DODGING BULLETS
I have recently been engrossed in a book lent to me by Laurie Keene about Ned Kelly, written by Peter Fitzsimons, who is well known for his unique style of bringing Australian history to life. Whether you like Ned or not, throughout his life he managed to dodge many bullets, but alas not during his final stand at the Glenrowan Inn, when some managed to penetrate his now famous armour plated protection. So perhaps it was ironic, that at the same time, I managed to dodge a few bullets of my own.
I have been dealing with a truck camper business owner in the eastern states, Garry, for over six months now, with regular progress payments being made for a pick up due in December. An email arrived requesting one of these payments, $20k in fact and that sadly Garry’s mother had passed away, so it would be appreciated if I could expedite the payment, which I did. An hour later another email came in requesting that it be paid into a different bank account, but I advised it had already been deposited into the original account. Bullet number 1 dodged. I also replied by email to question the new bank account and the reply came back that the business was restructuring and all was good. I double checked the email address just to be sure. When the next payment request came through for $11k, I deposited this into the new account and emailed to confirm. Two days later my bank rejected this transfer, so I made phone contact with Garry to find out why. When he advised me that he had never sent any email requesting another payment, nor had there ever been any bank account changes, my heart missed a beat. Seems his emails and business invoices had been hacked and we were caught up in a very elaborate scam. Thankfully my bank had, for reasons yet to be established, rejected the transfer and now the federal police and both banks involved are attempting to track the source, but as we know, there is little chance of that. Bullet number 2 dodged. The next day my truck turbo starts playing up and the initial quote to replace is over $4k. A detailed inspection, however, revealed it to be a minor fan issue and so bullet number 3 dodged. Day after this, for the first time ever, my training boat has taken water when the bungs were removed. A quick check of the hull revealed no obvious cracks, but on a more detailed inspection at a workshop, daylight could be seen where the hull rested on the trailer skids. Minor aluminium welding resolved this issue, so bullet number 4 dodged. During the same week I had course bookings that had to be rescheduled, which resulted in many cancellations, given we only had one week left in Hedland. Didn’t dodge that bullet, but in the big scheme of things, better than losing a possible $40k + on camper, truck and boat issues. Fortunately, given that Viv had been working at a local high school, at least there would be some income coming in as we leave town. Not so, as there was an issue with the school records, so we have to wait another month. So, I just kept reminding myself, you must stay positive, even though it had been a tricky week, and that it was still way better than spending three months in my rehab shed at home with a bung shoulder. See you all back down south this week!