Despite the snow that covered the ground and also the roofs of houses in Coombe Dingle, I was nevertheless asked to see an ex-local authority house in this area of Bristol today. I have to say I was very glad to get out and about despite the snow because I was getting a little fractious, not to mention being a little bored, to say the least, being trapped in because of the snow. (For many years I used to drive a 4x4, sadly I might have grown up, my God I hope not, because now I have a German car with rear wheel drive with the result that I couldn't get anywhere. When I had four-wheel-drive I used to take a day off and drive into the countryside around Pucklechurch and try to get stuck; I never managed to but what a wonderful time I had and I kept boredom away.) Back to reality, this was originally built as an Airey house and as a consequence it was deemed defective under the Housing Act. However, the offending reinforced concrete frame and panels had been removed and the house had been rebricked. It was empty but, the built-in cupboards in two of the bedrooms adjacent the neighbouring property were full of T-shirts; that was a bit odd. When I put them to one side, a sixth sense coming to the fore, I found that the original frame and panels on the party line were still in situ. It was a bit of a disappointment because externally the house was otherwise in fairly good condition. Internally apart from this ‘omission’, the house was rather scruffy and there was no partition between the kitchen and stairwell, so creating a fire risk. There are things that need to be done here to bring his house up to standard…   more »