Guernsey Press

There is only so much that we islanders can hand over

I AM writing to ask what is happening to our beautiful island of Guernsey and the cost of living here now.

Published

I have not had a cost of living rise for more than two years, but prices are going up and up.

Think of what has gone up in the last year or so and what is still to go up, starting from the basics like bread and milk, especially since the Dairy was allowed to sell direct – but this was of course after each of the milkmen had their £40,000 or so pay-offs.

Guernsey milk is on sale in Asda in the UK for £1.10 a litre, including tax.

Gas, electric and water keep going up, water especially goes up yearly without consultation.

TRP has gone up yet again, fuel is now a lot more expensive than the UK.

Travel off the island is nearly impossible now. We are going back to the old days when a family could only afford one holiday a year.

Condor is unreliable and the sailing times are useless.

Flights are very expensive and I am fed up with the excuses from the management saying if you book well in advance, it is better.

I have limited holidays but have a sibling living in the UK. I used to go across about once a month or so and pay under £100 return, now the best I can find for a Friday night to a Sunday is around £150. This is checking from now until the end of the booking dates in January.

We have the cost of disposing of our rubbish to look forward to and the Mickey Mouse idea of shipping it hundreds of miles away when Jersey could have taken it or we could fill the large hole in the ground at Les Vardes. After all, we have been filling holes for years and it has worked in the past. Just look how nice Bordeaux looks now.

The latest money-making idea seems to be some sort of MoT.

They keep coming up with new ideas for how to make money out of the car owners, but bikes use the roads for free but have had thousands spent on special cycle lanes etc. and let’s not get started on Salerie Corner.

One of the previous money makers was putting one or two zeros in front of a registration number and selling them off at auction.

Now forgive me if I am wrong, but are we not teaching maths and English to our children and if you typed 007 in a calculator it would read just 7 as there is no such number as 007, but in Guernsey there is because it cost a fortune to own it and this money goes straight to our States.

Our deputies voted themselves a nice big pay rise but none of them are doing any good for the island as the ones that tried got pushed out of their jobs.

I don’t have to mention one certain deputy who seems to have an open cheque book for spending on stupid ideas. New buses out of our money for another company to reap the profit from, a beach wall that needed nothing doing to it. If they wanted the beach to return to nature, leave it alone and nature will do it in time.

Tourism is a thing of the past as there are no value for money places to stay and it is cheaper for the UK travellers to fly abroad than it is to fly here.

Something needs to be done about the flight costs and Condor but overall our States in general.

Someone needs to remind Gavin St Pier that there is only so much the everyday man can give.

Hopefully, the islanders will remember all of this when it is time to vote or we will have yet another round of taxes and rises for the next duration of the States.

newliberation@cwgsy.net

Name and address withheld