Blog 522 26th March 2026

Another Thursday another dollar (except the dollar)

It was freezing yesterday despite a deceitful sunny morning, but today it feels like spring is back.

Talking of which, I was out on my balcony when a bird disappeared. And then reappeared. I don't know which family he/she belongs to, and I doubt it is a swift (perhaps a tit - but not my speciality) but it is very pleasing to see there is a Swift Brick, or at least a gap between the bricks, which seems to be providing a home in this cruel world. I have seen to of them so I suppose it is mum and dad.

The blurred picture is the kind of thing that encourages people to upgrade their camera and further enrich Sir Roger Samsung (made that up) or Larry Page. Not me. I'm a skinflint.

On Thursday I stayed in waiting for the electrician recommended by my friend (and evil Tory) Mike Denniss. Was worth the wait because he fixed my broken oven and cooker hood in about 1.3 seconds. He asked me if I had switches. I remembered I had them in a cupboard in the kitchen. Some stupid Guy stows products I don't use often on this little shelf and when I close the door it turns some of the switches off.

Idiot.

I have now relocated the baking powder and given it a good talking to. The electrician fixed 2 lights in my bathroom which had never worked in the 12 years I've lived here. I can see myself better, though that is not really a benefit.

On Friday I was off to the NEC for the Classic Car Restoration show. I went to this last year and was so disgusted by the roads I decided to go by train (greener anyway). Got to Euston to be greeted by a crowded lobby and my train 'delayed'. I was early anyway so had a coffee and saw it becoming undelayed, delayed again, then cancelled. There was a warning on my booking: Achtung - may only be used on the train you booked. Hmm. Found another train going to Birmingham International (where the NEC strangely is) and got through the barrier without a problem. Turned out this was the fast train and I got to the NEC earlier than I would have on the cancelled train (even before it was cancelled). The train was quiet with both people and sound and it was nice to see the countryside from a different angle. On the way back, it turned out I was on a different train company, with a less pleasing train and many stops. Of course the Achtung was 'only usable on this carrier's trains'. Great Britain Railways, come soon to rescue train travellers.

Weirdly for me I took no pictures of cars but this amused me.

Was it really necessary to say subject to availability, or am I a pedant?

I spent a hard-earned fiver buying a catalogue for the auction and fantasised about buying something. This one caught my eye (I very nearly bought a Mini convertible last time I bought a car) but I think I am too old, incompetent as a mechanic, and drive too little to follow through on a purchase.

On Sunday I was beating the streets, this time Windmill and Whitestile Road. The latter is a long road, and a lot of the houses are 2 flats so we didn't quite finish it. This Saturday we are supposed to have young Greens from around London descending on Brentford West so I hope we get a lot of residents having their days interrupted!

Monday was a sort of health day. In the morning, the dentist. The one I have used for 40 odd years has retired so a new young Northern Irish feller. He could find nothing wrong with my gnashers, which is a great relief. In the afternoon I was in Chiswick at Hearing Well. Badly named in my case but Hearing Badly would not be a good name for a business. This is run by a lovely man who has a deep commitment to customer service and also volunteers at the Hounslow Community Foodbox. If like me, you get 'male pattern hearing loss' and the NHS hearing aids are not enough, save up your pennies and go to Hearing Well.

Later I attended an online meeting with the leaseholders at Bond House with a representative from their landlord/freeholder A2Dominion Housing Association. IT was a bit of a damp squib because the most engaged people were not there so that will come around the corner again, I think.

On Tuesday I cycled to Hounslow House for a meeting with the woman who is now the head of the 'landlord' part of Lampton. I had not previously met her in person, though we met on Teams meetings back in the days when I was the council representative with Lampton companies. This was mainly about Manor Vale, where Lampton own a few of the properties as a landlord. She is not sure whether they are private tenants or council-nominated social tenants. They both get the same service, which I was pleased to hear had now been taken in-house as planned in my time by Lampton having originally been done by an estate agent.

Of course, the Labour Manifesto from 2022, of which I supervised the production and much of the content, pledged to "Buy 1,000 existing homes to provide high quality, genuinely affordable rented accommodation for our residents." The cabinet data suggests that they have bought 225 homes, but I suspect these were mainly the ones that Lampton built on the New Road Triangle in Feltham. Of course, the previous success of Lampton in rescuing homes from often poor private landlords has got more difficult because of high interest rates, increasing private rents and frozen budgets from the department of housing for supporting tenants in the private sector, but the performance here, like far too many of the manifesto pledges, has been lamentable.

In my geeky way, I started to assess how the current administration has done in delivering what it promised, but I have a lot more to do. What I find so far is that most of the ones Katherine Dunne is responsible for, and much of those under Salman Shaheen have been delivered. It is a different result elsewhere, but if I ever finish this it will be a separate blog.

This evening I am planning to attend the Hounslow Festival of Imagination which will be held at the Arts Centre Hounslow in the Treaty Centre. I'm looking forward to that.

Other stuff this week: I have been hearing a lot of dissatisfaction at the way the council is run and I remembered this post on Brentford TV from a few weeks ago

I think some of that is out of date but I'm afraid in my opinion it is all far too chummy. Add to that (amongst other things) I heard that Tom Bruce - made deputy leader a couple of years ago at the cost of Katherine Dunne - is a school chum of Shantanu Rajawat (though I don't know if that is true). Of course they have both recently swanned off to MIPIM, which has a dubious reputation. When Shantanu was first elected as leader I asked him about MIPIM, and he told me sternly he would not go. Tempus Fugit.

I picked up a bit of litter recently which explained about the 'Local Team' for Chiswick Gunnersbury for the Conservatives. I believe Vickram Grewal lives in Hanworth and Ron Mushiso in Hounslow West or Feltham. I'm sure they will be admirable local councillors devoted to Chiswick, but I have to observe that my experience of councillors from the other end of the borough is mixed, to be charitable. To be fair, Vickram has been a bit of a nomad, having represented (at least) Hounslow Heath and (currently) Cranford, as well as switching party.

I probably should clarify, that I am a candidate in Brentford West for the Green Party. This is certainly not an electoral communication but (as I have for 11 years) I do cover political matters within Hounslow from time to time. For a long time I was very loyal to Labour despite its challenges, but now it has moved away from me and I am delighted I have made a change.

I will continue to blog until 30^th April and continue to report my activities and some political observations. I will be a bit busy on 7^th May with something called an election. Depending on how that goes, service will resume on 14^th May, but of course there is every chance I will no longer be a councillor, and you will be spared from this continuing nonsense.