Posts by Lucy Telfar Barnard
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electricity which could be generated with solar panels and/or a wind generator.
Nice idea, but... assuming that the council won't be issuing any building or resource consents for the red zone, your options would be rather limited:
- standard available wind generators would likely require building (possibly resource) consent,
- solar hot water needs building consent if it goes on your roof;
- presumably roof-mounted photovoltaic would also require building consent;
- relying on wind and sun for household energy needs usually achieved in conjunction with wet-back hot water. Depending on your clean air zone and existing solid fuel heating, installing a wetback is either completely forbidden or requires resource consent.Unless you're up for civil disobedience (which in this instance I would support), that leaves you with ground-mounted photovoltaic panels and/or LPG as your only energy options. Not impossible, but certainly much harder.
Also, insurance would not be available, especially if you go for the civil disobedience option, since insurance is generally null if you build without consent. If you have a mortgage, that would be a problem.
ETA: Also, if the government owns all the land around you and decides bits of it aren't roads any more (they're trying to force you off, remember) and trespasses you from that land, your only access in and out will be by the stinky (see below) river. Again, not impossible (as any Venetian will tell you!), but worth bearing in mind.
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Southerly: Tower Insurance Have Some Bad…, in reply to Martin Lindberg,
Have any other insurance companies stepped up to say that they would handle this differently?
This is an important question. I've read a number of people saying they'll be dropping Tower because of this behaviour. As far as I can tell, it's not just Tower people should be dropping; and it's not clear who people might want to sign up with instead. Anyone know?
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Sorry, quick question: you say "the rateable value of the land is $80,000 less than that assessed by a registered valuer when we purchased the property". But when it comes to payment under option A, the value of the land doens't really matter , it's the value of the total (CV) that's important.
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So, how about... you get Tower to pay out the $200K to repair. That means they've got to find a way to fix the house on its current site. If they can't, then as others have noted you can invoke the total replacement clause. But if they somehow can, then you continue living in it. When the government come to bulldoze it (because it's in the red zone), you refuse permission (because you can't be seen to allow the bulldozing or that would void your policy). The government bulldoze it anyway, because that's what they'll do. Then Tower have to pay out full replacement value (just as they would if some student went on a rampage with a bulldozer and knocked your house down) AS WELL as already having paid to repair it. That would be very satisfying.
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Hard News: Mind Blending, in reply to Craig Ranapia,
Well, yoghurt kills thrush. How would yoghurt wrestling go?
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Hard News: Mind Blending, in reply to Joanna,
We've debated this for a long time. I think because Megan and I are Serious Sports People, we had a preference for mud. But others wanted to see Jelly. But seriously, I'll wrestle Megan in whatever substance I get the chance to
Sorry to join the conversation late, but I have it on good (though fortunately not firsthand) authority that the high sugar content in Jelly tends to lend itself to raging thrush infections. Go for the mud.
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Ha! I was discussing Tron with Mr Telfar last night, after our daughter had said she wanted to see Legacy. He said Legacy couldn't be any worse than the original. I said Tron was cool. He said it was [lame], that it was a cult movie, and that movies achieve cult status by being bad. I pointed out that movies also achieve cult status by being sci-fi. He responded with "They wore hockey helmets! And had frisbees as their `data discs'." And then showed me a promotional poster featuring said hockey helmets.
I still maintain it was cool. I bet when he reads this column he changes his mind and agrees with me (that's how influential Russell is). Unless he reads this as well, in which case, damn! Can one post-date a post?
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Did anyone else read Sean Plunket's "poem" in this morning's ComPost? I was appalled on so many levels. It was so bad I was thrown into fits of hysterical laughter. I don't feel that's an appropriate response, but what am I supposed to do when presented with lines like "Could robots work where men are mortal to pierce the dangers of that portal"?
Am I alone in this horror?
/me wanders back upthread to find some recovery in Larkin. -
I think it only fair to point out that chicken pox has nothing whatsoever to do with chickens. If your neighbours were at fault, then it was them, not their fowl, which infected you.
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"Well, you are a doctor, aren't you?"
I believe the correct response is "yes... of sorts...".