The one with the Tooth Fairy.

I found the today when I was looking for something else.

It's a note from my daughter from many years ago to the Tooth Fairy about a tooth that had fallen out, but that she had been playing with, which had then become lost.

Yes it's in purple, yes that's a picture of the tooth that was lost. Note that this isn't to scale.

This folds in the middle and here is a 'front' page, it's like a miniature card.



There are some things you just can't buy.

(she slept with this under her pillow for the Tooth Fairy to find, she did get her gold coin).

Related articles

• Affidavit for the Tooth Fairy


• The Tooth Fairy Cometh

Beach Life – Summer 2013 – #10

Took the camera on the stroll around the point at Mataragi. It was low tide and it's somewhat more accessible.

It's getting more popular too which isn't a bad thing.

You might see variously in the pictures, Me, MrsPdubyah, a Dotterel, Some Oyster Catchers, a Pine Tree, some fallen over trees, couple odd signs in an odd place, sand, sea and sun.

I didn't edit the pictures, that would be taking up sitting int he sun relaxing time :-)

[gallery type="thumbnails" ids="5950,5951,5952,5953,5954,5955,5956,5957,5958,5959,5960,5961,5962,5963,5964,5965,5966,5967,5968,5969,5970,5971,5972,5973,5974,5975,5976" orderby="rand"]

Did stop for a beer at the end of the walk at the Golf club, where the pricing was reasonable but the patronage poor. This would be for a couple of reasons, one of which is the historical nature of the welcome that was given, even though now it's changed hands, and another would be that at the beach house, holiday home, you tend to drink and socialise at home. The restaurant does a cracking trade though.

I think that I reached "Beach Max" yesterday. This is the limit of time I can spend with the in-laws, and leads to bickering and surliness. So today will be the last day and we're leaving tomorrow to go home.  It's all about how I manage my time with them now, and it's not just me MrsPdubyah is at the end of the tether too.

Related articles

• Beach Life - Summer 2013 - #10


• Beach Life - Summer 2013 - #9


• Beach Life - Summer 2013 - #6


• Beach Life - Summer 2013 - #1


• Beach Life - Summer 2013 - #5


• Beach Life - Summer 2013 - #3

 

Stunned into a mumbled mess.

I've been a "Manager" of people for a few years. On reflection a lot of people.



Some days it's like herding cats.  If you manage people you'll get what I mean.

Different people, different ages, different goals, different ambitions, different lifestyles.

Same work. Same outcome expectations. A high standard, high pressure to be 100% accurate, high knowledge base. All the time.

I've always  known what that they did and why, but I couldn't do it. I know what they need to know, I just couldn't do it or have the capacity to know it. But I knew what it was and they knew I knew.

Some days it was the worst of times, some days the best of times. Some days I came home exhausted. Some days I had to be encouraged into the car to go to work. Some days I did skipping lessons and we had ice-cream and marshmallow eating competitions. Some days.

Each and every one of the people I employed  or managed, I love as either a friend, colleague or in the way a parent sees a child, I've advised on things that you wouldn't believe, and I've saved more than one thing from going wrong, I hope.

I saw a lot of people either promoted up, or promoted out and into better external jobs,  and even when it went wrong,  good reasons why both parties understood why it wasn't ever going to work out.

But end of day i did it because I wanted to, I liked it and ultimately because I got paid a coin to do it.

I recently got assigned to a new business function that calls upon my skill set in a different way, and that meant leaving my office and reporting line in to a new office and new reports. 15 whole meters of distance.

It was for me both the best of times and worst of times. For I love each and everyone of my old team, as I mentioned  in many ways, but it released me from the "herding cats" inwards and "capacity" thinking into a more thinking and forward looking job.

It was and is a hard transition.

Today, Friday, about 7 weeks into the hand-over change, all of my earlier reports storm into my  office,  a mass show of force,  that caused a few comments, by all accounts among the other work-groups,  as they stomped from one end of the office to the other.

Wherin they gave me a "leaving card" and having had a collection a significant amount of money in beer tokens at an online beer store,

I cried. Proper tears cried.

To me they are people, friends, colleagues, family and my children. No one will ever take advantage of them if I have my say, and I hope they knew that they always, without reservation, had my backing, support, admiration,  and trust, to be the best they could be, with what they had in front of them, and that if it had could have been better they would have had it better.

Hey wait...... this is another of those "look at me" posts "how good am I" things  " you can do it" posts......

Not at all. I was paid to do a job, and I did it the way that sometimes worked out, sometimes went all a bit pear shaped. I passed through in an upward direction some very successful people in our organisation.  I moved along some people in to alternative careers :-) and I let a few people go.

I hope that each and everyone of them got a little something out of it, I know I did.

So to ( in no order) Corey, Mark, Jess, Linda, Medge, Natalia, and Rachel who today made an old man very happy,

And it would be remiss of me  not to mention  current people still in the organisation who I've in someway had a "management" thing with;  Jenny, Josh, Ritchie, Vanessa, Dave K, Dave H, Elena, Derek,  Charlene, Vasa, and Tepa, all of who have great futures and careers in front of them, and past participle people who've made a big thing in the "outside" world", particularly Joe (take me to Huntly), other Dave, Troy, Kirtsi, Laura and Troy  a really big thank you.

Without you it's a just a thing. With you it's an experience. It's been emotional.

And with that it's... to the beer store...

Getting it right, beer and me, the brewery called.....

Back in June,  just after my birthday, I had a most unrewarding beer experience.  This was the Funk Estate – “Oh Lordy!

And being as how beer makes you brave I called them out for it being flat and that I'd avoid them unless they called me.

They called me.

This came about when I got followed on Twitter by Funk Estate @FunkEstate, and I had some trepidation, because I'm not really a confrontational kind of chap, and I didn't really want to get into a debate. Instead they've offered to replace my correctly identified faulty bottle of beer. Which is outstanding.

I don't write this blog/diary for profit, sponsorship, or reward, (which should not stop you from trying to bribe me or send me free things), I write it for my amusement and indulgence.

So I'm torn between my own sense of why I do this, and the smile about getting something for free.

