Letter to the Queen

Last Tuesday evening, the phone rang, interrupting the conversation I was having with Nicktor. We thought it was either Mirinda or a cold caller. Whichever, I had to answer it. It was neither.

It was David, a chap I know from the Talking Newspaper. My first thought was he wanted a swap but he immediately dispelled this thought by declaring he wasn’t calling on Talking News business.

David is a bit political (to say the least) and wondered whether I’d be happy to distribute leaflets in my immediate vicinity then return a few days later to talk my neighbours through the proposals contained in it. I asked him what the leaflet was about.

He explained. It seems that Farnham has been having a lot of problems with the borough council (Waverley) ignoring what Farnham wants. Or needs. Waverley seems to concentrate on the bigger towns and cities in their remit (Guildford, Godalming, anywhere starting with ‘G’) and we (meaning David and his friends) want to leave Waverley and set up on our own.

I told him there was no way I’d go door to door, regardless of the proposition. He then caught me in a weak moment, asking me whether I’d come and spend a couple of hours in the Borough canvassing for signatures to a petition to the Queen, instead of going door to door.

And so today, just after 11:15, I headed into the town of Farnham to do my bit for the hopefully new state of Farnham.

They (dare I say we?) need 20,000 signatures on a letter that they are planning to send to the Queen. The letter states the problems and the solution. If you want to read more, they have a website, here.

One thing that bothers and irritates me is the fact that the council is predominantly made up of one political party. (It doesn’t matter which one.) This means that the council takes it’s orders from party HQ and not from the local population. Parliament is one thing but when it comes to the day-to-day running of my life, I really want someone independent making the decisions for me.

One other thing that bothered and irritated me was the fact that it rained almost continuously while I stood collecting signatures. Worse than party politics, I hate being damp.

At one point, David came across the road to see how I was getting on. He asked me if I was accosting people. I replied “Not if I can help it!” knowing how I’d feel. It didn’t stop him. His accosting skills were pretty refined.

Anyway, it wasn’t all that bad and my two hours was quickly over. In all I managed to collect nine signatures and distributed a few brochures to interested members of the public.

I’m fairly certain I agree with the idea of Farnham being self governing but I have a few questions about the day-to-day little things that a council does.

For instance, what about our council tax? Will we now pay it to Farnham Council and, if so, will they reduce it so that they can stop sending money to councils up north because they don’t work and earn anything?

Also, what about garbage collection and recycling? Who’s going to organise that? And the park?

There’s so many little things and I’d like an answer before I actually commit myself to…oops, I’ve just realised that one of those nine signatures I collected was mine. I guess I’m in the mix now then.