The government controlled cold weather machine

A General Election always opens the floodgates for random callers, ranting obsessives and those with an axe to grind. And with five constituencies worth, hardly five minutes pass without another call - which is not surprising given 350,000 people have just received a leaflet with our phone number on it along with an invitation to "call us with your views..."

Today's gems:

The lady who said she knew all about the machine the government has to control the weather and how the weather is made extra cold during a recession as "a cold snap" kills off old people thereby reducing the burden on the state. Apparently this is the same whoever is in power - "you are all in on it."

Then we had a nice woman who called to say she had received a letter asking if she could help with the campaign. One of the options was "delivering election leaflets to local houses" and she was curious about what "delivering leaflets" actually entailed. 

And then there was the angry woman who called to inform me she would never vote Conservative again after the government removed child benefit from higher rate taxpayers. Apparently she now has to help look after her grandchildren two days per week as the loss of child benefit resulted in her son and daughter-in-law having to let go of their nanny, as they couldn't afford her as well as the au pair. I did ask her if she thought basic rate taxpayers should pay more tax so her children could employ both a nanny and an au pair, but the point seemed lost on her.

Finally there was the 73 year old lady from a small terraced house in Chatham who sent a postal order for £85 as a contribution to Tracey Crouch's election campaign. According to the handwritten note, Tracey had helped her with a problem late last year and had made a real difference to her life. The £85 was the contents of her 20p coin collection which she had been saving for "something special". 

I am not prone to sentimentality, but when I read the note I felt my bottom lip quiver. The donor received a handwritten note of thanks.