16 March 2020: Heart Attack

Additional page - the Human Heart HERE                             

added 11/9/2022 Heart and Kidney connection   HERE

My experience of having a Heart Attack   

I had a Heart Attack [HA] a week ago today [Mon 16 March 2020].
It could have been a lot worse- the attack was mild compared to some HA's.

My heart is damaged physically now [i guess to match the emotional damage] and I have to take it easy for a while, not get upset etc but I am finding that hard.

I am very upset about the HA, about those who I believe [and with good cause] who are part responsible for me having a HA.

I wasn't in hospital for longer than necessary, and that's only because I was determined to get out for reasons: A] being there in the first place [how did things get like this for me I at times wondered] and B] about having had to basically leave my cat on his own, and him possibly thinking I had abandoned him - this may sound silly but that was my only real concern.

By being in the H I was forced to stop smoking tobacco, so for a week now I have officially been a non-smoker and I want to keep it that way, but as I expected since leaving the H its hard despite the patches, but I can't go back to smoking tobacco. I have to do this. Plus other changes.

Reaching for another fag/smoke when stressed, eating a whole packet of biscuits etc - for comfort, the sugar rush, I think many people know the story.

Though it did cross my mind that I might die, I wasn't frightened by what was happening - more distressed and in physical pain than anything.

Though I was/am so very much thankful for the help/care I received from various people across the board of our glorious NHS, the Hospital felt like a prison to me, somewhere I had been held against my will. I was very distressed and upset, up and down, through out my stay.

I didn't really want to come back to this house conversion I live in, not with the 2 other tenants living there, me having to hear them, see them even. I didn't want to have come back to being a tenant of Camden Council[CC] but I have no where else to go so for now I have to somehow not get upset when I hear the 2 other tenants and about Camden councils housing department [specifically the housing repairs team for my area/ward as well as  the housing officer for my ward/area}

 But I know its not only them: but the culture that still prevails within Camden Councils Housing Department regardless of any ' reassurances' [we have learned..., blah blah, you get the drift?]


I'm off to have a lay down now, maybe add more to this later on.

Tues 24 March 2020
Someone from CC phoned me at 1pm today to say 'the job has been cancelled due to the corona virus' then the phone went dead.

I wondered 'what job' she on about and then I thought  'do I give a 4X' to which the answer is 'no I don't'. She sounded quite nice though.

Wed 25 Mar 2020
The below is part of the discharge papers I was given by the Royal Free Hospital [RFH]

Thurs 26 Mar 2020
I'm finding it hard to stay calm at present - as tenant below is in the back garden and I can see and hear her at times. As well as part blaming CC for what happened I also part-blame the 2 other tenants who I share the property with.


Fri 27 Mar 2020
The tenant in flat above me came out of her flat earlier on - on the phone with speaker on and stood there for a while outside my door so - I could hear her and the person she was speaking to. This has happened a few times before and I think its rude/bad manners. When tenant had finished on the phone tenant went downstairs and while in the d/s communal hallway she started shouting and swearing.

I strongly suspect she was referring to and directing her verbal abuse at me [though she didn't say a name] but I took it  that it was me.

Some of the stuff she shouted up at me:
 'I'm gonna get you thrown out of here'
'You're pathetic'
'a lowlife,
'hurry up and die'
'you're a c*nt'.

update
and btw I did record it, like I recorded the tenant below me when I knocked on her door early Feb 2020 after someone from CC had again phoned me up and left a message saying tenant had reported a leak [again] and that they wanted to get in my flat. I knocked on tenants door, asked if I could come in and she said yes - no sign of a water leak, 'did you not take a photo' I asked - 'no i'll wait till next time'  she replied.

Sat 28 Mar 2020
The lights in the communal area of the property aren't working.

I don't have much energy [excuse the pun] today and at times the urge to roll a fag/joint is strong but I've resisted so far - hopefully I can keep it up. I don't think its sank it yet that I had a HA. I had 2 procedures done on my heart and was quite overwhelmed by them and had a cry, which I was okay with.

Sun 29 Mar 2020
I find myself feeling quite upset tonight - the depression - about a few personal things. Thinking about what the neighbour said about 'hurry up and die' and feeling that I might as well considering. I hate my life existence I hate myself [generally] and I hate other people [generally] and only wanted to get back here for my cat, otherwise I wouldn't have bothered - i should have died, that what I feel like now.

Tues 31 Mar 2020
I'm not feeling too bad today - the emotions are like a roller coaster at times, which I guess is to be expected considering. I found it a traumatic experience in ways [regardless of how chirpy folk in you-tube video's may look and sound] its a major thing to happen plus the procedures are very intrusive and at one point I could feel my heart being prodded or whatever was going on, it was strange. Plus I came out in a rash/had an allergic reaction to one of the medications I was given and that resulted in me being turned up side down in the hospital bed and another procedure done on my heart.

Since being out of the H, I was expecting a  letter for an appointment at the RFH for another blood test, but not received anything to do with that but have received a letter for an over the phone psychology appointment -  attached to the Cardiology Department. My weekly talking group therapy at another H has been cancelled due to the COVID-19  virus, whether it will start up again I don't know. I hope all my fellow 'groupies' are/will be ok.

Sun 4 April 2020
Tenant below is about today in back garden. I can hear and see tenant from my kitchen and sometimes elsewhere in my flat. I noticed tenant hasn't been living in flat for over a week, since before tenant did the back lawn last Sunday.

update
as well as stopping smoking, which I'm still managing to do, I have to improve my diet, which though it wasn't the worst of diets I did have a problem with 'comfort' snacking and getting enough physical exercise which seem to be harder for me to do than it has been to stop [and continue to keep with it] smoking. My energy level before the HA wasn't so great and its still not so great.  I've been trying with the diet thing to cut out or cut down on the 'comfort' foods but i'm not doing so well these last few days as I've felt stressed out by the housing situation. I really do hope I don't start smoking again, i'm really trying not to but its difficult. The tenant upstairs has been noisy the last few days and its stressing me out. The tenant can be reasonably quiet at times but this doesn't last.

If I can get to see or have a chat with my GP soon I will have to tell them about the housing situation, not that I'm expecting it to make a difference because nothing I say to whoever, seems to make a [good] difference] - that's how things feel anyway. Sorry to seem on a downer of late but i'm not ready to die yet and especially not because of a bunch of 'A holes' connected Camden Council.

Tues 7 April 2020
As well as having to come to terms with having had a heart attack, etc I also have to come to terms with the fact that someone I love and care for very much doesn't feel the same towards me, not even to ask how i am after having had a HA.

I've tried not to let it but it hurts me a lot - like my heart has been damaged again, and i have to get over it and a few other things, to mend, to move on in any significant way but I don't know if I can.

I'll be ok, I get over tired and over emotional, and its like it really is the end of the world. I have to write it down, let it out, - the tears they are cleansing aren't they? the pain, is it in vain? - oh that rhymed: was it all in vain - the pain, - the blocked veins, to my heart?

Sun 12 April 2020
Earlier, tenant above was hanging about in the communal stairs area doing something, and having a chat with someone on her phone who was on speakerphone - i could hear both quite clearly from my main living areas. As I find it annoying and intrusive I put my little radio on at my flat door to drown the noisy intrusion  out.