I've declined their offer of replacement,  because I don't want to compromise my very low standards, and because although an outstanding gesture from them I'm not exactly an 'influencer' judging by the number of readers I generally have. Plus I'd feel better about contributing to their sales rather than their costs.

I have friends (yes I have) who have had a much better experience with the Funk Estate beer than I have. although they too considered it's 'flatness' a thing.

I'm off to the bottle shop to get a new bottle and I'll write a new review, hopefully get back onside, and remove that barrier that's got in my way of at least considering  the Funk Estate- Funkn'stein thats on-tap at the Hopscotch beer company.

 

A Letter to Murray McCully - he replies

The reply to my original letter is posted here as a PDF MurraryMcCully or as a picture below,

This is a response to a letter I wrote to my MP, who had changed his mind about supporting the "same sex marriage" bill, one of ony 4 MP's to do so in the negative way.



I'm not convinced it's a form reply.

I've let his secretary know by way of a reply what I think .

Erica

Thank you for your reply.

Please, if you would be so kind, and should the Minister care to know,  tell him that, should he be standing at the next election, he will not be receiving my vote, as he has enjoyed in the past.

Of course there are more pressing matters of Economy, Welfare, Education, Health and Security but he had it in his grasp to be someone who actually did something for everyone, and not because he has a fear and loathing of the real meaning of equality, and was cowered by sanctimonious religious bigotry.

You'll recall I've been married 25 years, I've no axe to grind, no flag to fly, but to take a stance that it's all equal except for some is morally bankrupt, and frankly he's disappointed one time to many.

It might only be one vote, but it might make a difference.

Related articles

• A Letter to Murray McCully (pdubyah.com)

The one with the budget

It's only in the last couple of years that I've had my own personal bank account. Since before being married MrsPdubyah and Me have had a joint bank account. Everything we do is based on a joint income. Seems fair and proper and works really well. We have joint credit cards too. No surprises in our finances.

But I have now got my own personal "stash of cash" in my own bank account. Monthly I pay myself pocket money from my salary. MrsPdubyah approves of this, as one debit means that she knows how much I have taken and does not tsk every time I do something random and buy something on impulse, or frown at the cost of the beer I'm buying. What the eyes can't see the heart can't grieve. Right.

I've added a few extra dollars in to the account, like when I've had a larger than expected commission payment, I give myself a "bonus" and of course there was some money from the estate of the deceased Mother.

And I've been good.

Except that I haven't been good at all. I downloaded the last 12 months of statements and had a set too with the spreadsheet. And then I got all surprised and a little worried about how much I had frittered unwisely.

Sports related things	-2%
Gifts for people	-2%
Online Auctions	-2%
Unfashionable Clothes	-3%
A Writing Pen	-3%
LP Records	-5%
Coffee from one particular café, and the Coffee van man	-9%
Food from specialty stores for the home entertaining	-11%
Takeaway food, and the Café   lifestyle	-11%
Electronic Gadgets I had to have	-12%
Cash that I spent on who knows what	-12%
Beer from Stores	-25%

The "Stash of Cash" isn't a big amount. I chose a number that would allow me to buy some beer without MrsPdubyah having a tizz about the price, and to be fair I drink less, and better beer, on the whole, than I used to. It was also an amount that should have allowed me to accrue some money for a bigger purchase eventually and with carefull management.

The bigger purchase is still a dream, the budget is in tatters. I hadn't realised just how much discretionary money goes on the Coffee purchases, That alone might have gone some way towards a new Tablet. The Takeaway food is a mix between my needy lunches and family take-away nights when it's all too hard to cook, Although that appears to be a lot more than just occasional.

Electronic gadgets oes include an Android phone for the daughter and a DVD player for the house.

The other big ticket was fancy foods for the home entertaining. These are things like expensive cuts of meats and fixings for a special dinner. I'm gad I do that and I will continue to do so, but as out family changes into a 3 adult house we've been buying better quality things in general, and there is less worse food in the house, Bread is a rare treat for instance, and I have a memory of Ice-cream going with fruit.

I've mentioned in passing to MrsPdubyah my findings, to which she said "don't you have anything better to do?" so I might have dodged a bullet. However since she is the Head of Entertainment and Finance my 2013 budget proposal had better be a good one if I'm to seek at least a cost of living rise in my pocket money.

Green Party launches major housing initiatives - I have some questions

Having being raised in a council house in London I have a lot of empathy for the need for state housing.  I lived in a 3 bedroom terrace house with my 7 brothers and sisters, and a dog, that's 5 boys in one room, 3 girls in another and the parents in their own space.  I'm not convinced that families are that size any more.

The problem, as I see it, with the availability of State Houses in New Zealand is that there has been no planning and has been no foresight forever, and land was turned over to property speculators to build on as they saw fit. That there is a shortage of recently built houses  in the council stock is no surprise to anyone. Councils have not invested in their own obligation to provide housing to those that require it.

And so I've been intrigued by recent mumblings in the press about "affordable" housing, which is different to "State housing"

Affordable housing laments that house prices are beyond the reach of many, particularly the first home buyer, the low paid, and the needy. In a supply and demand market the complaints about affordability are loudest from those in need, whilst the investor and older, or wealthier home owner have no issues with the steady climb of house prices, being as how they are on the ladder of ownership (or multiple ownership).

The Affordable housing campaign implies that people still need and should  own property, and they should own property as the backbone of their retirement savings and safety-net.

The affordable housing initiative is aimed at getting people into house ownership, it is not aimed at providing state housing stock to be rotated and used for those who need or desire state housing accommodation.

The Green Party kicked off an expanded version of their affordable housing policy here;

Here : http://www.greens.org.nz/press-releases/green-party-launches-major-housing-initiatives

The package, entitled Home for Life, contains three new policy planks:

1. Progressive Ownership will allow families that are otherwise locked out of the housing market a path way to home ownership by leveraging the Government's low cost of capital.

Families will be able to live in a government-built home, making a basic weekly payment to cover the Crown's investment cost and making flexible payments in addition to that amount that purchase equity in the property off the Crown until they own the property outright.

No deposit would be required and if families moved out of the home before owning it the equity investment made to that point would be paid out.

