The living room temperature remained at 36C all last night which was the level this morning at 0930 BST (GMT+1) and earlier when I checked it around 0600 BST. There were thunder showers moving through in the early hours as forecast, but the wee bit of cooling had no effect inside with the central heating turned on and unable to be turned off. The hot heating pipes in the floor kept this temperature level throughout the night as anticipated. Some degree of cooling is anticipated for outside today, but what happens inside remains to be seen and measured.
The real attitude of tenant management is "Let 'em sweat in the rubble." 
As of today the balcony has remained in a state of disrepair for eight years and one month just like this with its 84 floor tiles stacked along the wall on the left under the bedroom window. A little water from the heavy rains today can be seen on the right along the front wall of the balcony. This state of disrepair was created intentionally from an agreed outside access for repair on or about 5th June 1998 when only six to eight tiles were supposed to be lifted and replaced in order to repair the the area around the base of the pipe seen at the far end recessed somewhat into the brick wall.
Instead of a repair another inspection was demanded despite the fact that it had already been inspected along with a failure on the part of the contractor to show up for his appointment to repair initially in mid-May 1998. This is a long an complicated story which I will not go into here. Suffice it to say that the surveyor did not show up for his inspection after this state of disrepair was created. England was playing a World Cup match that day. He came by a couple weeks later for the next appointment to view with horror what had been done instead of what he had clearly specified. It was agreed at that time that a repair would be carried out by outside access just as the disrepair had been deliberately created. It remains in the same condition eight years and one month later thanks to tenant management.
On 5th June 2006 the eighth anniversary of this state of disrepair I sent an Email to Damian Donnelly, Lancaster West Estate TMO/EMB Area Manager, pointing this out and noting that the long standing agreement to repair by means of outside access was still valid. He responded immediaetly indicating that an inspection would be necessary which was carried out in a couple days by outside access with a ladder. I am still waiting for a repair after another month, but I am not anxiously demanding one since this disrepair has been in existence for so long.
This is a prime example of tenant management brutality and disregard of tenants when spite takes over, and they wield their power in a most destructive way. This resulted from having different tenant management organisations who would have nothing to do with each other. The TMO had the legal responsibilty but no power, and the Lancaster West Estate Management Board (EMB) had power but no legal responsibility or accountabilty. During the summer of 1998, no repair was carried out as agreed. Instead, surveillance technology was installed in mid-August 1998 which was in the hands of the tenants, residents and others to carry out 24/7 harassment against me.
A month later I received two letters in mid-September 1998: one from the Lancaster West EMB Chair requesting yet another inspection and another from the office of the Chief Executive of the Council. These were two brutal letters which reflected the flexing of power muscles after a month of the surveillance technology abuse in the hands of the tenants, residents and others. Rather than repair the balcony tenant management and the Council set about to be as destructive as possible to wipe out the person making the complaints in order to hide the real problems. With the advent of the surveillance technology installation against me everything was frozen in place until it came to stop. It is still going on as of this writing.
When I was taking the photograph of the balcony just now, Lt Harry Bird said "evidence" evidently referring to the balcony's disrepair. What has occurred is that every effort has been made to twist things around and blame the tenant (me) for the brutality and failures of tenant management. It's a classive violence syndrome where the victim is blamed.
Tenant management wanted inside access to the balcony to inspect as stated in its mid-September 1998 letter. I ignored this request because outside access was always available at anytime as already agreed, an inspection had already been carried out and repairs were agreed by outside access. If they wanted to inspect from the outside they could do so at anytime. This was something that was going on and on with repeated demands for inspections that were getting nowhere. I bent over backward to accomodate what was requested up to a point, but this was too far.
The letter at the same time from the Council's Chief Executive's office in reply to my correspondence that summer told me to go see a psychiatist by recommending that I go see the duty officer at St Charles Hospital which is a nearby mental health hospital. I had already visited my GP as a result of the lymph oedema in my right forearm that had started immediately in mid-August 1998 with the installation and use of the radar imaging surveillance technology in the flat above which the tenants, residents and others were using to carry out 24/7 harassment.
I was being told by the Chief Executive of the Council to "buzz off" suggesting that mental illness was a problem when it was the failure to repair the balcony in a situation where the whole problem had been inaccurately diagnosed initially, and I wound up determining exactly the source of the problem. Further, tenant management had not been cooperative in responding to my requests, and the contractor and surveyor had failed to show up for appointments. I was being blamed for what were failures of tenant management and falsely accused of having mental illness which was being used as a weapon. Thus, tenant management carried on as if they could do anything and started demanding more inspections in mid-September 1998.
Here the balcony sits today in a state of disrepair eight years and one month later with tenant management doggedly trying to brutalise as much as possible throughout all these years by blaming me for its own failures. I was right about the character of tenant managemet. These failures have also reappeared dramatically in the central heating problem which has been ignored for years. Intead, tenant management has opted for image management attempting to destroy the person who reports the problems instead of addressing real problems that impact the lives of everyone. My balcony disrepair for eight years and one month is just one symptom of a much larger problem.
Despite the rain today, the living room temperature remains at 35C as of 1500 BST (GMT+1).
Shortly before 1700 BST (GMT+1) today, the following letter was hand delivered through the mail slot. Review my comments at the end of yesterday's web journal entry and note the questions as to why the boiler was not replaced instead of hundreds and hundreds of valves. This is apparently the first unexpected problem of some significance in a 30-year-old system. Already the boiler replacement option begins to look better. Note also the complete absence of any name, address or usual header information. Are they trying to hide behind the anonymity of a "team?" 
Actually, this notification is appreciated since this problem happens from time to time (infrequently), and no such notification is provided. This is especially helpful for families with children getting them up and off to school or those with small children. It allows for planning since there are hot water tanks in each flat which hold hot water for usage, and these can be managed somewhat before it runs out. It's always wise to disclose everything that is happening so that tenants know, can plan and cope better especially in light of the central heaing problem in the midst of this heat wave. The silver lining might be reduced central heating for a brief period.