Thursday 30 April 2020
Since the HA when ever i get pains inside - around the area where my heart is - i start thinking 'oh no, is it something to worry about' sort of thing. It could be my stomach I don't know. Will have to wait and speak with Dr at RFH when I have my first follow up appointment, sometime within the next few weeks, as far as I am aware.

Sun 3 May 2020
In regards to me giving up smoking tobacco: the hospital started me on the patches [i agreed to] and I had some when I came out of hospital [1 month supply in total.]

I didn't notice anything different inside of me about what the patches where supposed to be doing, so I stopped taking them after about a week when the patches no longer sucked up the toxic chemicals from the fag smoking, so in all I think I took them for 2 weeks.

At first though, in the hospital I did notice the patches having seemly drained out the nicotine etc as I noticed stains on the patches when I changed them every day and I asked a nurse what they where and who told me then stain is nicotine.

I chose to live, why I did so I really don't know, but I do know [I keep forgetting] - half the time I don't want to be here, be alive, well not in this existance anymore I don't. Some people are badly affected by other peoples behaviour and are if I'm correct, saying they don't want it anymore, it must stop sort of thing. Under-stand.

Thurs 7 May 2020
These last 2 night i've been experiencing electrical shock sensations in the lower back area of my head. Tonights not so bad but the night before they felt quite strong - it even felt like the electrical currant had travelled down to my heart.

Its 12. 15am and the tenant above who has been reasonably quiet all night, has started stomping about above me. This sort of thing is common and adds to the anxiety and anticipation I feel every night. She has stopped now. See how it works?

Sat 9 May 2020
Tenant A hasn't been living at flat but comes up to pick up post etc. The 2 empty pots in garden moved again.

Quiet so far from upstairs since I woke up. Tenant C did the thing again last night where C comes out of flat on the phone and I can hear C and person on speakerphone. This was around nearly 11pm. and comes back after 11pm still on the phone.

update
When I came back in from getting some supplies nearby, the tenant above had started making the noise again. Its like somehow the tenant knows where I am in my flat and follows me about and makes noise. Most noise today was coming from patio above me when I was in my kitchen doing stuff, then when I went back into living room, I could hear noise above me.

Friday 15 May 2020
I have to go with this to try and work through it:
I've been thinking that I should have died when I had the heart attack, that I was supposed to die but I didn't.

2 months on [early days still I guess] and I think 'it was my time to leave this existence, this body and go [where?] but it didn't happen'. I'm torn between wanting to have gone but choosing to stay. and now ive stayed its like why did I bother'.

I came back for my cat - that's the only reason I had in my head when in the hospital, I had no other reason that came to mind.

Medication that I'm taking:
Atorvastinstatin 80mg 1 a day - used to lower bad [LDL or Non -HDL] cholesterol 

Bisoprolol 2.5mg 1 a day - slows heart rate to make it easier for heart to pump blood around body
Candesartan 4mg 1 a day - lowers blood pressure to make it easier for heart to pump blood around body

Asprin 75mg 1 a day - anti-platelet therapy - thins blood
                    Lansoprazole 30mg 1 a day  [Proton Pump Inhibitor PPI] to prevent                                                                    gastro bleeds - asprin


Clopidogrel 75mg 1 a day   - until 16-3-2021 - another blood thinner 



I was also taking-
Nicotin Patches 21mg  - stopped 2 weeks after discharge.
Chlorphenamine 4mg OD - for 2 wks after discharge because of rash/allergy to one of the drugs I was first given.

Lastly I have a stent in my heart, which I don't like and will be asking when/if it can be removed.

Sunday 17 May 2020
Will need to go to the Heath Centre tomorrow as wasn't called on Friday as said via the online report I submitted. Still not received the results of the blood test and appointment for follow up at the RFH. Plus chemists assistant may be a problem.

Tuesday 19 May 2020
neighbour unusually quiet yesterday but today early pm I can hear her in her living room - think she has window open - i have my window open as well, doing some sort of exercise class ie can her her instructing and at time stomping on floor.

Sat 23 May 2020
I went to the A&E last night about the pains in my heart - I had been getting them on and off, since I came out of hospital following the HA. They where significantly worse yesterday as I looked it up on line and thought maybe I had Pericarditis HERE as I had some, though not all of the signs.

I didn't have to wait long to to see at the hospital, first by a couple of nurses then later on a Dr and nurses and the service and people were great. They did 2 ECG,s an X-Ray and 2 blood tests - Dr had a look and check of me and they couldn't as far as I am aware find anything serious and  I didn't need any further treatment. I was there in all about 4 hrs I think.

The Dr read my notes etc, said the Cardiology department at the hospital had been given a nudge about making an appointment for me to see someone - following my heart attack 2 months earlier.

Apparently they don't send you out a letter letting you know when the appointment is, sort of thing - they phone you up out of the blue and if you miss the call you have to get back to them.

Sunday 24 May 2020
I still don't know what the pains are - the Dr mentioned spicy foods and fizzy drinks which I said I didnt eat/drink then later on I remembered I had put some mild spices in a meal I had made. Think ill have to cut out the spices, and just have the herbs as flavouring.

29 May 2020
I was feeling a bit better today after yesterday but found myself getting upset again by neighbour upstairs - i have to keep hearing her if not seeing her and I think she may think im not serious about taking her to court as ive not received any word from her about the Letter before court action I sent her and which the time is up - replaying the recordings of her and the venom directed at me still upsets me and having to live so closely to her still upsets me at times.

27 March 2020 - Hurry up and die HERE 
29 April 2020 - i'm a loony, pyscho etc etc HERE

I'm really taken back by the sheer hatred and venom from her towards me.

Some people may think im a snowflake ie someone that gets upset and outraged by the smallest things, is upset by everything. I'm not really im not its just somethings [understandly I think] do upset me and I do try to not be but i find it difficult at times.

31 May 2020
Woke up this morning to banging about above me which continued intermittantly - couldn't get back to sleep so got up came in living room - turned mini music/radio system on to drown out the noise - the noise follows me from room to room which is annoying. I can't escape it unless i go out and I can't go out unless I need to.  Its either tenant banging about or loud voice on the phone. A bit of a restbite last night as tenant went out for a few hours.
bad start to my waking day and its only now 12 noon. I could scream - deep breaths.

I need to get some sort of recording device that will pick up the noise from above [and the pipes] and give decibel readings.

Will go to PO in the week and get the  [20 odd pages of ]the Legal Aid financial assistance form sent off. I think if i get it I will be sent a certificate or something to show my entitlement and I can then put application into HMCS.

I have to force myself to do things at times - to keep fighting against the urge to go back to bed, pull the duvet up and over me, the room in darkness and try go to sleep  or at least gather my thoughts - i have to deal with things that come up even if its slowly at times and takes such considerable effort. I may have a few short lie downs though.

4 June 2020
I've not been feeling very well physically these last few days - tues eve was quite bad after id eaten and I felt pains and uncomfortable around stomach, heart area. Wed wasnt so bad but today has been awful - everything I eat has a bad affect on me physically ie sweating, pains in/around heart, lungs, back area, i don't know whats going on and hoping it will ease tomorrow and today is the worst of it. Maybe i caught something when I was out on Monday 1 June 2020. Ive been trying to eat more healthly but even having mainly veg earlier brought on me feeling ill, maybe i need to have really small portions at a time.

I don't know if its the meds i'm on, or what and going to the A&E didnt help establish what the problem was even though I had tests done.

