I'm not my usual optimistic self today. Perhaps it's just as well, probably all this optimism grates on some people.

The reason is that I've had a letter from the Office of National Statistics. They are wanting to do a "representative" survey but only want answers on line. I haven't answered because everybody isn't on line and therefore their survey can't be representative of quite a lot of pensioners. When I told them on the phone why I hadn't answered they said that people who hadn't got computers could go to public libraries and fill up their surveys there. Can you imagine someone who can't cope with computers going to the library and asking somebody to help them fill up a census form, which takes 15 minutes even for those who know their inbox from their outbox? Also, what do they do with the results of their surveys?

In 1991 I was a Census Collector. It was a fun job. You went to all the houses in a couple of streets and left census forms to fill in and then went back to collect them and if they hadn't done them you filled them in on the spot. If, after the third visit, you hadn't got your form back you had to ask the neighbours about the inhabitants of that house or flat. At the end of it I worked out that at least 5 per cent of the houses were not occupied. But I thought how useful the census was and it would show up that so many houses are empty. What an idiot I was to think the census results were actually USED!.

A few months later Croydon Council sent round leaflets asking us to report any houses we thought were empty. I wondered why they didn't just consult the census figures. Now, suddenly, as if it was a great new discovery, headlines appear telling us that there are a million empty houses in Britain. Of course there are. Judging from my experience in 1991 I could have told them that then!

That's why I'm not happy today. A feeling of helplessness and hopelessness. All that has to be done to reduce the number of empty dwellings is to start charging Council Tax on them and double it every year until they sell them. Never mind if they lose value - the owners obviously don't need the rent or the capital.

Also, I'm trying to talk to other pensioners, and I believe they aren't hearing, because they don't use the internet.

If I can't cheer up by next week, I'll stop, since there's no point in adding to the gloom.