People stifled by civilisation and regulation.

NZ based grandchildren open Christmas presents. 

The family gather.

Christmas Day...
We spent most of Christmas Day running our twenty fifth community Christmas Day dinner. You can read the local paper's report on that. It was at one stage VERY stressful. Somehow the people who cook the meat started the process very late so the meat was over three quarters of an hour late. We were lucky in that we had some good singers who entertained the gathered throng. The firemen did a massive job in cutting the meat at super fast speed. They cut in my office and people relayed it up to where we were dishing out the food. When we had cleaned up sufficiently and I had delivered borrowed tables to their owners we finally got home late afternoon to spend some time with the family. It felt like every muscle in my body hurt.
Toitu early settlers museum.
Today with our son and his family we visited the Toitu early settlers museum. We will visit again when we have more time. It was an interesting experience. I was so impressed with the resilience, drive and basic ability to set up home and survive in a new, unforgiving environment. They built houses out of material available. They made vehicles and machinery out of bits and peices. They modified existing vehicles to suit different situations. They invented gadgets. As I looked at the model of a settlers house I thought "You would be shot making that today!" But that got me thinking and asking questions. A poor man today wanting to add a wall to his house would not get passed the permit! The permit to do it would cost him heaps. He would have to employ a registered carpenter to do work he could do and would have to use expensive materials. He may have dreams, initiative and abilities but regulations and bureaucratic bullshit stifle him. The local by-laws keep him down. Again a poor man cannot keep his old car going. Because one or two rust buckets of cars got squashed in accidents with bigger vehicles, old cars have trouble getting warrants of fitness. Any signs of rust and it gets expensive. It annoys me too. My son and I once worked for months on an old car when he was a teenager. It was a great exercise in learning about vehicles, as well as father and son communication. We had to get it OK'd by the Land Transport Act authorities. It had small pock mark blemishes in a few places on the windscreen  and a couple of inconsequential spots of rust.  It would cost more than the car was worth to repair these. (People have hanging dice, rev counters, GPS screens all blocking their windscreen view more than these little weld indentations - it had passed a warrant test at the garage.) They declared also that they would have to strip and check the brake system, which would cost us heaps.  Sadly all our work was wasted... this perfectly good functioning little car had to be scrapped! The Land Transport Authority has representatives with a vested interest in making you buy more expensive vehicles. 
Anyway, I just think in todays world, the spirit of our early settlers, their initiative, their inventiveness and resilience is being squashed by the mad bureaucracy that surrounds us. It may keep us safer, but it kills the "spirit".

Goodbye Toymotor!

I was "blog browsing" the other night. (I just kept clicking on "next blog" to see what came up) I came across this blog where there was a discussion on whether you could love two people (romantically) at the same time. Various opinions were expressed. Let me tell you about two people I love. One is "Wicked Wanda" my 1990 Nissan Bluebird. The other is "Toymotor" my 1989 diesel Toyota Liteace van. Each has a different personality, but I enjoy both. On the open road "Wanda" and I are in ecstatic union as we sweep around corners, triumph over hills and eat up boring straights with great delight, incredible comfort and few rattles. .. she is lovely. But "Toymotor" is a faithful work horse. We greet each other warmly each morning and embark on our day together. We chug through city traffic, up hills, visit fire stations and do ministry business. With tools and hardware on board we are a team for Habitat for Humanity. At other times we move furniture for people, for the church or for the night shelter. As a working team we are in union, unstoppable and there's a quiet companionship together getting the jobs done. 

Today I cleaned all my "stuff" out of "Toymotor" and she waits at the gate to be taken away and sold for scrap! I am sad and angry. I am angry at Mr Knewstubb, at the State Insurance Company and at NZ's Land Transport Safety Authority. (LTSA) Here's the sad story.