The media says http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10861089

Under the Greens' progressive home ownership model, the Crown would build houses for up to $300,000 which families would live in, and eventually own if they chose to. The Crown would initially own all the equity in the house because families would not need to pay a deposit.

Families would make weekly payments, similar to rent, to cover the Crown's investment cost - $200 a week on a $300,000 house at a government bond rate of 3.5 per cent. They would make additional weekly payments to buy equity in the property until it is owned outright.

The payments would be about $100 a week, but that figure would be flexible if circumstances changed.

So I did a couple of thinks,

• A Mortgage of 300,000 at a rate of 3.5% results, if you calculate it on a yearly basis, an interest of $10,500


• A rental payment of $22 per week equals $10,400

The net gain would therefore be $100, the mortgage would reduce to $299,900, the equity position would be $100

A payment of $100 per week, or $5,200 per year would eventually see you own the house. But it could take 50 years.

So I went to Sorted.co.nz https://www.sorted.org.nz/calculators/mortgage-repayment

If you only made the minimum weekly payment  ($200 as mentioned above) on a $300,000 mortgage, fixed at 3.5% it would take 100 years, with the actual minimum payment of $208.

Increasing the payment to $301 sees that plummets to a 32 year mortgage

But wait........the MSM says that the Greens appear to be saying

• Mortgage : $415 a week plus other costs (including rates, insurance) of $50 a week = $465 a week


• Renting $350 a week but no asset


• Progressive ownership Basic payment of $200 a week, $100 equity payment and $50 a week for other costs = $350pw. A family who increased the amount they spent on the home by the rate of inflation would own their home outright after 25 years.

I have no idea how they are  going to deliver on that idea, that $100 equity gets them to a 25 year term when the very excellent Sorted.co.nz website says no.

There are a couple of questions though.

Who own the property, and who maintains it? If you can only just afford the minimum payment, by whichever circumstance or choice you choose, who is responsible for the maintenance of your property. The repainting of the outside, the roof, gutters etc, and the maintenance and upkeep inside, a new kitchen in 10 years perhaps, upgrade the bathroom.

What if you want to remodel "your" home?

If house prices rise by 3,5% per year every year then in 10 years the "value" of the house will be $423,179.63.  At what price is it "sold" back to the government for? Do you as the "owner" retain the $123k of paper equity gain, based on it's cost of 300K on day one? Or do you only retain your $5,200 equity contribution (based on your adding where you can $100 per week into the payment)?

10,000 houses a year

The promise that both Labour and the Greens have made  appears to be 10,000 $300,000 houses per year for 10 years.

Are they committing to building a house for a value of $300,000 in 10 years time, when you can demonstrate that should you build that house today in 10 years it is worth, taking into account a 3.5% growth of $425K, of you take this back to a 2% growth you still get $365k.

How much smaller would you have to build a house to fit the $300,000 price tag in 10 years. ?

I'm also going to mention in passing that I'm setting aside the obvious questions like

• Where is the available land to build 100,000 houses?


• Where is the infrastructure that supports it?


• Where are the jobs that support growth this size?

And the fact that as is widely discussed in the media it appears, in New Zealand, that everyone wants to own a fully detached free standing house with a patch of land, and we want this in the central city, or walking distance to the central city. We don't want to live in less desirable neighbourhoods, and not on the city fringes. The property ladder appears to be viewed as a one step stool , not something you climb gradually.

Concluding

What can you conclude from an incomplete policy statement? The Green policy calls for the Crown to invest the Sundry/Other funds in the budget into building houses, a lot of houses. I'm no economist but given the available tools online I can't make the maths work, either there is some cunning plan to renew the mortgage yearly somehow and not have it as a fixed term option, but it is all based on 3.5%, and an initial value of $300,000.

When a house is sold back to the crown at what price is it then sold back to the next owner at? $300,000? Which might annoy the neighbours and keep the house prices low or depressed, decrease the long term equity and provide no retirement saving nest egg? I guess you could end up with a community comprising a bunch of $300,000 slum properties that no-one wants to buy, or maintain and that fall back to State responsibility. Perhaps.

There are questions as to who own the responsibility to maintain and upkeep the housing stock, and there are questions as to where they can be built.

New Zealand will have to get used to terrace or row-houses, or multi-storey dwellings that offer little or no garden space in short order if this is ever going to get past go.

And  on a different note New Zealand is going to have to figure out where the employment opportunities come from that support such a growth.

Related articles

• Greens offer families homes (nzherald.co.nz)


• Greens want rent-to-own scheme (stuff.co.nz)


• Green Party announces housing policy (radionz.co.nz)

January started with a hiss and a roar

It seems that January has  started with a hiss and roar.

New Years day morning (just after midnight) the Father taxi to recover Daughter from the Police Station where she is reporting a stolen purse. Which means having to deal with not only the trauma of being the victim of a crime, which is horrendous the first time, but the resulting tedium of replacing drivers licences, and bank cards, and student ID's.  Lucky though the phone wasn't stolen, I'm not sure what would have been the worse tragedy.

New Kitten. Having put it off for 4 months we finally succumbed to a new kitten. A gray thing, noisy boisterous and playful. Bit of a challenge for the older cat though. Comes complete with micro-chip technology and is de-sexed no more cute kittens will be possible from this one.

New Year resolutions: The exercise, I've started with good intentions. Still find myself over-stepping which mean sore shins. But I'm giving it a full on go, which breaks a sweat, and I'll be into jogging and interval soon. If only the weight would be as co-operative

	Kms	Miles	Time
4-Jan	5.14	3.17	0:45:34
7-Jan	5.28	3.26	0:46:52
9-Jan	4.68	2.89	0:51:01
10-Jan	5.11	3.15	0:48:28
14-Jan	5.72	3.53	0:48:11
16-Jan	5.52	3.40	0:47:59
19-Jan	6.92	4.27	0:58:41
20-Jan	6.6	4.07	1:00:18
21-Jan	1.05	0.65	0:09:23
21-Jan	5.48	3.38	0:49:21

The Birthday: It's MrsPdubyahs birthday, and after so many years I've run out of things to buy for her. It doesn't help that she works with ready access to perfumes and cosmetics, or that I work in IT. This means that overall we have all the gadgets and she has all the look nice things already. I've tried jewelry, but this year we've been selling some of it off as it's only ever seen the inside of a draw. I'm not bitter that she hates the things I buy her, and I'm sure I'm in for a surprise request any day soon. I will get a card and flowers (petrol station w/glitter sparkles).

