"What ahbart moi drains!"

The ALMO ('council' housing management) meeting last night held no big surprises - although it (oops - we!) face a tough job getting most of Lewisham's housing services (including repairs) up to the "two star" standard needed to bag the essential government grant.

As luck would have it, this morning I got a housing case on the phone (the first one - surprising!) - some poor woman with a too-familiar tale of a promised new bathroom, the plumbers coming in early June, dissappearing a week later with bath and basin non-functional, making an appointment to come back and finish the job 4 weeks later, not showing up all that day, then a letter of "we couldn't gain entry, so you're at the back of the queue" (I paraphrase - don't sue me - I'm sure it wraps more words around it than that!). I think, though, that I managed to swiftly catch the right housing officer (one who seems to know the ropes) on the phone, and get something happening.

(Anyone who's been to enough tenants forum meetings will know where the title of this article comes on that agenda)