I was sent a letter last week for an appoint at the RFH next week to see a Cardiology Dr, so I hope I can get a clear picture as to what the state of my heart is and other things like the pains and discomfort ive been feeling after eating. I'm trying not to unduly worry but sometimes I think maybe i have another blockage somewhere and ..... anyway I'm still alive for now, for how much longer i don't know.

Tuesday 9 June 2020
The tenant below me and the landlords housing repairs team have started again.

The tenant hasn't been living in the flat since the virus lock-down started but comes up and collects her post, mows the garden lawn sort of thing but lives somewhere else and all of a sudden its the reporting of alleged leaks, causing damage and another council plumber is backing up the tenant.

I can't wait to see the evidence.

I could get upset but i'm not going to anymore, rather i'm going to laugh out loud at them and if i see any of them i'll just point at them and laugh and laugh. I think this approach is better for my wel-being since my heart attack in March 2020. 

you see the below photo - is from the very first time around Oct 2017 I think [yes its been going on since then - on and off] the tenant reported a leak that was supposed to be coming from my bathroom - the leak was supposed to be coming down the wall, down the tiles and onto the towel - there was no leak, no water on tiles, no water on the wall or ceiling from where the leak was supposed to be coming from. Yet people in the council went along with this and they continue to do so over 2 years later.

Tuesday 23 June 2020
Its a funny thing is coincidences - 2 weeks ago as I'm going out to go to the hospital for an appointment - that didn't exist, there just so happens to be a card/notice on the communal bookcase from the landlords in-house plumber [un-named] indicating that the #leakgate saga has started up again, after a 3 month break.

Today I notice that tenant below has moved back into the flat and I just so happen to receive a letter from the hospital - back dated, covering their 'ar*es' so to speak, which I sort of understand but as a former in-patient and now, well at some point maybe this year, I hope to be an actual out-patient, its annoying, upsetting etc etc - hello I had an actual heart attack, I nearly died, for real.

Excuse me if I get a bit upset every now and again at any shenanigans that may be going on with health care professionals. I have experienced shenanigans before, which is a shame really and though I am thankful/greatful etc for the help I have been given so far, I can't pretend im thankful/greatful for everything ive experienced.

Monday 13 July 2020
Diane Douglin - Case Management Officer. DD was supposed to be a Mediator from the Housing Repairs department, she turned out not to be a Mediator, as in Neutral and on 11 March 2020 sent me an email where she openly took sides and said "We are also concerned for the welbeing of your neighbour, who understandably is quite distressed about the recurring leaks and damage to her home and contents" 

I never got to find out who the "We" was/is, but I guessed the tenant was hoping for compensation for the 'distress and damage' allegedly caused to her home and contents' and she had the 'royal We' on her side, despite there not being leaks and no damage done that I could see that was caused by the 1 leak that  I did see and which was fixed. 

The We has never shown let alone put in writting any concern for my welbeing despite all the distress this has caused me and continued to caused me. No concern even when I had a heart attack. 

Marlene James - Housing  Officer, Kentish Town. Who decided she wasn't going to inform/involve me in knowing about her decision to have the communal lights changed from easy to use switches to not so easy to use and they don't stay on long timers buttons. The other 2 tenants knew about this, they where in when the switches where changed, yet I was excluded when I am the tenant who is the most adversely affected by her decision re my difficulties in getting up and down the stairs and the lights going.

Fri 17 July 2020
Tenant in flat C above me has been making a racket since around 11am this morning til around 11.30pm this eve - banging things about, talking loudly above my living room at her window, hoovering late at night and banging into everything sort of thing - i've had my radio on all this time to drown out her noise, and it doesn't always work unless i have the radio very loud and I don't like having to do that as it hurts my ears and head and isn't comfortable really for too long.  always sounded like jumping up and down in her living room on and off.

She always does this where she will be quiet for a few days and then wham the noise that goes on for hours, half the day sometimes longer.

Tenant below in flat A still isnt living in her flat - she was living somewhere else when the lock down started around 23  March 2020.

Sun 9 Aug 2020
Tenant below still isn't living in flat below but comes up to pick up letters etc and makes a big noisy exit - i guess to let me know. I can't help but feel agitated when I see/hear her and in some ways its a good thing she isn't living here as I really don't know how I would be if she was. I know I have to work on my reactions to her and to tenant above and not let them get to me so much - its very difficult for me, its like im being poked in an open wound and it really hurts and its instinctive to react by feeling angry/upset.

Mon 17 Aug 2020
I have been sent another letter with an appointment on it for a phone appointment with a Cardiologist as an out-patient, for the beginning of Nov 2020. I phoned up and checked the appointment was real as the letter i had received previously was for an appointment that didnt exist. The appointment is real apparently which is good. Its been over 7 months since I came out of hospital.

Sat 22 Aug 2020
Tenant came up and let me know she was there by making the noise when she left. She still isn't living in flat. 

Tues 27 Oct 2020

I have been going through my hospital discharge notes [summary] again to note down some things to ask the cardiologist when she phones me next week. 

From the notes I can work out some stuff, from doing some research online - but will get clarification from cardio next week.  

I know that a Catheter [a plastic tube] was used by the Surgeon, to thread a very thin wire through an artery in my wrist, and a dye injected into my arteries so that the Angiograph [  x-ray]  showed up the arteries in my heart - [to show any blockages/damage] 

and then a Angioplasty  performed   - a small balloon inserted and inflated [then removed when stent is placed] left side of heart

and a metal wire mesh stent inserted into my left artery, the stent remains there. I was given medication to take and monitored for 5 days at the hospital before i was discharged with the meds and a 2 page, 4 sides discharge summary. 

I wasn't told much whilst in hospital about the heart attack i had and the results of the angio's and Echo-cardiogram that was also done and I didn't really know what to ask about in any great detail. 

I know now though from the notes and doing my own research that it was more that a blocked artery and a stent put in - something about impaired Systolic function and Right Coronary Artery [RCA] mid vessel damage 

Sat 31 Oct 2020

I have another sore throat - when I shallow, different area of throat than last time and not so painful [felt like id swallowed a razorblade] - hoping its one of the 1/2 day bug things, ive been catching more of late. anyway i feel very tired mostly though can get out to do shopping etc when i need to [thankfully for now anyway].

Of late ive been thinking/feeling that I am dying, that the prognoisis isnt good, but i will wait to see what the Cardio says.

Tenant upstairs still slams her flat door and the front door, I still hear her every day and this upsets me, she doesnt care that I am ill [obviously 'hurry up and fucking die']  I hope i don't die in this place with camden council as landlord and her so close by to me etc, but poor [financially] people like me don't have much choice in such a matter and as for luck, well i havent had much of that these last few years but I am just waiting to die and I want to not be afraid  or depressed etc when I know for sure the time is coming. 

btw i sometimes see the tenant as she leaves the house saturday mornings to go somewhere and she is usually carrying one of those coffee/tea cups[with lids] that you get from a take away - just an observation. 

another observation: 2 council housing repairs blokes and 2 vans and what looked like a non job they where making a public show of doing - this was tuesday afternoon. I  filmed them and they saw me and didnt seem pleased and came over to the house [they went out of view at some point] then they went back across the road and finished up what they where doing. Business as usual in the housing department. 

Wed 4 Nov 2020

I had my phone appointment with the Cardiologist y/d - bar 1 of the medications, I will be on the 5 others for life and the Stent stays in for life. I will be sent an appointment to go to the hospital for another ECHOcardio-gram [ultra-sound] to see how the heart is re the systolic dysfunction. 

