World oil prices remain weak, below $US 125 a barrel overnight which is $US 20 a barrel less than the peak price. There is thus room for a few cents a litre more to come off pump petrol prices, though hindering this is a fall in the value of the New Zealand dollar this week.

91 Octane was last at 206.9c a litre on June 12. It had been at that price for only two days when it leapt by 6c.

This makes 218.9c a litre the peak pump price to date of this Third Oil Shock. That price was reached on July 7, when world oil prices (driven by speculators) reached $US 145 a barrel. They had fallen back well under $US 130 a barrel overnight.

When the markets settle down, it will become clearer how much further pump prices here should fall, given that roughly, each $US 1 a barrel movement in world prices translates to 1c at the pumps, while each 1c movement in the Kiwi dollar against the Greenback also translates to 1c at the pumps.

Since the peak, our dollar has firmed against the American one, while crude prices have been collapsing, so everything is in our favour for a change.

We took the bus to town for a film festival movie (One Hundred Nails, glorious) and on the bus home afterwards, already running very late (because of Snapper problems, the driver said) the bus suddenly slowed to no more than 5 kmh and the driver had to pull over.

It had overheated, he said, because the Snapper equipment was overloading it.

We got off and walked the rest of the way, as did most of the other passengers on this fairly crowded bus. We felt sorry for the driver and it was good to see that nobody seemed annoyed with him for the truncated trip.

The bus we caught going in had the Snapper equipment turned off, which seems to be the case in about half the buses I've observed.

Given the Morning Report reporter's insistence that she had been told Snapper was working perfectly, I'll be emailing the bus company to ask what is really going on.

Don't get me wrong, I think the Snapper card is a great idea that will provide many benefits, but as I have said before, I think its introduction has been disorganised and all the bugs should have been fixed before it was extended past Route 17 to the rest of the Go Wellington routes.

The reporter contacted me earlier this week as a result of reading articles on this blog about Snapper, which is a smart-card system that is not only replacing the old 10-trip bus tickets, but can be used to pay for coffee, drycleaning and many other small purchases at retailers that will also have Snapper readers.

I told her that I thought the introduction of Snapper was proceeding in a disorganised way, as, for example, Route 17 buses have been Snapper-equipped for a trial since April, yet late last week users were told by email that from this week, there was no guarantee of getting a Snapper-enabled bus on this route, so we should be prepared to use other forms of payment, such as cash or a 10-trip ticket. And, of five 17s I have caught so far this week, only one has had its Snapper reader working. Just why this should be the case in the week the system was meant to have been introduced across the Go Wellington network is anyone’s guess, and is unacceptably bad customer relations for passengers on a route where every bus had been Snapper-enabled for months and the cards had been used every trip by many passengers.

I also told her I thought the Snapper system was a very good idea, that the technology had been proven overseas (London’s Oyster card and Hong Kong’s Octopus, for example), and that the problems I had noted on this blog were clearly only teething problems, but that Go Wellington seemed to be rushing into its system-wide introduction a little early.

She went to the bus company and came back and told me I was wrong, that everything was fine and working perfectly, according to the bus company, which to prove it provided her with a large number of happy Snappers from the ANZ Bank (who seemed from her report to use it to buy coffee rather than catch buses).

As I said, nothing she said gave me the impression she actually uses the buses.

With world oil prices still falling, the other firms will follow, and indeed, BP and Gull quickly did.

It is good to see an example of an oil company putting down pump prices almost as fast as they are raised in response to international price movements. It's also a 1c bigger drop than the Automobile Association called for yesterday.

World crude oil prices have fallen $US 10 a barrel to around $US 134 in the past few days and refined products have followed them down.

We've all been feeling the pinch at the gas pump for some time now, but the residual effect of fuel prices is really starting to hit home--EVERYTHING has gotten more expensive from groceries to clothes to sheets and towels. Even the $.99 store brand pretzels I buy are up to $1.29.

