Car Troubles of a Wide Range of Varieties

Brentford West councillor Guy Lambert reports back

Cllr Guy Lambert

April 7, 2023

The event about violence to women and girls, organised by a fantastically engaged Brentford woman went ahead. It was very informative, and in part quite harrowing. I won’t go to details but one of the speakers had had a horrible childhood but was now a passionate advocate of Action Breaks Silence (www.actionbreakssilence.org) which works extensively with schools, having started in S Africa. These statistics are really scary, and it’s essential that those who don’t do it, take it seriously and be prepared to Take Action to Break the Silence. The others included police officers and council officers who work in this area. Not as many ordinary residents in attendance as I’d prefer but all there must go away with an enhanced understanding. It ran over a bit so I didn’t make it to a pub, but there are many opportunities for that!

Not much on Friday apart from emails but I got the car over to my local alternative Carrera Worx to get a second opinion. He was hopeful to be able to do something but after he investigated further he agreed with my first consultant and concurred on issuing a Do Not Resuscitate instruction. So I haggled a bit with a scrap yard. He was supposed to send his man round today with a lorry (or is it a hearse) but they met a case of unforeseen circumstance and they can’t come until April 17th, which is a pain. Foolishly I filled the tank with £100 of Mr BP’s best. Idiot.

So I spent the weekend (or a chunk of it) trying to work out what I want to do about a car. I am vacillating between the same car again with a lot less mileage (mostly imported from Japan having spent a few years there celebrating being different!), a completely different car altogether or something else again. I wanted to take a look at dealers so I thought I’d hire one but not succeeded yet. I did cycle up to Cargiant in Harlesden but it was very busy and not a place to go unless you have a clear day. One time I booked a test drive but the car I was going to try was sold before I got to see it. At the showroom of a manufacturer, nobody there was the slightest bit interested in even looking at me, an experience I had many years ago at the BMW showroom in Chiswick. When I was younger I had a salesman’s training tape made by my father: know everything there is to know about the cars in stock and never let a customer leave without buying something – you’ve failed. My conclusion, when I was more compassionate, was that people who sold cars in Liverpool were hungry and worked very hard, whilst in London they were pampered and couldn’t be bothered. I wonder if they still work in Liverpool.

Whatever, talking about pampered, Monday was completely meeting-free so I spent my time on emails, admin about getting rid of a car, and wandering the streets, mostly of Brentford. I also had to deal with some outfit apparently called Simple Life trying to charge me £50 for something or other. My bank spotted this and stopped my card. They sent me another card with which our Simple Life zealots tried to do the same again, before I’d even seen it! All this makes me quite paranoid and makes my life not at all Simple! Combine that with various passwords not working and my attempts to sign up for ZipCar failing because they don’t like my mugshot, makes my life rather complicated.

There’s a lot on social media about the iniquity of cyclists, and we’re certainly not perfect, but every time I cycle anywhere I see cars texting etc when driving along, parking in zig zags for crossings, and of course speeding, though I rarely go fast enough to track them at 70 mph, or 20 for that matter 😂 . Mind you, model citizen that I am (well I think so) has just been done for speeding – 25mph in the 20mph zone on Ealing Road, which I thought very unfair on a man like me just a soupcon over the limit. My friend who lives in Jersey observed she had been done for 25mph also, but I pointed out she was doing this in a 15mph zone so that is really reckless and she deserves everything she gets. A particular irritation for me is when the authorities go to the trouble on dangerous junctions on the A4, creating a safer space for cyclists, but about 8 times out of ten they are treated like this one by the A4 . To be fair it would be better for all of us if Hounslow Highways got around to fixing the street lines!

Tuesday I was back with meetings – one with the Leader and the Exec Director of Finance about a problem that has emerged in one part of Lampton, which leads a few of the staff short of stuff to do. That was helpful and we see a way of fixing that. Then we had the Cabinet briefing where we go through the business which will go to Cabinet on the 18 th. Then we had a private discussion amongst the cabinet, where we ran through some things – how we will approach the Pavement Pledge (my thing) and some discussions about communication and getting out of London to help some of our comrades who have elections in May.

Wednesday was another empty of meetings day – a long time since that happened twice in a week – there must be a holiday weekend coming up. I spent some of the time at Watermans: somebody told me about a beautiful exhibition of pictures taken locally of Kingfishers which you can see in Brentford (but I never had thus far).

I went to Watermans and wandered into the exhibition room but this was dedicated to an exhibition of the history of dating (people not birds). Lots of exciting items on show but don’t get too affected by Heartthrob. I take no responsibility for any excessive amorous reactions. I’m sure the ticket person will provide a bucket of water if needed.

I eventually found the Kingfishers (followed my nose, not that they’re smelly but the staff didn’t seem to know) and they’re wonderful things.

Don’t miss it, you can always come back for Dating later

Anyway, today, Thursday, I had a meet with various luminaries of local business, Canal Trust, cops, Sky LBH officers and developers from Muse who are behind Brentford Lock West. This was a second session on our collective plan between these businesses and us, which is looking at improving the canal towpath to assist people who work on the Golden Mile have a more pleasant way to access our new town centre. We are making some progress though it will take a while to become real.

Councillor Guy Lambert