moles and holes

Current work: medical continuity and proofs of Christmas Knight
Listening to: Justin Currie, The Great War
Reading: Caroline Anderson, Mother of the Bride (enjoyed this very much)

Our garden has been invaded. It’s not one of these smooth, perfect lawns, but it would be rather nice to see grass, daisies and buttercups rather than big heaps of soil. It’s fascinating watching them appear. But if anyone has any tips about getting rid of moles humanely, I’m all ears. (And sadly my bestest uncle’s solution is actually a joke. How do you stop moles digging? You take their spades away…)

Holes – our tour operator is digging itself into one. Had a call from the travel agent yesterday, and apparently Cresta are not going to reimburse us for the costs incurred in our Venice-to-Milan trip last month. Now, as we bought the trip as a package deal, our contract is with Cresta, not the airline, so that makes them liable for the losses we suffered as a direct breach of contract (aka return flight cancellation). And there are a couple of EC regulations which affect this issue, as well as comments from the Air Transport Users’ Council and ABTA.

Stroppy? Moi? Maybe. It’s a matter of rights. I got distinctions in the legal papers in my professional exams – for both qualifications. And there were people at school who nicknamed me ‘Trade Union Leader’ because I believe in fairness and doing what’s right, and I guess I’m a bit dog-in-the-manger about it. If I had more time in my life, I’d be an advocate for parents of special needs children, because frankly the system’s against them and it’s grossly unfair. (I also get tempted every so often to stand as a local councillor or even for Parliament, but that would be a full-time job and I wouldn't be able to fit it round the kids.)

There’s no question of ‘I want damages because our trip was spoiled’ (I disapprove very strongly of the ‘victim culture’, so any of the representatives of these ‘compensation’ lawyers who accost me in the street get asked some very uncomfortable questions). All I want is reimbursement of the costs we incurred as a result of the breach of contract. This is a matter of contract law and European law (and also a matter of principle). I’m intending to take this through every step of the complaints procedure, including to court if I have to.

And I certainly won’t be booking another break through Cresta, which has proved itself as a company that doesn’t care about its clients once the money’s been taken and will try to wriggle out by invoking ‘special exclusions’. How very, very disappointing.