Find out how Fiona spends her week

This week was what was known as a "white week" when the diary is kept free of any European Parliament meetings so that MEPs can spend time in their constituencies. As well as catching up on casework and admin in the Durham office, and, attending a funeral, sadly, I was able during the week to:

•  meet up with local campaigners in Darlington to publicise the need for more action on energy savings. Many North East councils are not meeting the target of cutting household energy use by 2% a year.

• speak to the Rotary Club of Monkseaton about my work as an MEP.

• meet with Northumbria University's leading specialist in Photovoltaics (electricity from sunlight) and attend her inaugural lecture as a professor.

• make it to my own local Lib Dem party's annual dinner with Sir Menzies Campbell MP as guest speaker. Berwick Constituency Lib Dems were celebrating Rt Hon Alan Beith's thirty-two years as an MP.

• attend the launch of the "Tyneside Chooses" campaign organised by Heritage Lottery North East, who are exploring ways of giving local people more choice about how lottery money is spent.

• take part in the morning service at St Lawrence's Parish Church in Warkworth, where I have been asked to be a patron of the appeal fund. The north wall of this delightful Norman building is leaning alarmingly and needs attention.

• meet with residents of Western Hill in Durham who are frustrated about proposals for parking pay-and-display meters in their street. The residents have decided to petition the European Parliament because they feel the County Council has not listened to them on a number of points.

• have my hair cut. My hairdresser had written to me about an old circus elephant she was worried about and we discussed the reply I've received from Minister Ben Bradshaw. We also discussed the plight of moon bears "milked" for their bile in China; as I recently signed a written declaration in the European Parliament on this.