Friends: We have a good friend who's decided it's time to move to Wellington. This means that should we care to continue to see each other that we would have to fly to Wellington. Which suits us, as we have some family there. Something to look forward to and something to miss.

Family: Son has brought himself a budgerigar. I think this was more his girlfriend than him. Not sure why. the challenge I guess.  Daughter is attending a summer paper at University for Chemistry, that she needs for her further studies, which she's getting closer on deciding, possibly Nutrition and Psychology, or sports science.

Still to come:

The birthday night out with MrsPdubyah, downtown at a venue TBA, it's no use me thinking up something, I'll play dumb and go along with it.

The beach party where we're expected to take a plate and matching drink "from around the world" so for example Sushi and Sake, if you were a bit lame. The challenge is coming up with something that looks flash and takes 5 minutes to throw together.

Happy Families - yes you've left home but.....

MrsPdubyah and me, well we're a nuclear family, 2 adults, 2 children, cat, or more correctly now 4 adults and cat.

Even more correctly 3 adults at home and one who's left to be an adult. The only constant is the cat, and there are plans to get a kitten, it's not a good thing.

The transition from at home to away isn't a clear cut as you'd think. Number one son remains top of mind for MrsPdubyah.

And to be honest I'm about as bad, if not worse. #1 son tells us that they have everything they need, and that they're saving to get the better things. Now as an aside this doesn't appear to hold them back in the buying of needful things like DVD's and gadgets, but that would be mean spirited of me to point out.

Anyway, my  weak moment came when I know that boy child, who has to wear safety shoes for work essentially destroyed them, and they've been hanging off his feet. In a moment of madness I brought him new ones. Not cheap ones mind, because they come in cheap, mid and executive . But enough.

I'm compelled however to balance this out and so I spent an equal amount, after negotiation, on upgrading the iPod for girl child.

I'm poorer and yet richer for the experience.

MrsPdubyah, you'd think would be more pragmatic. I don't think she is.

The latest thing is a bed. Now when you're being frugal and on a budget that would make a monk frown, what you get is what you get, and so they have what is best described as "average" by way of a bed. Lucky for boy child there is a tax rebate, and as such he's in a position to upgrade from fleapit to actual bed.

Have you ever noticed however that everything you want is at least 10%, and often 25% or more than you want to pay.  You can get a fairly decent bed for $700, and a really decent one for $1,000 (New Zealand Peso's) (and they are long term investment, I'm not canvassing where to buy a cheap bed) (comes with a 10 year warranty)

So in a 2-1 deal we'll make the difference between want to spend, and what we want them to spend.

This we justify in out heads as the difference between not being able afford more than noodles for lunch, and having to cut back on chocolate to afford bread, and for a thing that makes a difference. A big thing. Sure we could provide food, but you've left home, fend for yourself, however in the reality of things a bed is pretty important, you spend 1/3 of your life in one asleep, and being young a significant amount more staying awake.

So we're sticking to out guns, you've left home, make your own way, but just in case keep us in the loop because we're a soft touch for some things. Not that we have to be, or that in some way what you're doing is different to what we did when we were at the same stage of life, but we know it's hard, and there is a difference, relative to, the amount of money you need to make a difference and don't have, to what the same amount money means to us. In the big scheme of things.

And we're not a soft touch, there isn't a bottomless money pit. And can I have my credit card back please.

 

Unhappy Families – at least you can pick your friends – part the third.

I make no apology for the airing of dirty laundry and tawdry family behaviour in what follows. I'm as amazed and amused as you might be;

The cast, a family of 8;  5 boys, 3 girls :

#1 Son - Australia / #2 Son - England /  #3 Son (#6 child)  - New Zealand #4 Son (#7 child) England #5 Son (#8 child) - unknown
#1 Sister - England (#3 child) / #2 Sister (#4 child) - Norfolk / #3 Sister (#5 child) - Derby

The prequel....

• My mother died suddenly and unexpectedly, and without a will.


• There are 8 children, and we all live in dispersed places through the world, I'm in New Zealand, I have a brother in Australia. The rest of the family are salted throughout England.


• Only one child, #1 sister lived in proximity to where the mother was living, in a sheltered accommodation (granny ghetto), and spent a fair amount of time with her.


• That we were from a poor background led us to assume that the 'estate', such as it was, consisted only of a small amount of money in a Post Office account.


• It was suggested, by #2 Son, and it was a good suggestion, that should the mother die then that fund should cover the cost of the funeral and anything left to go to the #1 sister.

And it turns out that on her death we know that there was at least a HSBC banking account with some money in it.

Part the Second - the waiting bit  - And this is where it went a bit wrong.......

We have a brother who for whatever reason has decided to go awol. He's been unheard of for a few years. His choice. #1 Sister decided to tell the HSBC that there were only 7 children, which raised a few eyebrows, and caused some discussion between us, we all by consensus acknowledge his fair entitlement to inclusion in the family (As if that's not the law anyway).  #4 son was volunteered to take things in hand and to take legal steps to become the administrator of the estate, since settling with the HSBC would have been impossible with only 7 of 8 signatures required.

A year or so (quickly) went past and I, in a fit of pique, decided to contact the family (Actually rather un-tactfully I put a post on FB) about how I was getting a bit miffed about not knowing what was happening. I got a fair old mouthful of feedback from the brothers (and wives of brothers) about how I needed to take a chill pill.

#4 son then starts to pursue vigorously the steps to become an administrator, which means swearing something or other in front of a judge or some such. Very important, and clearly it comes with a bunch of requirements and obligations, such as accounting for all the estate money, and assigning it to the right places.

#1 sister is asked, politely, to provide a statement or receipts of the money spent from the post office account (As mentioned above), as part of that. Also a general enquiry was made to the banking system to discover any other banking accounts that may have been active.

