follow their scouts and leave tomorrow as they are packing up their gear and having a get together at one of the vans. And they promise to fix the internet tomorrow. Well maybe.

Tuesday

The Belgians have left. Which has given us the chance to move to a pitch where the sun shines and we can get satellite. Just in time to watch England tomorrow. Spent the day re-organising ourselves. Snag is the Internet is still very flaky and we can't get some sites for some reason.

Wednesday

Woke up to find our new Dutch neighbours have left and the sun continues to shine. Paid a visit ti the mountains and followed a sign at the road side. Led us back to the Pays Vasco out of Navarra and up to a spectacular monastery. It's apparently burnt down three times and then rebuilt with a lot of modern touches about 20 to 30 years ago. Still got back to the van just in time to see Defoes goal. Bring on the Germans!

Ooops

Second attempt at getting this report up.
We did not move today after I had an unpleasant night with an upset stomach - its a long way to the loos! Still to cheer me up the sun has broken through and we can see the hills behind us. And it means we are in place and equipped to watch Italy play tonight. Not sure if the game will be any good given the "ancient" team Lippi is putting on the pitch (at least that what the Italian press seems to think). The cats think the sun is good as they can wander around outside the RV and come in without being grabbed to be dried.
Still tomorrow we have to move on - honest!

At last

Well today the rain stopped. Not that the sun came out but although it was grey we did get to see some of the local countryside. We think its a nice place but we have had enough and tomorrow we move on to Bilboa.
Although once more today I was mistaken for a Spaniard - what is going on?