We heard from our oil company the other day about fuel costs for the winter--our "budget" payment is going to go up $200 a month, and my husband's salary is, well, let's just say not going anywhere, lol.

It's frightening to say the least. For the first time in 15 years, I find myself facing the very real possibility that I will have to return to working outside the home. I don't mean a "fun" retail job just to get me out a little bit and gets me some pin money; I mean a real, honest-to-God panty hose and heels job.

I'm not afraid to work; in fact, it would probably do my brain and my soul a world of good. But, what will it mean for my family? My girls are used to me being home when they get home from school (or just a few minutes behind them) or always being available if they are sick or have forgotten something or have some other crisis during the day. When they were infants, I couldn't have imagined leaving them in daycare, but now that they are in middle school and high school, I feel it's more important than ever that I be around for them.

I'm angry that something so nebulous as "THE ECONOMY" can wreak such havoc on my day-to-day to life. How do you fight something that you don't really understand to begin with? How do you defend yourself against something you can't control? How do you deal with a situation you are in through no fault of your own?

Until Next Time,

Joan

• Update 8am Thursday 17: The price has now gone back to 218.9c, after several days at the lower rate. Very odd.

As one of the regular No 17 users given the chance to trial Snapper, I have received an email saying that the dedicated buses with Snapper readers used on the route are being merged back into the wider bus fleet from Monday and that not all No 17s will now have Snapper readers.

“What that means for you is that the bus that picks you up on Route 17 may or may not be Snapper enabled. To ensure that you are not inconvenienced, please ensure that you have an alternative method of payment available to you,” the email says.

This is not something likely to generate enthusiasm for the new payment system. It means that trial commuters used to using Snapper cards (who were, very generously, given cards with $60 already loaded into them) will now need to again make sure they have cash or a cardboard 10-trip ticket in case the bus that turns up doesn’t have a Snapper reader.

From my general observation, Snapper readers have been installed at the front and rear doors of most of Go Wellington’s trolley and diesel buses, so most passengers will get a Snapper-enabled bus most times.

But my reading of the email suggests not all drivers have yet been properly trained in the use of the new system, so the Snapper readers may not be working on all buses.

There also seem clearly still to be technical issues. Twice last week, the drivers of Route 17 buses I was on had to pull over and stop because the Snapper system had stopped and needed rebooting. This caused such a delay with one bus that the next one caught up with it despite the 15 minute timetabled frequency between the two services. And my observation indicates that some Snapper users still have problems getting the reader to accept their card. I gave up trying to use mine and now use still only my Gold Pass because of this problem.

Such a change should not have been made until all buses and drivers were ready for this system, which will soon replace the 10-trip tickets.

Snapper cardholders can also use their cards to buy coffees and other small purchases in various places round town. You put money onto these smart cards either at the retail outlets that sell bus tickets or over the Net, and readers on the bus or in a café or other store deduct the bus trip, coffee or whatever from the balance on the card.

At present, on bus trips, the cards give a 20 per cent discount off the cash fare, which is the same as with a 10-trip ticket. The email I got said there would be a 25 per cent discount once all buses were Snapper-enabled, which seems good. The savings being made by the bus company are being shared with customers.

I am astonished that many regular bus users still pay cash despite the big savings to be gained from a 10-trip ticket (and now Snapper) and the monthly $95 Gold Pass (which is likely to be incorporated into Snapper later this year; a smart card can handle such a transaction easily by charging for all bus rides up to the $95 maximum in a month and then allowing free rides).

On the No 17 I often catch, I see a woman get on each day and pay the driver in cash (the fare is $3.50) when the 10-trip ticket would save her 70c a ride or $7 a week and a Gold Pass would save her around $60 a month. She stands out because she invariably pays with a $10 or $20 note, too, and delays the bus for precious peak-hour minutes while the driver gets her change together. Grrr.

