Until now, there has been no mention of The Baron during Blovember, but let's face it, it was only a matter of time.

Although things have moved on a little since my last post on the subject, there are still a number of minor but annoying items that he has left unfinished, the most pressing being that at the front of the flat, there is a large lightwell for the new basement which should have a safety grille over the top.

He's been telling me for months (since the start of the year in fact) that the grille is on order and that the company making it are just taking their sweet time. I've suspected that this was just another lie, and in fact recently confirmed this to be the case — nothing has been ordered at all.

Without a grille, there's basically an open, 15-foot drop into the concrete lightwell, with very little to prevent someone toppling in. Putting the welfare of said anonymous, future possible toppler to one side for the moment, if someone did fall in, I'd be jointly liable.

So I decided to try and block this hole up today and bought a couple of big bits of plywood to rest between the front of the house and the low front wall to create some kind of obstacle to prevent any would-be toppler falling too far.

But in the process, one of these big bits of wood toppled into the hole, breaking, or at least dislodging, the flimsy plastic waste pipe on the way down. I can't get down to reconnect it — even if I had the skills (and possibly parts) that task requires — because the hole is too deep to climb into.

I've left numerous messages with The Baron, but obviously I've heard nothing back. Two of the four (yes, four) numbers I have for him no longer work, one goes straight to answerphone, and the other is answered by a woman I presume is his wife but who refuses to identify herself although promises she will pass on a message.

While the pipe is broken, anything flushed down the toilet will just end up at the bottom of the lightwell, immediately outside the bedroom of one of the poor lads who's been unfortunate enough to rent the basement flat.

It's doubly annoying because is it kind of my fault for dropping the wood down there in the first place, but of course I wouldn't have been monkeying around with bits of wood and big holes if The Baron had finished the job properly, or at least had arranged a decent temporary barrier himself.

It's been three and a half hours since I could safely use the toilet, and so now I'm off to the gym to make use of their facilities, hoping that The Baron gets in contact before the boys downstairs get home from work.

I just hope none of them had a big lunch...