Ongoing water payment issues
8 days ago I posted about problems we were having with water meter bills and things got more complicated! We'd always paid our quarterly bill by direct debit rather than paying through a fixed fee and charge based on our property valuation. After Council water section provided us with a detailed breakdown of our usage, right back to 2015, we realised that for the October quarter and all of this year for some reason our usage via the meter had shot up to about 4 times what we would have expected. Turning of every tap till showed the meter running reasonably fast which would indicate some sort of leak. We took to readings on Saturday morning, 1 1/4 hours apart - and the meter continued to run. So we've resorted to turning the toby off at the road - we have a rainwater tank which we can use water from for flushing the toilets, and a couple of taps are not mains pressure and toilets have header tanks on the roof for careful drinking/cooking water. A plumber is booked for tomorrow. We've also approached Council to ask if given that we had no idea there was a problem because they hadn't billed us for so long if some of the very large bill could be exempted. Watch this space. What I would say - how many Wellington households who pay their bills as part of the general rate have serious leaks that go completely undetected because people are not aware?
⚠️ DOGS DIE IN HOT CARS. If you love them, don't leave them. ⚠️
It's a message we share time and time again, and this year, we're calling on you to help us spread that message further.
Did you know that calls to SPCA about dogs left inside hot cars made up a whopping 11% of all welfare calls last summer? This is a completely preventable issue, and one which is causing hundreds of dogs (often loved pets) to suffer.
Here are some quick facts to share with the dog owners in your life:
👉 The temperature inside a car can heat to over 50°C in less than 15 minutes.
👉 Parking in the shade and cracking windows does little to help on a warm day. Dogs rely on panting to keep cool, which they can't do in a hot car.
👉 This puts dogs at a high risk of heatstroke - a serious condition for dogs, with a mortality rate between 39%-50%.
👉 It is an offence under the Animal Welfare Act to leave a dog in a hot vehicle if they are showing signs of heat stress. You can be fined, and prosecuted.
SPCA has created downloadable resources to help you spread the message even further. Posters, a flyer, and a social media tile can be downloaded from our website here: www.spca.nz...
We encourage you to use these - and ask your local businesses to display the posters if they can. Flyers can be kept in your car and handed out as needed.
This is a community problem, and one we cannot solve alone. Help us to prevent more tragedies this summer by sharing this post.
On behalf of the animals - thank you ❤️
Worst Xmas ever?
There's a a lot of planning that goes into Christmas day and sometimes things just don't go to plan. But it can be a good thing - a family mishap or hilarious memory that you can laugh about in Christmases to come.
Whether you burnt the dinner or were stranded at an airport...
Share your Christmas mishaps below!