#1 sister sends a letter and at the end turns on the family

"May I remind all my family that on mum’s birthday it was agreed that as I had looked after mum for many years that when she died I would get everything when she passed. The agreement made still stands.
I do not want anything to do with anyone in my family. So you can take all the bank a/c money & stick it where the sun does not shine. Please do not bother me again."

The list of expenses was a mish-mash of things, but included some items of dubious veracity, and an admission that about 50% of the money that was left had been taken by her for personal expenses and "by this agreement".

Part the third - the bit where you go mmmm...

That's ok. That  there are some dubious expenses listed Is fine, it's nit-picking to go over it with a fine tooth comb and be picky to the Nth degree, but does raise the hackles of the family who want at this point to have a completely fair an open understanding of what is what.

And all this is ok except for a couple of things,

1. Not all the family made this agreement (not that it's not a sensible and fair sounding thing).


2. Turns out from the general enquiry to the banking system that there was another building society account ! Who knew?!

Indeed who knew? #1 sister knew and had produced a statutory declaration signed by her which stated she was legally entitled to the money, and had been paid out in full. #4 son has requested a copy of the declaration as part of his administrator status.

Follows though is a bit of  response from me and fury from #1 Son, #2 Son, and #4 Son. Along the lines that "Any agreement that was made only covered the post office account" and that a building society account was in place was unknown at the time (but not by everyone it seems). The #2 and #3 sisters have been silent on this issue so far between the whole family, they may have or may offer something to #4 son in due course.

What is clear that #1 Sister may have made a bit of a mistake. She's clearly done something that has upset the family and gone against any spirit of agreement or understanding. It might not even be strictly legal.

From the ensuing emails the ongoing consensus seems to be at this point that

• It's not about the money (as if it ever was - the amounts are in reality small).


• It's about fair, and everyone being given the chance to say what happened to the money, and not have some arbitrary "you said in passing I could have it all".


• Those that have an opinion don't think that the money is recoverable from #1 sister.


• Those that have an opinion seem to agree that a legal recourse might be required to make a point.

I'm glad we live so far disbursed from each other, reasoned and judged emails, I think, are the way we're going to resolve this, and resolve it we will. Can you imagine this as an afternoon meeting that you wouldn't want to be at. I have to point out too that MrsPdubyah is convinced that there are more skeletons to uncover, such as the insurance policies that are yet to come to light.

As I get older I get different - the birthday gift from Holden - the update

Holden in Australia rang me today, well a spokesperson did, to talk about my 2009 Holden Cruze, someone in their PR department, who knows, I didn't write his name down. Anyway...

According to the person I spoke to, and you'll get that this is my version of his words paraphrased;

• It's normal for modern cars to have rotors replaced at 60,000 kms


• The brake pads are in constant contact with the disks constantly wearing them down to keep them from warping. (for real)


• Of course it uses rotors quicker than an older car, they're modern, its a modern braking system. (for real)


• Advised that the Mitsubishi Airtrek (which he'd never heard of as a model) has never had rotors and has 160,000 on the clock was because it's older! And regardless must be lighter on the brakes because it's a 4wd SUV


• "Having worked for VW and other manufacturers I can assure you that this isn't unusual" a pitiful plea from authority.


• "You brought you car second hand, what can you expect?" (I've had it 2 years and done 40,000 kms, it been serviced 3 times at the same dealership, he tried to convince me that I'd only done 17,000kms nothing like research)


• He did concede that he'd never heard of this problem, that it sounded unusual, but it was expected.

I did point out that it was a 1.8 litre, mid-sized car, not some V8 performance car. It's a town car, a commuter car, it's a shopping basket.

He did offer to pay 50% of the costs of the Rotors/Discs, on condition that I remove my FB wall post. I told him to email me and I'd consider it. I told him how miffed I was, and resentful that a new in-warranty vehicle was supplied from the factory with items that clearly were never going to make a warranty period. I told him that I wasn't happy and that it was a poor excuse that he was offering up.

I will consider his email should it ever arrive. I'm happy to remove the Facebook wall post to their wall.

Really I'm ok with Tyres wearing out, I get spark plugs, oil filters, air filters, transmission oils. They're what you expect to have changed. I'm even ok with brake pad wear at 60,000 km (although there was no indication that they were low), but I'm not ok with having to replace the rotors/discs because the man at Holden says that "it's normal, and it's the modern way"

Oh and Giltrap Holden North Shore are a super dealership, they really set a benchmark in customer service and go far beyond what you expect from a car dealer. Can't recommend them enough.

Related articles

• Cruze keeps Holden ticking as profit falls (news.com.au)


• As I get older I get different - the birthday gift from Holden (pdubyah.com)

Unhappy Families – at least you can pick your friends - it continues.

I was all "Woe is me" recently, it'd been about 15 months since the mother died, and coming from a widely dispersed family settling the estate was proving a problem. The first problem was that there wasn't a will.

The death was sudden and without suffering, and the fact that there was no will shouldn't be a surprise. If you knew the family you'd know there was no surprise.

So as one of the furthest away from home  I'm also the one who makes the most noise. As you do.

Some of the family were so self absorbed as to be able to say "we don't need the money it'll work it's way out", and this is fine but alas things don't just happen. I was a bit pointed when I remarked that the fact that although money might not be needed by them, it might be useful to someone else, like an old people's refuge, or a injured service mans charity, for instance. Bit of a cad really.

I got a rightful serve by the family, who thought I was picking a fight and making an accusation of lazy, or worse. I felt a bit down about it to be honest. All I wanted was to resolve the estate and to let everyone get on with their disparate lives.

We're not a  close family and despite a few attempts we are never going to have a reconciliation or a get together, just ain't going to happen.

But wait.... since then, younger brother has got his wriggle on, and has sworn an allegiance to the queen or whatever it is you have to do in front of a judge, and has managed to secure a deed of probate which essentially means he is in control. FTW!

So the Letters of Administration will be issued and he will be in a position to make the Bank give up their secrets and allows him the power to withdraw the funds and that, essentially close the estate and divvy up the proceeds.