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/heart-failure/

Fri 13 Nov 2020

I have an appointment next week at the RFH for a ultra sound scan. 

Thurs 19 Nov 2020

Twice this week Moira Hogan [picture below] who has the tenancy in the flat below me, has been up to the property and been inside her flat. I know as she makes noise which I can hear. 

 Bar 4 nights prior to the incident of Thursday 2 July 2020, she hasn't lived in the flat but comes up and picks up post etc etc. 

I part blame her and the tenant above me Petra Hind and people

from Camden Council housing for the heart attack I had on 16 March 2020. I was very stressed before the HA because of MH and CC repeatedly trying to get in here on false and I believe malicious pretenses. The issue hasn't been resolved. 

15 February 2021 

Since the below 4 Nov 2020 entry, where the Cardiologist turned out to be the surgeon who performed the procedures on me that saved my life, to which I thanked him for - though as ive mentioned before i had/have times i wish i had died, I have had the Atorvastinstatin [used to lower bad [LDL or Non -HDL] cholesterol]  

80mg 1 a day reduced to 40mg 1 a day

Wed 4 Nov 2020

I had my phone appointment with the Cardiologist y/d - bar 1 of the medications, I will be on the 5 others for life and the Stent stays in for life. I will be sent an appointment to go to the hospital for another ECHOcardio-gram [ultra-sound] to see how the heart is re the systolic dysfunction. 

I think it was the 80mg dosage that was responsible for the pains in/around my heart as since the reduction to 40mg I haven't been experiencing them, other than occasionally, this im greatful for.  I am also coming to the end of  being prescribed Clopiodgrel 75mg 1 a day - until 16/3/2012, blood thinner, but will continue with taking 75mg Asprin everyday for ever apparently and the other 4 meds each day for life or until I hear otherwise from Cardiologist. 

Ah I nearly forgot: I still haven't received the results of the Nov 2020 ECHOcardio-gram [ultra-sound] and ECG of my heart - yes i know, the hospital is busy with all the Covid-19 stuff and whatnot so out-patients 'have to' be a bit more patient about such stuff - excuse the pun

3 March 2021

I feel like I want to die, i don't want to be me, to feel these feelings, make them go away - the tears again. i have to comfort myself, 'its ok its ok' till the next time.  

Sat 7 March 2021

Im not feeling too bad today. I have stopped with the talking therapy -which continued via zoom when things where locked down back in March 2020 due to covid 19 virus. It helped at times to have the group there and for that I'm thankful for, but it wasn't the right set-up for me to explore much in-depth things I needed/wanted to explore, maybe i'll be okay though. 

I've done a lot of work on myself over the last few years and I can say that without ego or banging any drums, I know I am stronger mentally than I thought I was, thought it hasn't always seemed that way and has taken lots of ups and downs, pain and tears as well as nice feeling and thoughts [yes i have them on occasions]. 

Sunday 14 March 2021

I'm supposed to decide where abouts I want to move to and try and get a move somehow to the area, with some help from a family member - but i can't decide where I want to go, really i'm so indecisive about this and have been for years. I know I want to get away from here - the tenant upstairs is still making noise, i can still hear her everyday - except y/d for some reason she was as quite as a mouse for at least 24hrs and it was bliss but as usual, i get lulled into a false sense of security and then noise starts again, over my bedroom and it carries on, off and on through out today. 

I don't want to move thats the thing as in ways I don't mind the flat [its not fancy or anything] or the area but I can't live in here till the day I die with Camden Council as landlord and the property with no insulation of any type, let alone noise and with the 2 other tenants around the place. 

The next move if it ever happens will have to be the last, I ain't no good at moving around so much. 

Tues 20 April 2021

Recent word from the DWP is that I am still in the same WRAG that they put me in months before the 23 March 2020  covid19 lock down and which I was in the process of querying [this was my last assessment late 2019]  but as many will know dealing with the DWP isn't a nice/easy experience even at the best of times, so come lockdown and heart attack I let the issue slip - though I did sent them in stuff about the HA but didnt hear back from them. 

I recently phoned up DWP and managed to actually get through to someone - who told me words along the lines of 'I had been sent a letter from them about my last assessment review and that I had been turned down -even after my heart attack]  well I hadn't received anything and said that but didnt push it as I knew it would be pointless. 

On top of the word about this I also received a letter from DWP about a charge Camden Council had put on my ESA sick payments [yes i am actually sick and haven't been pretending, though im not in a coma and can do some stuff, i can't do what i used to be able to do, physically/emotionally] The DWP didnt say what the charge was about other than housing [could be rent, service charge etc] or how much it was only the weekly amount to be deducted. 

I am in the process of querying this - after all the council has done they pull this on me. Im guessing what the charge is about but I d like the DWP to tell me what it is etc and I will challenge and the way the DWP operates though they will probably find some way to drag it out for so long that I forget about it/lose the will to carry on with it, or some other reason so they dont have to get me a proper answer etc. 

Sunday 30 May 2021

GP sent me a text saying something about rheumatoid markers being raised and i have an appointment with Rheumatology at local hospital in 2 months time. 

Thursday 17 Feb 2022

recent phone appointment with cardiologist seemed to go okay though I didnt say all i wanted to say[like about the coughing] but i don't suppose it matters - though the wrong side of my heart that has the stent in was noted in a letter I was cc-ed into cardio sent to GP. 

The breathlessness and coughing seems to be because my heart doesn't pump enough oxygenated blood to my lungs [ejection fraction at 41% - could be lower now 2 years on]. The depression and though mainly suppressed by the anti-depressants, is deep within me and I can feel it and the hopelessness i feel about life in general still persists. 

The not getting good sleep is still a problem for me - i can get to sleep but usually only for 2/3 hrs at a time. Hearing/reading about the links that bad sleep has to developing dementia doesn't help things [my father now deceased, had vascular dementia] I know I should put some real effort into trying to sort out the sleep thing but I don't seem to have that much motivation or will to do so. These last few years battling with this that and the other has taken so much out of me. 

Are there any positives in my life one may wonder - yes there are like my cat Jack, like things could be a lot worse than they are, that I can still at times laugh and see the beauty of the flowers, trees etc around me and the good some people do and I still feel in awe of some things far greater and beautiful than I. 

I can still feel love and empathy/compassion - though relationships aren't easy for me. 

30 March 2022

3 of my meds have been changed [ dosage increased] 

I keep thinking that I wish I was brave/strong or stupid enough [depending on how you look at it] to stop taking all the heart meds and wait and see what happens but i don't want to have another heart attack - as it wasn't a nice feeling at all, and not knowing at first what was happening inside of my body that was making me feel so ill, and that I had no control over it and then the physical pain and the breathlessness that I didn't realise what it was as my voice became so low and quiet i could only speak in barely a whisper. 

Im depressed - still - but it doesnt come out like it would if i wasn't taking the anti-depressants. i can feel it though, i sense it. the hopelessness, sadness, i try not to think of it too much, i don't in general THINK too much, not like id did when the Thing happened and my mind/brain went into overdrive, my friend i have neglected you for too long i thought, and I had. 

2 June 2022

I went to the hospital y/day for a echocardiogram [ultrasound] scan of my heart. I won't know results until I see cardiologist at August 2022 appointment - the first face-to-face appointment since heart attack on monday 16 march 2020. 