As our local oil companies raise prices by lunch time when world prices rise -- hence their 6c a litre rise on Monday when world prices hit $US 145 a barrel -- one expects they will now reduce pump prices by 10c a litre by dinner time tonight, based on the rule of thumb that says pump prices move by 1c for each $US 1 movement in crude prices.

Look! Up in the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Good lord! It's a flock of tui towing billboards!

The new record price for 91 Octane is 218.9c a litre, which is a rise of 43c a litre so far this year, or almost 25 per cent.

Maybe coincidentally, or maybe it was just a mistake, but a trolley bus turned up homebound on the 3 tonight, the first in weeks around the time I usually catch my bus. And boy, did this driver pack them in, 65 people by the time he left the Bowen House stop on Lambton Quay with the last of them standing on the bottom step.

The trolley was Volvo number 213 which has been in service since 1982, making it 26 years old. Despite the age and heavy load, it powered up Bowen St, Glenmore St and Chaytor St, easily beating to the terminus the usual convoy of diesel buses that turns up at this time and which followed us, often falling well behind. Unlike too many drivers, this one really knew how to drive a trolley.

When I told him how many people he'd carried (only four of whom got off before Karori Rd), he said: "That's nothing, I didn't even have them in the glovebox tonight."

Probably not coincidentally, Checkpoint interviewed a police officer who said she had noticed a rash of number plate thefts -- at least one a day -- with the stolen plates being attached to cars which were then filled up at petrol stations and driven off without payment.

My local BP, the one too gutless to display its prices to passing traffic, now has an extra staff member who goes out to the pumps when anyone pulls in to fill up. I presume this is to try to deter people from driving off without paying, as on Sunday, when I bought petrol, he simply came out and watched me (and other motorists) filling up, without offering to do it for us.

I smugly note my Sunday prediction of a 5c or 6c price rise today. My rule of thumb continues to work -- a $US 1 a barrel movement in the international crude price, or a 1c movement in the New Zealand dollar against the US dollar translates roughly to a 1c a litre movement in pump prices. It's not the whole story but it is a reasonable guide.

Again, it needs repeating that this price surge is not caused by any specific supply problems. It is a classic speculative bubble, with the billions displaced from financial markets by the sub-prime mortgage disaster pouring into oil futures. Eventually the bubble will burst and oil prices will collapse.

It is not helped, however, by instability in major oil producing countries such as Iran, Iraq and Nigeria, nor by the fact that two countries with massively growing demand, India and China, subsidise pump prices, thus preventing the normal market price signals from tempering demand. India's recent small reduction in subsidies saw four million truck drivers go on strike, which put Friday's convoys of big rigs in our cities in perspective.

The record high prices make marginal oil fields economic and will make exploration for new fields attractive, but it all takes time. The 1973 and 1979 oil price shocks (which followed actual supply disruptions) took until the late 1980s to reverse.

Watch tomorrow for a 5c or 6c a litre rise, which is a bit of a pity at the start of the school holidays, but unavoidable.

Diesel is posted at 182.9c a litre heading out of town, a reduction of 3c a litre, but is 185.9c going in, unchanged.

The BP along the road is still too scared to reveal its prices to passers by, so I wasn't able to compare.

However, the paper reports that all four main companies are now charging 212.9c, so my local Mobil is simply confused.

But bless them, it had not.

Probably tomorrow, though.

There's been a bit of fat (and competition) in the system since prices went to 212.9c at BP and 210.9c at Shell and Mobil (well in Wellington anyway, and where is Caltex?), as evidenced by the supermarket chains offering up to 15c a litre in their discount coupons these past two weekends, if you spent $200, and 10c if you spent $100.

But the supermarket deals are getting less generous, as until recently they gave discount coupons like that for spending well under $100. At Easter the discount was 20c a litre if you spent just $50 on groceries.

I'm not sure many people need to spend $200 to get $5 off a tank of petrol, especially if it means just filling the trolley with junk food you wouldn't normally buy.

