Claire Morgan 10/03/2025 Member Stories

I’ve got a bit of a cold and feel really bunged up today. I think I’m a bit run down as it’s been a hectic few weeks.

I had my first holiday abroad with my friends in 10 years back in January.  We had an amazing time in Lanzarote.  I had to get the ferry to Rosslare from Fishguard first to meet up with my friends and then we flew from Dublin to Lanzarote.  We did have a little hiccup – we missed our plane!

We had to be at the airport for a 6.20 am flight so we stayed at the Dublin airport hotel and got the shuttle bus at 4 o clock in the morning.  We went to the bar and had a couple of drinks and we didn’t realised we’d missed the boarding.

We arranged a flight later in the day but we had to pay 100 euros each.  We’ll know better next time!

We still had a fantastic holiday and made new friends when we were over there.  We had a lovely hotel with a pool and we were close to the beach and the shops.  It was fab.

The plane back was delayed a bit and I got stopped at security and searched (because I had my medication with me).  I couldn’t get my passport to work on the digital gates either.

That meant we missed our bus back to our friends house.

It was definitely a learning curve for us and we’ll be better organised next time.

Last week was busy with LDMAG and Homes not Hospitals groups and I did a long interview with Gerraint about International Women’s Day.   I caught up with some south east Wales friends whilst I was in Cardiff too.

This week I’m popping into Pembrokeshire People First’s office because I want to have my say on the public transport consultation.

Public transport in west Wales is awful.  There are no buses on Sundays at all and the trains are often rail replacement services because they do the maintenance on Sundays. 

Lots of my meetings are on Mondays in Cardiff and I have to travel on a Sunday – I always seem to be on a rail replacement coach from Carmarthen or Swansea. 

If I work on a Sunday, I have to get a taxi to and from work (£10 each way) because there are no buses.

On Saturdays the last bus is 6.00 pm so if you wanted to go on a day out, you’d have to be sure to be at the bus stop on time to get home again. 

I missed the memorial service for Jan Kench in Ceredigion because it was on a Saturday and I wouldn’t have been able to get home.  It’s not good enough.

I had a phone call last week with the benefits people – I’m moving over from ESA to Universal Credit so I hope it goes smoothly.  ESA was paid fortnightly so I’ve asked if UC can be paid the same way.  They have said they will do that for me.

I’m working on Wednesday this week and on Friday the Welsh Ambulance is interviewing me about my experiences with  the ambulance and health services.  They want to improve patient experience and I haven’t always had a very good experience when I’ve been to A&E because of my chest.