Back to the future 'sling it in any old way' - 2008 - 2020 - and beyond?

http://www.thecnj.com/camden/2008/100208/news100208_04.html

Systems Thinking in Local Government

Housing Management Performance Page HERE



Systems Thinking - The Vanguard Method [ST-VM]

What is Systems Thinking - the Vanguard Method  [ST-VM] ? I don't really know but am trying to read up on it to get a basic understanding. Its been around for a while and various councils have been using it, reportedly with good or even outstanding results.

Some information about ST-VM can be found at the below links:

9 Feb 2020
https://localgovernmentutopia.com/category/systems-thinking/
Some interesting points made by someone who seems to know a lot more about the Vanguard Method than I do.

15 May 2015
https://www.local.gov.uk/systems-thinking-methodology-improve-services-and-reduce-cost

2014
https://locality.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Locality-Report-Diseconomies-updated-single-pages-Jan-2017.pdf
excerpts from Forward
" As the report sets out, far too many public service systems ‘assess rather than understand; transact rather than build relationships; refer on rather than take responsibility; prescribe packages of activity rather than take the time to understand what improves a life’. The result is that the problems people face are not resolved, that public services generate ever more ‘failure demand’, that resources are diverted to unproductive ends, and that costs are driven ever upwards."

"Our report sets out an alternative strategy. We propose that public services should be ‘local by default’, that they should help people help themselves, that they should focus on underlying purpose rather than outcome, that they should manage value not cost."

Feb 2012
http://www.parliament.scot/S4_LocalGovernmentandRegenerationCommittee/Inquiries/Vanguard_Consulting.pdf

Jan 2010
https://www.audit.wales/system/files/publications/Lean_and_Systems_Thinking_in_the_public_sector_English_2010.pdf
pg 8 "Command and control is defined as “regulation by management, with its battery of computer and other informational aids … where decision-making is distant from the work and based on abstracted measures, budgets and plans” (Seddon and Caulkin 2007).

Systems thinking emphasises not just ‘wholeness’, but also the ‘thinking of the system’ (i.e. that of the managers and workers within a system) which needs to change in order for the system to be able to improve. Figure 1 shows some of the key differences between the two approaches."

pg 17 "Simply put, attempts to improve the efficiency of the service flow without understanding the often high percentage of preventable demand will lead to designing a process which is both ineffective and inefficient."

update Sunday 5 April 2020
I've read a little about ST but I can't find what it is exactly ie a step by step guide to how it is implemented. I may still come across such a Guide/Instructions and will let my 'billions of trillions' of readers know.

A Camden Councils Housing officers report from 2017 HERE  Systems Thinking Review of Landlord Services.  I think it may be fair to say that even senior housing officers haven't a clue how its supposed to be implemented - but don't tell anyone.

Communal Lights Saga

Someone recently got an electrician, [I'm guessing from Camden Councils housing repairs department] to install timers on the light switches in the communal hallways and stairs in the street property I rent from Camden Council.

I'm guessing it was an electrician from the councils housing repairs department - i could take a guess which tenant in the property got this done - without me knowing or agreeing to it.

Earlier on, when it was dark, I went downstairs to put some paper in the recycling bin in the front garden. I came out of my flat and pushed the timer button and went down the stairs and managed to make it to the main front door before the lights went off.

I came back in and had to again push the timer button, as the lights had turned off, and as I'm not so quick getting up the stairs due to my back and knees etc problems, I  didn't make it half way up the stairs before the lights went off.

Kin ell I though, which bright spark [excuse the pun] got this done without so much as a thought about the health and safety of anyone else, how did this happen.  If I had somewhere else to go i'd go, but I don't so I'm stuck here.

At times I do my shopping at night, when its dark and I have to use a shopping trolley for the heavy things - I don't have anyone to do this for me despite the physical problems. I then have to, when I get back to the property, grab hold of the stair rails and pull me self and the heavy trolley slowly up the stairs to the first floor hoping I don't fall down the stairs - it causes me physical pain but I have to do, and i have to do it slowly and I'm thinking that the lights are going to go off when i'm halfway up the stairs with a heavy trolley and then what will happen?

 I might have to let go off the trolley and let it fall down the stairs and leave it there, or I might carry on in the dark, holding tightly onto the rail and then to get myself and the trolley up the last few steps and onto the little bit of landing-  I have to grab hold of the narrow wall which is between the two flights of stairs that go's up to my flat and then I hope that I don't loss my grip and fall down the stairs - with the trolley. So its hard enough me having to do this without the lighting going off.

Its one thing after after in this place and i'm fed up to my back teeth with it all.

What if an ambulance crew had to come to the property and go up the stairs - and have to carry down someone in a stretcher - on narrow stairs, with the lights going off, they didn't think of that did they?

There are many what  ifs about this and no one seems to have taken them into consideration. No one let me know about it.

Update 4 Mar 2020
The below is a photo of the loose cable an electrician ran from the out side doorbell of flat above me, into the the same flat. The stairs are narrow and I have to hold onto the rail to go up and down the stairs to get to in and out of my flat. I found that my fingers where snagging the cable as I gripped the rail and slide my hand down it a bit - so  I can [as safely as possible] use the steps and I worried that the cable would cause me to fall down the stairs.

photo of masking tape I put over the cable 

I also tested the light timers by taking the masking tape off the cable and seeing how often the lights went off whilst I went about the task of putting the masking tape back on the cable. I videoed it and will put that up later - you can see how quickly the lights kept going off and I was left in darkness.


update
The below is a different video to the one I was going to put up.
Its me coming out of my flat door on the way to my weekly [bar holidays]
group meeting. 

Next time I need to use my shopping trolley for heavy stuff, and its dark outside and in, i'll video myself coming into the property  and getting up the stairs.

I think the 2 other tenants in the property knew about the light switches being changed as they where both in when it was being done. I heard someone in heavy boots upstairs and out in communal area, and downstairs talking to tenant on ground floor, but I didn't know what was going on and I didn't go out and check. I was excluded from knowing. I didn't even receive a letter from housing informing me about this. How sneaky and underhanded is that?

update Thurs 5 Mar 2020
https://www.bartlettslaw.co.uk/accidents-at-home/compensation-for-tenant-who-fell-down-stairs.html

"A recent client, Mrs D, was an elderly resident at a private block of flats where she had lived as a tenant for many years. One evening she was walking down the stairs when the lights went out, leaving her stranded half way down the staircase in pitch darkness. The automatic sensors for the staircase and hallway lights were not working properly, a problem that had been reported to the management company a few weeks before. Mrs D carried on her descent, but misjudged a step, lost her footing and fell down their stairs. Another resident heard her calls for help, and came to her assistance. As she could not walk and was in severe pain an ambulance was called, and Mrs D was taken to hospital, where an X-ray showed that she had broken her leg. It took her over 3 months to recover, and she was forced to use a wheelchair and crutches throughout her rehabilitation." 

update
Its 1.15am. I'm in my living room. Up until a few minutes ago I didn't have any music on or anything but I've now had to turn my mini system on to drown out the loud water pressure noise that coming from the water pipe that runs up through my living room and along the ceiling. This is the flat above me who i think has a water pump. I've tried to get this problem sorted out with the landlord but no luck. Its never ending problems and though not everything is a problem about living here, the issue of constant noise intrusion is a big ongoing problem, and in general the unwanted intrusion into my privacy from others, be it tenant or landlord.

update - off to bed soon.  I've just gone downstairs to get my cat in but he wouldn't come in straight away so I had to wait a while and the lights kept going off and I thumped them to put them back on - must have been 6 or more times before cat came in. Then my hands and arms start hurting and I'm thinking that in future I'm going to have to bring my heavy hammer down when I'm getting my cat in, in case I have to hang around for him to come in - to bang the lights back on - talk about having to physically exert meself just to turn some lights on, especially when i'm tired and energy level isn't so great.