I'm very happy to announce that one of my honey jar paintings appears on the cover of the summer issue of Edible Chesapeake magazine, soon to be hitting the stands all around the Chesapeake region.

Edible Chesapeake is a quarterly publication that celebrates the abundance of local and seasonal foods in the Chesapeake watershed. The magazine celebrates family farmers, fishermen, food artisans, chefs, and other food-related businesses, as well as the consumers, home cooks and restaurant-goers who support them.

Both the publication and its web site contribute to the growing national movement throughout the United States that is encouraging people to eat more locally-grown and locally-produced foods. By eating locally, consumers help sustain the small family farms that grow these foods, and everyone gets to enjoy food that is fresher, tastier and healthier for us. Furthermore we help reduce the cost to the environment and our pocketbooks of transporting foods over long distances.

[Top of the post:  Summer cover of Edible Chesapeake magazine with Honey Jars painting by Aletha Kuschan.  Photograph:  Aaron Springer, courtesy of Edible Chesapeake magazine] 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  
June 27, 2008           

Contact: Cindy Dyar, Attorney  
956.393.6203 
cdyar@trla.org
Cynthia Martinez, Communications Director
512.374.2764
cmartinez@trla.org

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – A fake legal aid operation known as Legal Aid Legal Services is scamming San Antonio residents out of their money with the false promise of providing legal help.

Texas RioGrande Legal Aid (TRLA), the leading provider of legal aid in Texas, is warning the community to beware of the organization that is taking advantage of low income residents.

“This group is taking advantage of people in desperate situations by promising to help them, taking their money, and then not providing services,” said TRLA attorney Cindy Dyar.

TRLA has been investigating fake legal aid scams since 2007 and successfully closed several operations in 2008.  Since that time, former employees of the original scam have formed Legal Aid Legal Services to continue to exploit vulnerable low-income Texans. 

Thus far, TRLA has identified four phone numbers and one website that the phony operation is using to connect with San Antonio residents.  Within the last week, several individuals have contacted TRLA about being victimized by the organization after getting the company’s contact information from 411.

“They are trying to appear as though they are a legitimate legal aid organization,” added Dyar.  “But legal aid will never ask a client to pay for services.”

There are numerous warning signs people should look for to avoid being scammed by a fake legal aid group.  First, legal aid services are free for anyone who qualifies.  A legal aid organization will never ask a client to pay attorney fees.  The only legitimate legal aid organizations in Texas are Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Legal Aid of Northwest Texas, and Lone Star Legal Aid.  National legal aid organizations do not exist.

Several websites are also available to help individuals needing legal assistance.  Instead of paying for legal forms, individuals can visit texaslawhelp.org for free copies of legal documents.  Individuals can also visit the Texas Bar Association’s website (www.texasbar.com) to ensure that they are working with attorneys licensed to practice in Texas.

Residents who feel they have been the victims of this scam can contact Texas RioGrande Legal Aid at 1-888-988-9996 for further assistance.

Established in 1970, Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, Inc. (TRLA) is a nonprofit organization that provides free civil legal services to low-income and disadvantaged clients in a 68-county service area. TRLA’s mission is to promote the dignity, self-sufficiency, safety and stability of low-income Texas residents by providing high-quality legal assistance and related educational services.

 
###

You can make a big difference in just 5 minutes. That's all it will take to learn the issues and send an email to your elected officials. The actions of our government have an enormous impact on the lives of you and your family, and we hope you'll use this site to learn about things that matter to you. more information

Key selling points of the new arrival (who's not a rival) were 1 its Windows XP Pro operating system (I'm NOT interested in the bloat, strain and incompatability associated with Vista), 2 its sensible (nigh-on staid) NON-REFLECTIVE, easy (i.e. zero) maintenance matt-finish screen and 3 its comfy keyboard.

It fully triumphed meeting that trio of prioritised promises.......

Good, good.....and good.

SO WHAT'S THE PROBLEM ?