Except..... #1 sister is playing hard to get. This is the sister who spent a lot of time with the mother, and has made a big effort to make the funeral happen and to tidy up the edges. But at the same time #1 sister made some huge judgment calls about trinkets and trivia that benefitted those close. Don't get me wrong these might have been the right calls and I'm not disputing or going to question it.

But there is some paperwork and some forms that need to be sent from A to B, and so far that hasn't happened. Which is a can't or won't thing.  I'm not  saying that there is nefariousness or underhand at play, and I think that whatever is afoot is played out daily with family estates everywhere. nothing new, no new stories.

But what it does mean is that the mothers estate might only be a couple of months away from settled, and then the family can settle down to it's own life again.

Related articles

• Unhappy Families - at least you can pick your friends. (pdubyah.com)


• Wills and Estates are not for the deceased, but the family left behind. (sassinannasworld.wordpress.com)


• Avoid these 4 awkward issues when drafting a will (business.financialpost.com)

Unhappy Families - at least you can pick your friends.

My mother died just over a year ago March 2011, and despite her age suddenly, and without a will.

I'm from what would now be considered a large family of 8 children (5 boys, 3 girls) and I count myself as Number Six.

#3 child, the eldest sister and her daughter remained the closest, geographically, and spent a lot of time with mother through the years.

The rest of the family dispersed itself to parts afar and wide, myself in New Zealand,  #1 Son in Australia, others to Derby, others to Norfolk, a bit all over the place really. There is even a missing person, the youngest of the family Stewart who one day just stopped talking to #3 sister( #5 child) and hasn't been heard of since.

To say we're not a close family is a bit of an understatement. And I bet this has never happened to anyone who lost a parent;

"When we all arrived at your mums on the day of her funeral <...>  had already cleared the property and all that was left were photographs and bric-a-brac.  Anything of any alleged monetary value was gone"

It's difficult being so far away to be judgemental, but the anger and angst that that causes is palpable and drives a wedge in the family that doesn't need to exist.

Trying to get even a guesstimate on the remaining monetary value of the estate (bank accounts, insurances etc) has proved impossible, everyone has a figure in mind, and they're all different. If someone knows then they're not saying, and trying to get a bank to disclose anything is a mission.

I know it's only a year, and I know that resolution of someone who has dies intestate may take time to resolve. The will of the family however appears to be questionable. We're not close (did I mention that) and by-and-large it seems that at least 5 out of the 8 children (can't speak for the missing one) are financially not challenged enough to want to pursue this more vigorously.

My points of contention and - if you like - anger are around who's doing what? and why are we all waiting for someone else in the family to do something?. And that someone else, why don't they email the rest of us to tell us what's going on? To which a couple of answers, one of which I already mentioned, financially it makes no difference.

Secondly there is a thing called "life" that gets in the way, the birthdays, the holidays, the parties. the getting on with life in general. A day becomes a week, becomes a month, becomes 3 months, it just happens. No one is to blame.

However, whilst a few hundred or a thousand pounds/dollars might not make a difference one way or another to me (or at least 4 others in the family) it might make a difference to the other 3. IT might make a difference to a charity organisation, a sheltered accommodation group, a women's refuge. It's just in the way you look at it as to how to decide if if makes a difference.

I fear that getting to a resolution is going to cause more rifts than it cures, and for an already estranged family it might yet get just that bit stranger.

I need to say that if my  family are reading this - it's not about you, it's about the way I feel about it, remember offence is taken not given, and you can choose.

On Dreams of Winning Lotto

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Cabaret (musical) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)"][/caption]

I was thinking, which in and of itself is dangerous, at least this time there was nothing mechanical between my thoughts and failure. But what if you won a bundle of cash on a lotto draw. A sizable amount.

Now $1,000,000 would change your life and keep you in crayfish and caviar for a bit, but we're talking multiple millions of dollars. real life changing amounts. With a million you'd soon run out, or at least have spent a significant amount and then you're pretty much living your same life, except without the cheap things you used to have, unless you spent it all on crayfish and caviar and then you'd likely as have gout too.

So then, in the unlikely event that I get to win a gazillion dollars there are some ways to spend it.

Have a beer at the Guinness Factory, and at the place they make Heineken, and Leffe, and a Bath Ales, the beer drinkers equivalent at playing at St.Andrews, Augusta, etc. Dates and venues TBA :-)

I'd enjoy the months traveling in France, California and around and about on the wine trail too.

Not a lot about going back to work and keeping my steady job.

The generous of spirit me I'd also like to be able to donate amounts of money to worthy causes. So I'd imagine a scenario where I would put aside say (As an arbitrary number) $500,000 and that would allow me 10 x  50K donations, or 20 x  25K donations or even 100 x 5K donations to something. I'd be happy for instance buying new uniforms and tracksuits for a sports team somewhere knowing that it's instant pleasure.

This isn't to say that with the multi-millions that you wouldn't build a hall or venue for some worthy cause, so the pocket-money donations would be the fun part.

So what would I support as a major give-away? Well Own Glenn has it about right where he pledges a dollar-for-dollar thing, so his foundation would offer $1,000,000 for instance on the proviso that the recipient garners an equivalent amount of funding from other sources. This in some way validates the cause, and mitigate any reluctance or doubt you had that it's just a hand out.

What I'd bnever buy into is a business that I had to run, like a pub, cafe, restaurant. I think I mentioned it before getting up at 5am and working till midnight seems a bit daft. And 7 days a week? I'm sure I can find budding chefs and entertainers who would love that chance with my money,

And you know what I'd open a Cabaret place, a good old-fashioned dinner and 5 acts, comedian, dancers, singing, magic and a band. How unfashionable is that!

Related articles

• Mega Millions Jackpot Is Now $500 Million, Do You Play the Lotto? (clutchmagonline.com)

No Bain - No Gain - Joe Karam claimed a total of $272,822 in legal aid - now wants a share of David Bain's compo

Beyond the HuttRiver - New Zealand today..: Joe Karam claimed a total of $272,822 in legal aid - now wants a share of David Bain's compo...