BTW its 3.36am and the loud water pressure noise from the pipes has started again. I'd do a Irish gig before I go to bed - if I had the energy.

update
early this morning someone from the council left a message on my phone answer recorder - a man, something about the communal area and rewiring. I'm thinking well, that message isn't very clear and why  phone me - was he wanting me to let him in, I think he was.

I think its the 2 other tenants in the properly he should be phoning and arranging for them to be at home to let him in - like they where in on Tues 3 Mar 2020, when the timers where put on the light switches and I didn't know what was going on.

The work that was done wasn't repairs it was renewal and I'm thinking that could it be that the 2 tenants conspired together and phoned up the housing 'repairs' department and spoke with whoever - maybe one gave a load of bs about this that and the other and the other shouted at, even swore at  whoever they spoke to and an electrician was duly dispatched to the property whilst they where both in, and was let in by one of them. I know what they are both like in regards to some things.

update
I've checked my emails, which I haven't done since Tues and I see now what its all about - it was the housing officer, who had received complaints that the communal lights where being left on and disturbing the other tenants sleep patterns. The phone call I received this morning was about an electrician trying to get in to adjust the timers but not change them back to how they where.

So instead of me being asked politely to not leave lights on and the reasons why [which btw I don't believe] - at least being sent a letter from the housing office, the housing officer just goes ahead without me knowing and gets an electrician to come to the property, when the 2 other tenants are in, as I was also in, but I didn't know about it. How sneaky and underhanded is that?

As it happens, the same day the housing repairs case management officer phones me again and I spoke with her briefly about me agreeing to something, which following this stunt I no longer agree to and if they want access they can either force access [break the door down], which I will video or they can get onto their legal department and start court action to try and get me evicted.

A few weeks back the tenant above comes in and as she gets up the stairs to her and my flat doors she starts shouting/ranting about the communal light being on, I heard her and shes shouting as she goes in her flat and up her stairs and I shouted back at her. This is her being polite I guess.

Then someone takes the light bulb out of the downstairs communal hallway.

What was so difficult about asking me politely to not leave the communal lights on and for such and such reasons? I'm not an unreasonable person, as some in the council could attest to as I have been quite reasonable when speaking with them of late in regards to my on-going official complaint which is why a case manager was appointed, but the housing officer and the 2 tenants had to make things worse [as I see it].

update
The housing officer was at my flat the week before in relation to the plumbing/alleged water leak  saga, she seemed nice enough to me. It was arranged that she, a repairs manager and a plumber/s would attend my flat - as it turned out it was firstly 1 repairs manager and 2 plumbers and then the housing officer had to be tracked down and attend the property, which she did for a short while then went off, as did the repairs manager.

And yes I did notice the look she gave me when she may have thought I wasn't going to continue to 'co-operate', which I was already doing - as a last resort to any court action [which I was going to start and had sent a Letter before court action]. Maybe she didn't like the look of me or something, but like I said, I thought she seemed nice enough.

I have to write these things down as they help a bit with the stress and upset I've been experiencing quite a lot of late in regards to the housing situation and some other things.

update 7 March 2020
I've been sleeping a lot on and off these last few days, must be the stress or something.

I remember the tenant downstairs telling me that I came close to being evicted re me not letting plumbers in every time tenant reported a leak [tenant has the letters from council apparently] coming from my bathroom into her kitchen.

After me not letting the plumber in on Thurs [it was supposed to be 2 and a half days of work when orginally it was 1 and half days] I guess i'm even closer to the council starting the process of trying to get me evicted.

update
when I think back to when the tenant below first started making reports to the repairs team about leaks coming from my bathroom into her kitchen [around Oct 2017] and and after 2 plumbers came here and took the P big time [ I thought] by going along with the tenant about a leak. One of them even lied  to me about 'water gushing down' under my bath when no such thing happened and the other getting stroppy with me when tenant phoned repairs as an emergency - and yet plumber didn't see a leak. I made a complaint and apparently there was an investigation and the then housing estate officer emailed me to tell me that the repairs supervisor had investigated and there was no leak.

At this point the tenant in flat below and the 2 plumbers should have at least been given 'strong words' by people in the council - not to let it happen again blah blah blah, or whatever, but as far as I am aware this didn't happen and later on tenant below started again with the reporting of a leak, that didn't exist, and people from the council continued again phoning me up about plumbers getting in here. So I made another complaint this time via the councils corporate complaints system.

In the meantime things had gotten muddied as there had been an actual leak, which  I saw and which was supposed to have been fixed and which later on the tenant below again reported and which I didn't see any leak and which tenant hadn't taken any photo etc of, but she would do the next time it happened she said - like she was sure it would happen, which  I thought was odd. Apparently though there was a leak in that area, as I was sent photo's but they wheren't date/ timed stamped and could have been from when there was an actual leak that  I saw.

Even when plumbers had been up here and again where supposed to have fixed some things under the bath, tenant still reported leaks, which I again asked for time, date, photo. The repairs case management person, hasn't got back to me on that.

Then the housing officer pulls the stunt about having the communal light switches changed to timers without letting me know or considering an safety issues etc.

As it stands a plumber who also does other works, was supposed to come here last Thursday [5 Mar 2020] to spend not 1 and half days as first said, but 2 and half days fixing and adding bits and pieces to do with my bathroom. Though I had agreed to this on the Tues I didn't let him in on the Thurs as I was upset, disappointed etc as to what the housing officer had done which I thought made the whole situation worse.

Even when they where last here, they where supposed to - I was told, use different colour dye's which they where to use on my bath and sink and kitchen sink - to see where the alleged leak/s where coming from, but the dyes didn't happen and they didn't check my kitchen sink.

Tenant below has even had part of her kitchen wall plastered [last year] for what reason I don't know as it couldn't have been due to a leak as there wasn't one and she has a pipe that runs along and through her kitchen walls that has nothing to do with me, as far as I am aware - which was at one time supposed to have been leaking, which even looked like it had been leaking [photos i have] but which I think there is something very amiss about.

8 Mar 2020
When the tenant below first moved in tenant had [still has]  the garden attached to her flat [sole access] landscaped. The previous tenant was an elderly lady who lived alone and the garden wasn't maintained or anything with lots of overgrown wild plants.

Current tenant moves in and gets in a couple of people who removed all the overgrown plants, took up the old paving, dug the soil and whatnot and then landscaped the garden including decking at the top of the garden.

I remember hearing the the tenant boasting one day, in her garden when I was in my kitchen with the window open, about how she got £30,000 of stuff done by the council, and telling the man she was with that 'shes the one to come to if he needs anything from the council'. I have since wondered whether the landscaped garden was also done by the council.


