Sunday 6 November 2011

Got 18,000 Problems...



So I met all of my fellow leaseholding neighbours in our community hall last night. It was interesting to note that they all looked like slightly older versions of me. Scruffy, middle class nerds and minor variations on that theme. Some had children - although why anyone would bring their toddler to a leaseholder's meeting in a community hall beats me, and I think the toddlers were pretty confused about it too. Unfortunately I was meeting these people for the first time under calamitous circumstances - Hackney Homes (who are the building's freeholders) are proposing massive upgrade work to our properties and it's going to cost each leaseholder in the range of £18,000. That covers new windows, an extractor fan and what appears to be a huge and extortionately expensive amount of weatherproof paint. Hackney Homes, like most council-run organisations I've encountered, are unbearable to deal with. Naturally, the meeting descended into chaos. None of these nerds have any money. HH advised us to put our objections in writing. So today I wrote a letter just to let them know that, in all fairness, I don't have £18,000. I'm eagerly awaiting their response.

In other news, my new jewellery rack arrived from the States (above), ludicrously cheap from Etsy. I'll probably have to pawn all my plastic and electroplated jewels anyway in order to pay for this extractor fan. I might ask Hackney Homes to install one made of solid gold. THEN maybe it'll be worth it.