On Wednesday February 17th after lunch, Mr Knewstubb was driving his electrician's van in the suburb of Sawyers Bay. I in "Toymotor" followed him around a round-about and down a street leading toward my house. I was on my way home, to pack and head away on holiday. Mr Knewstubb slowed, so I slowed behind him. His brake lights came on and he tended to drift toward the left side of the road as if he was going to park or was looking for an address on the left. I watched his indicator lights to see if there was any communication as to what he was doing. Nothing came, so I changed gear and pulled out to pass him. Just as I came along side him, to my surprise and horror he turned right, either to do a U turn or to drive into a driveway across the road. I swerved but could not avoid colliding with his van and its bull bars. I was angry, but did not express my feelings, just exchanged information and drove home. I notified my insurance company and went on holiday. Upon returning I got a note from Mr Knewstubb's insurance company saying that I was obviously liable for the accident. I wrote a hasty note expressing my experience of the accident with a copy to both Mr Knewstubb and my insurance company, definitely not accepting liability.

In consultation with State Insurance (my insurer) I went to a panel beater. He looked at poor "Toymotor" from his office and declared it a write off straight away. He went out and took photos, without even opening doors to truly assess the damage. In due course State Insurance informed me they would "Write off" Toymotor" and pay me $1500. (Because I could not prove I was not at fault I would have to pay an excess of $300) "Toymotor" cost me $1800 to buy and was insured for that amount. I have two doors on an old van that I could use to replace the damaged doors. I could get some assistance and panel beat the damaged panel between the damaged doors. So I asked State if I could buy "Toymotor" off them and repair it. "Yes" they said, and gave the price as $500, which would be taken off the $1500. But they would de-register the van. To re-register the van takes a lot of money and because of Land Transport Safety Authority rulings, requires a very rigorous test of the vehicle, that few older vehicles would pass.  This registration process (bureaucratic crap!) makes the repairs a costly and an economically risky option. I asked two questions of State Insurance. Is it possible not to de-register "Toymotor"? Answer "No"... from a survey of the hastily taken photos they claim she is structurally damaged. Second question... "What would happen if I withdrew my claim, received no money from them at all, I could then fix my loved van at my expense?"  The first answer given was that they would still de-register her. "But you can't!" I said, "It is MY van!" After consultation and another phone call I was told that they would still inform the LTSA that my van was written off and "structurally damaged".... more cost, more risk. I am not just being sentimental here. "Toymotor" is economical. She has the versatility and usefulness of a van, but the mobility of a small car. She is sooo good as an around-town-utility-vehicle, and in real terms worth a lot more than $1800 to me and my work. I was not impressed with the State Insurance conversations. To me they seemed inflexible, quoting "the book" at me, and unwilling to listen. I was extremely annoyed. One lady rang and asked me if the road tax had been paid. I replied "Yes it had". "We'll just check that" she responded and went on line to check it while I waited, feeling like she thought I was telling fibs. If you are not going to trust your customers, why ask the question? Why not check it before you phone? Grrr.  I am painted into a corner. Nothing gives me the opening to repair this wee van. The State Insurance company and the LTSA militate against it, so she has to be dumped. If only they could see sense and recognise that she is only written off because of the low insurance cover, and not because of "terminal" damage. If they withdrew the need to re-register, I would fix her up. But no, inflexibility and stupidity reign supreme. I think I will be changing insurance companies. In all the years I have been insuring with State this is my first claim, and just a little bit of flexibility would have been nice. We had to argue to convince them we were due a refund on the road user tax charges! Good grief!

I have for a long time objected to LTSA rulings. The people who make the rules in the LTSA have a vested interest in keeping old cars off the road. They are better off if you are forced to buy newer models. I object because I see lots of low income people getting into foolish debt to buy cars they can't afford. At the same time, still running, good, safe vehicles are being dumped because of overbearing LTSA rules.

Anyway Mr Knewstubb, State Insurance Company and the LTSA have combined to ensure  "Toymotor" dies.  I am angry at them. To you three entities I say, I probably will forgive you some time, but just now, in Christian love of course, in the words of a song, "May the bird of paradise fly up your nose!". You have caused me some great cost, real inconvenience and now limited my work in the community. Thanks for nothing!

Actually it is my fault. My father gave me one or two driving lessons. He died a few weeks later. I don't think my driving contributed to his demise. I remember one bit of advice he gave me about driving. He said, "Drive as if everybody else on the road were idiots!" If I had remembered that before I passed Mr Knewstubb, all of the above would not have happened.

Below: "Toymotor" as I will remember her. A faithful workhorse.