9 Mar 2020
I've done some shopping with my trolly and I've put the shopping away and am having a cuppa, then a lie down for a while, try to meditate a bit. I'll put the video up later on of me getting up the stairs - in the dark because the light timer switched off. Thankfully the trolly wasn't as heavy with stuff as it could have been, but heavy enough. I still have normal strength in arms etc, but its the pain I get that's the problem, so I have to be careful not to aggravate/over do things, especially my back.

update
Me going out of flat to do some shopping 

11 Mar 2020
Me getting up the communal stairs in the dark with my shopping trolley

12 March 2020
Since around Tuesday 10 March 2020 I've been hearing the water pressure noise a lot more than usual - whenever the tenant above is in, even after 11pm.

I tried to record the noise but the recording device I have doesn't pick it up. I'll try and get a recording device that will pick the noise up.

Noise [any unwanted sound] is measured in Decibels HERE.

I can hear shouting, swearing.  I did manage to record tenant one time when she was shouting and swearing out her window - above me,  and my window was open.

13 March 2020
The other tenants are still slamming the front door to the property when leaving and entering which is annoying and I find myself waiting in anticipation for the slam's. Its tempting for me to also slam the door which I have done in the past but i've not been doing it of late in the hope the tenants get the message, so to speak. I also mentioned it to the housing officer  but whether she has contacted the other tenants about it I don't know.

update
This one, what to say about it, talk about shaking my head in disbelief, but strangely i'm not surprised. Another electrician comes to the property earlier on - tenant above was expecting him and let him in. I went out to check, just in case another underhanded stunt was pulled on me.

I thought the electrican was here to tighten up the loose cable

After he and tenant had gone out I went out and checked to see what the E had done and here it is

Unsightly I think, plus now I can't put my hand around the top of the handrail when I'm going down the stairs - I have to bend over further to reach the rail. 

Thursday 30 April 2020
2 days ago on 28 April 2020 - not long after I finished speaking on the phone with the psychologist who is attached to the Cardiology Care Unit [CCU] of the Royal Free Hospital [RFH]:  I was distressed by what happened and this included when I was in hospital, on the ward and a lady came to speak with me and we had a few chats, she was lovely and I appreciate the chats and a follow up after I left hospital an appointment was sent to me for 28 April 2020 for a phone consultation, which I had.

Not long after the phone consultation ended a man from BTU arrived at the property to carry out safety check on gas things as I was expecting him some time between 1-6pm.

I was aware that the communal lights weren't working - they hadn't been since 27 March 2020 when the tenant above me had one of her verbally abusive outbursts downstairs in the enterance to the building hallway - sounds very much like she was shouting off about me, which  I could hear and which I found upsetting.

In Jan 2020 she had come in and when she got up the communal stairs and outside my flat door I could hear her mouthing off about the communal lights being on. I knew she was talking about me.

Later on both tenants in the property teamed up and got onto the housing estate officer attached to this area had the normal light switches changed to the push in timer things. I was excluded from knowing about this change even though I was the most adversely affected by the change, tenant in the property.

on 27 March 2020 the same tenant came out of her flat on her phone, went downstairs and started mouthing off about me. The communal lights where on and then they weren't on and weren't working. I recorded what she said including the 'hurry up and die' and other stuff.

This upset me a lot as I'd not long come out of hospital and was still distressed by what had happened.

Going back to tuesday: I went downstairs to open the front door for the BTU man and being aware of the COVID 19 rules about social distancing etc - I opened the door and he was standing away from the door and I said 'how shall we do this' then I said something about 'I'll go upstairs and go into living room' for him to follow and come in flat and down along hallway to the kitchen. I went up the communal stairs and the lights came on - i said to BTU they hadn't been working and he said something about 'his magic fingers'.

Anyway the communal lights where back working and staying on longer than the short amount of times they were first set at, great I thought.

Wednesday 29 April 2020 [yesterday] around 11am ish  I heard someone going into the flat downstairs.

Not long after the tenant in flat above me starts stomping very hard down on her bedroom floor - it being my bedroom ceiling and which I could hear and I wondered what was going on. Then tenant was outside my flat door and she kicked the door and went back back into her flat.

WTF is going on  I'm wondering ie why is she behaving as such. Anyway I opened my flat door and I shouts out to her about what she had done, shes mouthing off again about me, which  I managed to record. She wouldn't come out though and face me and say the things she was saying about me to my face.

Not long after things quietened down someone came out of the flat below me - it was the tenant, and off the tenant went.

I was very upset by what had happened - this was the 2nd time she had mouthed off [well 3 if I include the very first time in Jan 2020] and had included kicking my door. This is about the communal lights being on, as far as I am aware, talk about an over reaction in my view.

This time I contacted the Met police via their website - as it wasn't an emergency as such. I filled in a form and submitted it and received a ref number and PDF copy of my form. I also emailed the housing estate officer.

Neither have got back to me, and judging by the noise the tenant is making today above me, they haven't contacted her either.

Currently on and off, the tenant has been stomping very heavily about her flat, above me in my living room, i've had to turn on my radio quite loud to drown out the noise, but I can still hear her. I suspect this will go on for some time.

update
11ish pm. the communal lights aren't working now, for some reason - they where working earlier.

Its after 11pm and I can hear the tenant above me stomping about and also talking. This has been going on since around 7.30am this morning when I woke up and could hear noise above me then I fell back asleep and later before midday - its been on and off and will in my experience continue until tenant goes to bed which could be very late. It distresses me and I can't relax with the anticipation of waiting to hear the next thump or bang or whatever. I will need to have my radio on all night loud enough to drown out the noise intrusions, including when I go to bed so I don't have to keep hearing tenant even when I'm trying to sleep, rest etc, regardless of how late it is. Its hard for me to relax properly living here.

This is the reality of my home living environment and I suspect its the same for many people and nothing much gets done by landlords etc to fix the issues.

I don't think the landlord Camden council or the Met police are going to do anything about the tenant above so i will need to [ i'm not letting this go or it continue on and on and on, I want it stopped and for good] come this Monday, type up another Letter Before Court Action and slide it under her flat door.


Monday 4 May 2020
I think the tenant above was trying to get me blamed for the communal lights no longer working - that I somehow 'blew the lights', haha I know, I 'somehow  blew the new timer lights and they stopped working' just when tenant happened to be in the communal hallway [where the fuse box is] shouting her mouth off about 'what a beast I am' so full of venom she was. Where does such hate come from I wonder?

Thursday 7 May 2020
The tenant above is making a lot of noise today and its still only the morning - first the banging about above my bedroom and then when I got up and went into my living room - very heavy repeated stomping of feet above. Could be she's doing it because of the Letter before Court Action from me.

Friday 8 May 2020 
Hurry up and die
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF2hZRDeBsY&feature=youtu.be

This was Friday 27 March 2020

Tuesday 9 June 2020
Tenant above sounds like she is doing some sort of class - I can hear her shouting and suspect others can as well - stomping about at times as well.  She started off in her kitchen one day but moved into her living room - both of her rooms are above my living room. Thankfully its not everyday she does them.

Thursday 11 June 2020
Tenant above doing some sort of class again - I can hear her talking, then she shouts out window to another neighbour who is doing building works, to stop for an hour- shes doing a class for the NHS she reckons. Tenant stomping now.

update 4pm - 3 hrs later - tenant still stomping about above me - I think on 2 occasions someone/s has literally sneaked into the tenants flat and it was only when they left i heard them speak and the second one the door close but I didn't hear them come in.

