Pavement politics

To Cupernham first thing this morning to meet some constituents about an ongoing problem. I've always thought it quite important to try and help with some of the local stuff even though, strictly speaking, I could pass it on to councillors.
I can't always help and sometimes things fall through the net but as I have been around and about a lot of people have thanked me for helping them - or even trying to help. To me it is part of the job and I am always a little worried when some MPs complain about this, taking a hard line and only dealing with "important" issues.
The flip side to this is that there is always something to be done and it is a real luxury to have the time to stop and think about things in depth. The September recess was always useful for this in the past but that has disappeared in recent years.