I repost this here fully acknowledging that it was posted here

Karam Claimed 2045 hours over a 13 month period on the Bain Case

Information released by Legal Aid Services in relation to the 2009 retrial of David Bain: During the period up to and including the 2009 retrial Joe Karam claimed some $365,879 in legal aid. Of this $272,822 was in fees and $93,057 in disbursements (expenses such as accommodation, food and travel). From 22 May 2007 to 31 January 2008, Karam claimed 749 hours for which he was paid $75 per hour as an "unqualified legal executive" acting under the supervision of Michael Reed. From 1 February 2008 to 5 March 2009, Karam claimed about 2045 hours at $95 an hour. This amounts to around an average of 37.5 hours on a weekly basis, allowing for statutory holidaysbut no other time off, for a 13 month period. Karam claimed a further 235 hours for work during the retrial from 6 March 2009 to 5 June 2009. Summary:

749 hours	@ $75	$56,175
2045.5 hours	@ $95	$194,322
235 hours	@ $95	$22,325
TOTAL

It has been suggested that any compensation awarded to David Bain would include payment for legal services to Joe karam. As you can see above, Joe karam was well-paid for his legal services - a total of $272,822 in legal aid

April 2012 Update:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10797188
Convicted killer Clayton Weatherston's legal aid bill has passed $440,000, with more invoices due

Related articles

• No Bain no Gain (pdubyah.com)


• Joe Karam claimed a total of $272,822 in legal aid - now wants a share of David Bain's compo... (peter-petterson.blogspot.com)

update : 28th April http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/6823376/Bains-legal-aid-bill-3-33m

The legal aid bill for David Bain's retrial was $3.33m, the highest amount in legal history.

Convicted in 1995 of murdering his parents, Robin, 58, and Margaret, 50, his sisters Arawa, 19, and Laniet, 18, and his 14-year-old brother Stephen, Bain was acquitted at a 2009 retrial.

The Ministry of Justice told Radio New Zealand that the final figure for Bain's defence was $3.33 million.

Of that amount, $2.33 million went towards the retrial costs and almost $1 million was paid for expenses in the retrial like research, investigators and forensics.

Lawyer's fees throughout the High Court, Court of Appeal and retrial process amounted to $1.77 million of the total bill.

Bain's lawyer, Michael Reed QC, told Radio NZ most of the costs of the retrial were to pay for overseas experts.

Bain is not receiving legal aid in his bid for compensation.

Growing up and letting go - sporting your life vicariously

At 17 it's come down to a battle of wills.

Miss does not want to play club hockey this year. We already agreed that the representative competitions weren't going to be a feature, it still  seems to be about favouritism and who knows who, who's the coach and who's the manager, I'm not saying that the daughters of the various "officials" get picked, it might be the other way around, that it's accidental that the players are picked then oh can mum or dad be the coach/manager/etc.

Anyway we long ago decided that it wasn't fair or proper to insist on Miss participating in a short season of representative grade hockey, and frankly it's a cheaper option.  She has played for various A grade and occasional B grade teams over many years, and this year enough is enough, there wasn't going to be enough excitement in it. Besides which it could encroach on earning opportunities and a part-time job

School Hockey is fine, we're down with that, and I think she was hoping to be captain of the 1st XI this year, secretly if not openly. It may come to pass, she has a reasonable chance, but then it's down to the coach. And the coach is the same one that coaches the rep team. We'll see how that plays out.

But club hockey is another thing altogether. She played for the championship winning team last year, as probably the youngest team member, alongside a couple of very good current and ex black-stick and junior black-stick players, acquitted herself well, scored a couple of goals and generally seemed to enjoy it.

This year though after the summer break it seems that the fun isn't there any more.

And this is where, as a parent, it gets tough. I think we've been pretty fair and even in pushing and insisting on sports and achievements. Not to the point of forcing her to play, but making sure that we supported and encouraged where possible and supported the decisions that she wanted to make. It's cost us a fair bit of money too, it's not cheap, kit, travel, turf fees, club fees , physio visits, gym memberships etc.

With age and experience I'd prefer that she continued, at least for this year, at least untill she went to University, or got a job, and then I'd be happy to let it go. Accept that adulthood and decision-making has arrived and needs to be respected. I've even suggested that she start the season and then decide.

On reflection though this would be quitting, and I've never let my children quit half way through a team commitment.

So I have a quandary, give up and let go, or push because that's what I'd like to see happen.

Mojo Mathers - Moments of Madness

All this despite the Green party having fore-knowledge and already having access to a taxpayer-funded budget of $5,600,000 over the term of parliament to provide MP Support.. read on..

There was a furious display of Faux Outrage yesterday over a news item that appeared, purporting to indicate that the Speaker of the House of Parliment in New Zealand had told a new MP, who happens to have a disability of profound deafness, that Parliamentary Services would not fund a "note taker" to the sum of $20-30,000, and that she had "to fund it herself"

MPs gets funding to cover 80 hours of staff time a week, or two full-time equivalent workers, for assistants inside and outside Parliament.

Mathers estimates she needs 1000 hours a year for staff to send an instant transcript of proceedings in the debating chamber to a laptop on her desk.

However that's not quite true, The Original News Article is here "The Green Party reacted with outrage today after Ms Mathers was told she would have to fund her note-taker from her MP support budget, or that the party would have to fund it."

I might be wrong but a "note taker" is a physical person who in real-time transcribes what is happening in the debating chamber so that the MP can participate in the debate. And it was pointed out by someone on Twitter "Can I just point out. NZ govt sits for approx 352 hours/yr = 30k/352hrs/3 = $416/hr/govt term. THATS EXPENSIVE!"

The Speaker of the house, Dr Smith, said "while Parliamentary Service paid for the technological support, the actual note-taker was a staffing cost, and he did not have the authority to approve such funding.

"Staff time like that, or support like that, is not something I can just ask the Parliamentary Service to provide,'' he said.

"Support for Members of Parliament is something that's spelt out in the Speaker's directions, its separately appropriated by Parliament. I can't, under the law, simply say 'oh, forget about that, we'll put a bit of money in from here or there', it's something I have to consult on.''

The NZ HErald are  having a poll on the issue today:



And WhaleOil on his blog today posted this  Questions for the Greens.

Why are the Greens not telling anyone that she worked for 5 years as a senior policy advisor for The Greens?