Hmm. The problem is one that was, to me, both unforeseen and unheard of : Hence my

<<< SOUND WARNING >>>

 to any of you who may be in the market for a new computer and expecting your fresh purchase  to function AT LEAST AS WELL as whatever you've most recently been depending on.

"It seems a small ask"

but you need to
(ask)
make sure that you do

and that the I.T.-"it" will do...

...ALL that you want it to.

The Lenovo T61 will NOT do all that I took it for granted that it would do. (I didn't ask, I didn't know it was necessary so to do so (: so "what a "to do !" (and WHAT can be DONE ??!))). It is supplied with a Soundmax HD Audio "solution". The sole recording option available is "Microphone". Absent and currently UNOBTAINABLE is any variant of "Stereo Mix", "Wav" or "What U Hear" meaning that it is impossible to record ANY sound source that is playing on the machine - regardless of the origins of those noises.

I suspect this means I would not be able to use Cool Edit Pro to record live vocals piped through MorphVox Pro. <SIGH>. I'll have to dig out a Screaming Bee FAQ. In the meantime, I'm going to log a couple of Internet Forums discussing (and disgustedly cussing) the issue here :

T61/p Sound Recording

Lenovo Sound Recording

How very Third World. How very depressing.

Geoff and Sean also reported Consumer NZ as demanding that oil companies give a day's notice of price rises, so that motorists can fill their tanks first.

How very 1984, and guaranteed to ensure prices are not reduced.

And I know now why my local BP station took down its price board. The Mobil over the road has 91 Octane for 210.9c, according to its big price board. The BP has it for 212.9c, but you have to drive right to the pump to discover that.

The front page of the Dominion Post has a big photo of people holding placards outside a jail, demanding that inmates never be paroled. How very Texas. Let's save money by executing them all, too.

The lowest blow of all came from Jo Coughlan, who I voted for in the Wellington City Council elections last October. She turned up in Courtenay Place to oppose having bus lanes, claiming she could not see the problems buses have there. Her description of bus lanes as "extreme" is disappointing and means that we now have two anti-bus councillors in my ward, the other being the arch petrol-head, John Morrison. Of our three ward councillors, this means only Andy Foster supports public transport, in a suburb with the busiest, best-patronised bus route in New Zealand.

Oh well, at least trolley bus 335 is now in service. That makes five new ones, in only eight months. Goodness, if the rest arrive any faster, the entire fleet will probably get here by the time the trolley bus contract expires in 2017.

And as a point of interest. While different tax rates and many other local conditions in Australia make comparisons not quite apple with apple, Melbourne motorists are now paying up to A 166.9c a litre for 91 Octane, which is around NZ 208.6c. It proves nothing, but does suggest prices here are not wildly out of line, given the relationship between our two economies.

Oddly given the latter, a trolley bus turned up on my route home tonight for the first time in a couple of weeks. Five No 3 buses arrived together at the stop in Lambton Quay at 5.15pm, one of them a trolley, which I hopped aboard.

To reply to those who have asked, no, Greater Wellington Regional Council has not responded yet to my inquiry, which I mentioned on Tuesday, about whether the widespread non-use of trolley buses in favour of diesels at present is because Go Wellington has an incentive to use diesel buses because ratepayers, via the regional council, pay all the rising cost of diesel fuel, as well as paying a trolley bus subsidy whether the trolleys are used or not.

And to explain why I keep listing each petrol price rise -- I want a definitive record of the peak price, to refer back to when oil prices inevitably fall.

I've read a few articles, and heard a few experts recommend the same.  Unfortunately not everyone got the memo and I hate getting tailgated by those folks (which happens even if you are exceeding the speed limit).  My boyfriend found this great (I think) bumper sticker, that will hopefully send the message to the tailgaters) and bought one for both of us.  Normally I will NOT put a bumper sticker on my car because it ruins the finish and you can't get them off, but this one actually peels right off, you can put it on and take it off and move it if you want.  If you're interested they're very cheap and you can find them here.