Telemarketing 3

Been a long time but anyway. At least six telemarketer/survey calls in about a week! What do I do to deserve this crap? Getting really good at getting rid of them now though...

Police U-turns

I don't really like having a go at the police but after the incident in the Buller Gorge last year you would think that the cops maybe would be taking more care with the way they handled their cars in traffic.

On the way down to Wellington on Sunday I was following a police car (one car ahead of me) when the cop all of a sudden decided that they were going the wrong way and needed to do a U-turn.  This was in reasonably heavy traffic with two lanes going both ways.

To start the manoeuvre the cop simply pulled across into the opposite lanes - no indicator, no flashing lights or anything.  Unfortunately two lanes were not enough to complete the turn and so by the time I went past the car was in reverse and I was wondering if I was about to be rammed in the side by a cop car.  Additionally, all of the traffic in the opposing two lanes had to stop otherwise they'd pile into the cop car - wonder if there were any nose to tails?

Anyway, the cop didn't hit me but I wonder what he would have done if it had been another member of the public pulling the same kind of stunt?  Probably be sentenced to life imprisonment or something.  The thing that most annoys me is the no indication/Christmas tree lights etc to warn other motorists and that the cop thought that it was perfectly ok to do that sort of thing.  Be nice if they could set better examples out on the road...

Oh, and to top it all off, while we were parked outside Wellington Motorcycles a mufti cop tried to back into the bike bike between Brian's & my bike and a parked car.  There was not enough room for a mini let alone a commodore!  He eventually worked this out and drove off without knocking our bikes over - phew!  Must have got his licence out of a weet-bix packet...

C'mon guys!

Acc Levies

Hurray! The ACC component of motor vehicle registration has gone up $50! I'm picking motor vehicles = all vehicles.

http://www.acc.co.nz/levies-and-cover/levy-consultation-2008-09/index.htm

and so has the levy on petrol...so petrol just got dearer again!

http://www.acc.co.nz/levies-and-cover/news/DIS_CTRB094595?ssSourceNodeId=4209&ssSourceSiteId=1494

Sensible parenting

I ain't got no kids, I ain't no expert but I like this guy's style:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062201668_pf.html

ACC Levies

Scary, scary, found this article about ACC levies:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10481024

Looks like they're thinking of stinging bikers even more for ACC levies due to their fuel efficiency (less ACC from petrol taxes).

Also interesting is the "The average cost of motorcycle injuries per year is $1500 per registered motorcycle." Let me guess this calculation was cost of all motorcycling injuries divided by the number of registered bikes. What about all the unregistered trailees & farm bikes/quads? What about all the other sports / hobbies where no ACC levies are paid? It goes on about other road users (forgetting cyclists & pedestrians) subsidising bike injuries - but doesn't everyone that pays ACC levies somewhere or other pay for all those non-levied activities? Don't cars sometimes hit bikes?

Too hard - just sting the bikers...

Telemarketing 2

You'll never guess...yep two nights in a row I've been pestered!

This time it was someone selling insurance and I wasn't in the mood for mucking around with them. I just told them I was insured up to my eyeballs and they gave up.

Still a couple of minutes of my life wasted though...

Telemarketing

Don't ya just get sick of people ringing up and wanting to do you a better deal on something, beg money off you or answer some survey? Well I do and here's my latest experience.

Phone rings at just before 9pm. Foreigner on the other end takes about three goes at saying "Hi I'm someone from Slingshot".

When we finally get past this bit she says, "Who have you got your home phone rental & tolls with - Telecom or TelstraClear?"

I say, "Neither."

She says, "Who are you with then?"

Me: "None of your business."

She wises up and senses she's not going to get anywhere and gives up...

One of my better experiences - got rid of them pretty quick and had a bit of a laugh. Recommend you try a similar strategy - try to put all of their customer services training to the test: see if you can make them mad, infuriate them, give them nothing, have fun. It's their job to be polite & friendly - see how far you can stretch things. After all if they insult you then you can always ring their manager to complain. If they're happy to waste your time by interrupting your life then make sure you waste every second they spend speaking to you. Have fun!

Cheesecutters again

Forgot to mention in the previous blog that the cheesecutter website (www.cheesecutter.co.nz) has the petition online. If you haven't been able to sign a copy (NZ bikers only) you can do it there. Just make sure you only sign it once or your name will not count.

If you're a bike or anyone concerned about the safety of the barriers, please sign the petition.

Cheesecutter Wire Barriers

Been a long time since I ranted so I'll ease back into with some snippets from my bike blog about the Cheesecutter Protest ride that was held in the weekend.

As a result of a horrific accident in Auckland where a young biker was
killed after crashing and hitting a Wire rope barrier the NZ biker community
(particularly on the Kiwi Biker website) has been pretty vocal in their condemning of the wire "cheesecutter" barriers and a number of protest rides have been organised.

Sunday the 11th of November was Wellington's turn and so I had to be there. Mark & Shelly were keen and I managed to talk Brian into stealing his brother's bike and bringing Linda down for the ride too.

When we got into Wellington we hooked up with the other group of riders and made our way to park up outside the parliament buildings before heading into the parliament grounds for the speeches.

First up was "Colapop" who had done a lot of the organising for the ride and he spoke very well about why we were there and what we were hoping to achieve - a top guy.

Secondly we had Marian Hobbs explaining how our petition might help us get a voice at any select committee looking into road safety etc.

Lastly, another Kiwi Biker who's name escapes me read quite a long speech but was once again very well spoken and made some very good points.

All up the organisers think that around 200 bikers turned up with some coming from the Hawkes Bay and Wanganui.

Full Blog here.

More of my pics here.

Other Kiwi Bikers' pictures here.

Ride discussion thread here.

And the Cheesecutter website here.