She was also a parliamentary advisor at one point.

That means she was well aware of the Parliamentary environment.

I wonder whether she or the Greens have previously paid for her to have an electronic note taker in that environment before?

Clearly the Greens are using disability as a means to grandstand

It's also been pointed out variously that this requirement hasn't come as a surprise, it's been known about for months, at least since the election in 2011.

Personally I don't think this is an issue of making the proceedings of the chamber of the house of parliament accessible to 700,000 hearing impaired individuals in NZ, but the introduction of close captioned coverage, I think this the Green party (it could have been any party) pushing the envelope and making an issue to be able to maximize their already generous $5.6million budget, it's not an attack on the disabled, or one person with a disability, it's not about the rights of the individual. It's about troughing.

Nobody that I know of is denying that Mojo Mathers should be able to participate fully in a role as MP, which means that she has a special and specific need, not currently funded or provided for by Parlimentary Services. To me its not a big deal. There is taxpayer funding provided to all parties for MP support, taxpayer funding that they, the MP's have variously voted for and increased over the years.

Nobody should compare deafness to mobility disability, wheelchair access is provisioned for and is included in the legal requirements for buildings. Deafness and Wheelchair not the same. Not close.

Twitter and various blogs got into a major tizzie over this, and it's doubtful, today, if any of them have had second thoughts, pause to reconsider or indeed feel sheepish enough to actually agree that what happened wasn't what they thought, which included the end of the world, end end of democracy, vicious and deliberate disability bashing, wilful and negligent callousness etc etc.

I doubt it.

Related articles

• Smith's 'Mojo Moment' (kutarere.wordpress.com)


• Deaf MP pushing for tech upgrade (nzherald.co.nz)


• Entitlement and the Green Experience  (Sage of the South)

Trying Teen Times – the grown up one – Part the Sixth – A New Car

Well we found a car, a very low mileage two owner Mazda Astina 1994 - which makes it only slightly younger that the #Boychild, and so we brought it.  It comes as standard including the steel wheels, factory stereo and an aerial that goes up and down when you put the radio on - it even has a cassette tape  player!

It's not that we didn't want to but as I may have mentioned it was about continued independence and freedom. I can almost hear the sighs and see the eye-rolling exasperation from some of you :- "How spoilt and unnecessary is that?" you may be thinking (about the car not the sighs and eyes).

We're not proud, we are definitely not rich, and this puts us even further away from any goal of savings we might have. It's not about those things, it's about family and it's about getting on. We're lucky to be able to, as I'm sure many of you are not as lucky, or fortunate.

It's insured against crashing into someone else and from being stolen, as are all the cars we variously own, and is good to go. How mad is insurance pricing though? 3rd Party, Fire and Theft $80 per Quarter, or Fully Comp at $80 per month. It's a car not the crown jewels, he hasn't been in an accident in three years, may that continue.

I don't know if it's as economical, sadly #Boychild isn't in the least bit connected with the finer nuances of ownership of cars, such as, oh, checking the water in the washer bottle, or the fuel mileage he can expect from a litre of go-juice



I'll feel better about him travelling to and fro in this one over the last one he had/has which really was, in the local parlance "a bomb" and is for sale to someone who might wish to buy it - really cheap.

 

Related articles

• Trying Teen Times - the grown up one - Part the Fifth - Cars (pdubyah.com)

Trying Teen Times – the grown up one – Part the Fifth - Cars

A couple of years ago #Boychild wanted a car, and we made him save his hard-earned cash for one. It was only a 'bomb', and was never going to last the distance. To be honest we paid half the cost and insisted that he have at least 3rd party insurance, and undertake a defensive driving course.

As an aside you get no discount whatsoever for doing a defensive driving course, which seems wrong. He's had one accident where he bumped into someone and we settled for cash.

We've had to buy tires, and a battery, and some rust work fixed up a bit, oh and he's had the brakes fixed.

Owning a boat would be cheaper!

Today it died. It appears to my un-mechanical eye that the head gasket has failed and that'll be terminal, since the cost of fixing that would be more than the car costs, or owes us. Madness.

The difficult part of this as a parent is that #Boychild is currently in-between gigs, i.e. he's unemployed at this present moment in time (and that's a whole other story). And he does have some of a social life, friends he visits and a long time girlfriend who lives way way over the other side of town.

Public transport is a bit of a joke and would add multiple hours of travel time onto a simple journey. Sure he can walk locally and get the bus where he knows he has to be where he has to be, but the trauma of going to self-reliant to public transport is a big ask.

The dilemma then, as a parent, is that we need to encourage said #Boychild his independence, and to encourage him to fly the nest and venture on his own two feet. Not having his own self-reliance and looking for a job is a bit of a handicap.

So once again I find my laser-eye surgery slipping further from my grasp as we (MrsPdubyah and me) are sort of resigned to furnishing a replacement set of wheels.

It just never ends.

Death becomes you

Troy Davis. recently executed by order of the state for a murder. There have however been 36 executions, all by lethal injection in 2011 so far, 36 execution in relation to 44 murders.

Not a lot being said or mentioned about any of these people. Seems the outrage is only reserved for special occasions. I'm not belittling Troy Davis or his circumstance, I'm not saying anyone was incorrectly executed, I'm just saying that we're pretty selective about what out outrage is reserved for.

State execution is seems is the elephant in the room.

Since 1977 there have been 1270 state sanctioned executions, of which only 12 were females. 712 Whites and 441 Blacks and 16 Native Americans.

The Total Number of Death Row Inmates as of January 1, 2011: 3,251



The Total Number of people on Death Row continues to rise




State ordered executions continue to be problematical, on many levels. Eye for an eye is all well and good, but it's painfully obvious that time needed or being taken to get from a jury trial verdict, through statutory appeal, to further appeal and then carrying out the sentence isn't as big a deterrent as it's supposed to be. Incarceration of the adjudged guilty with the knowledge that they have any number of years waiting for sentence to be carried out seems a cruel and unusual punishment in and of itself. Leaving aside the fact that state sponsored execution is the sentence.

Am I a liberal on this? Is incarceration enough? Does death become the guilty? Does that help anyone? What closure is that?