Other neighbour making a racket with power tool - doing building works.

Wednes 8 July 2020
The communal lights are working again, but for how long I don't know. Whoever got them put back on didn't get them put on a longer timer as  I found out already so its really pot luck whether anyone can make it in or out the house before the lights go out or whether i'm half way up the stairs with my heavy trolley before the lights go off.

Seeing the lights back on triggered me into remembering the verbal abuse from the tenant above me in flat C and her kicking my flat door. I felt very upset and in fear even of it happening again and so ive got a heavy wooden rolling pin near by flat door and I will use it if need be. She ain't getting to be 3rd time lucky in verbablly abusing me, kicking my door and then hiding in her flat and not coming out and getting away with it.

I have to calm down, deep breaths.

Friday 10 July 2020
11pm Tenant above has been very quiet so far today/night. I thought maybe she'd gone out before I got up, but I've just been downstairs and her light is on, so she must be in.

There is still time for the noise to start though, late at night with the banging about, dropping heavy things, etc etc - as I've experienced time and time again.

It won't last and has in past lulled me into a false sense of thinking she can go a whole 24hrs without making a racket.

update
its just gone 12 midnight and I've just heard some banging about above me.

Sun 2 August 2020
The communal lights have stopped working, again - I noticed this y/d Sat 1 Aug 2020, the day before that [Fri 31 July 2020] I noticed that the lights wouldn't switch off. This is what happened the last time.

Thursday 13 August 2020
According to the electrician i spoke with downstairs earlier on today  the fuse in the box on the wall wasn't working re the lights. Its fixed now he says. There was glue in upstairs one he says. That wouldn't have blown the lights though, someone tampering with the fuses. Something about the lights being changed to sensors. Also something about water leaks all over the property or something, huh I says oh you mean the pretend leaks the neighbour keeps reporting. 

Mon 21 Sept 2020

Earlier this evening I went downstairs to put some rubbish in the bin and some old flowers, no sooner had I started to go down the long stairs and the lights went off and I was in total darkness. I wasn't pleased as this keeps happening and I ended up dropping some stuff and slowly and carefully managed to get down to the bottom of the stairs and thumped the light switch on. 

The other week the lights went off at the same point and it was dark so I turned round to go back up the stairs to the small stairs to go up and turn the lights back on but I banged into the first step, slipped and ended up on my knee and it hurt. 

Monday 4 Jan 2021

Im having to buy from my own money [ok the cheapest] a new handrail to put up on the other side of the long stairs in the communal hallway where I live. The reason being is that im fed up with feeling anxious every time I use the stairs specially going down them and the lights still going off and the stairs being narrow, and me having a few physical problems that makes me feel unsafe using the stiars. 

I can't contact the housing officer or housing repairs as I feel sick at the thought of them and how they have behaved towards me these last few years and me having a heart attack and they still wouldn't leave me alone. 

I will install the new handrail myself - i have an electric drill and I know how to use it, and I reckon i will do a better job than the landlords in-house housing repairs team. I will put photo's up when done. 

Monday 8 March 2021

The communal lights still aren't working. I had a look around for some cheap railing but couldn't find any so as yet a second hand rail hasn't been fitted adjacent to long stairs in communal hallway. Its still hit and miss as if to whether I fall down the stairs - i have to use torch at night when coming in or out. 

I can't seem to get some things done, i start off on them like trying to get another hand rail, or start with court action and then something else comes up or I'm so tired I'm mostly in bed for a day of 2 and then i'm trying to keep myself from falling to pieces. Ive done a lot of work on myself over the last few years and had some help with I am thankful for, but I'm exhausted and its an on-going thing and probably always will be.

Finding help with the court action however is proving to be a lot more difficult or generally taking Camden Council on - I still have time though - Limitation Act 1980 HERE 

8 March 2021

Yesterday (wednes 7 march 2021) an electrician changed the communal lights to lighting that switches on using sensors. It seems to be working ok and seems a lot better than the other lighting, i appreciate it being installed - though why its taken so long [over a year] is a bit of a mystery. 

Saturday 12 June 2021

On Thursday 10 June 2021 I received via the post a [2 sheeted/3 pages] letter from my Landlord Camden Council - dated 7 June 2021 [Monday] 

I think the tenant above in flat C also received a letter but i'm not sure. Anyhow as I mentioned elsewhere the small bookcase [BC] was put there by the tenant in flat C. 

I don't have a problem with it, its in the corner and doesn't seem to obstruct the hallway. I think I was supposed to be blamed for complaining to housing about the BC when I didn't. 

The BC has been in the hallway since at least 2016 - as you can see from some of the  photo's from the 17 Oct 2016 CycleGate post HERE 

The below is a recent photo of the downstairs communal hallway - notice where the Take me Away notice is under the no smoking sign - notice where the bookcase in in relation to the Take Me Away notice. Who ever took the above photo's and sent them into the land-lord did so [i believe] hoping that sending in 2 separate pics would fool the housing office - which I think from the letter I received [which has no reference number on it] they have managed to do.  I can't remember how long the notice has been there. 

I was going to email the person whose name is on the letter but I won't - its a minor issue compared to the other stuff and I really don't want any contact with these people unless I really have to.

Sun 17 Oct 2021

Whilst having a read of some of the minutes/reports of the Fire Safety and Compliance Advisory Panel [FSCAP] set up by camden council after the tragic 14 June 2017 Grenfell Tower fire which took the lives of 72 people and countless harm/injuries - The Inquiry into what happened is on-going HERE

One of the officer reports that was of interest to me was that the meeting of Tuesday 9 April 2019 HERE and in particular agenda item 9. Communal and Emergency Lighting - Report of the Director of Property Management HERE dated 26 March 2019 

Michael Killeen, Head of Property Planning & Asset Management, 33/35 Jamestown Road, NW1 7DB, Michael.killeen@camden.gov.uk

SUMMARY OF REPORT 

This report provides an update on the communal and emergency lighting improvements, maintenance and the prioritisation of responsive repairs. Our Camden Plan clearly sets out the Council’s commitment to the safety of its residents. To help deliver this commitment the Council ensures a maintenance programme is in place to manage lighting systems. [my emphasis] 

3. Investment in Communal and Emergency Lighting 

3.1 The Council’s fire safety programme for purpose built blocks and street properties includes assessment and replacement of emergency lighting, determined by fire risk assessments. 

3.2 The Council’s Better Homes Programme incorporates the replacement of communal and emergency lighting within the scope of works to improve safety and the quality of homes.

The above 'prescriptions' of how the programs of works is to be carried out didnt actually work out that way in practice when it came to a 'cack-handed zealous' housing officer from Kentish Town who as I have mentioned earlier on this post took it upon herself in collusion with flat A and C, to change over the communal lighting system to one that didnt work property and was dangerous and was I believe done more to cause me stress and upset than to follow the then housing officers duties to provide safe and quality homes for tenants. 

From late Feb 2020 - 7 March 2021 the lighting system was in place - the evidence of it is in various video's I took of how the lights turn off at inappropriate times etc. There was little in the way of concern from the landlords agent for my safety and welfare despite me having some physical problems. 

I have to keep asking this - how many other tenants have received and will continue to receive the same treatment from housing officers employed by camden council? 

When I think of some of the stuff they have done, their behaviour towards me I feel sick inside like I can't believe that these people, so called professionals who work for the council/government are so discriminatory with some tenants. What is their problem?