Ideas Needed
'Sarf & West mate, Sarf & West'
Pete Bernfeld
Sun 11 Dec 2011 23:43
Thanks to a personal loan (on very generous terms) from folks who would like to remain anonymous, I've been able to fund the work on Trouters to date, supplemented by my pension. However, due to some unfortunate surprises, I'm just about at the end of my financial tether. The shortfall is US$12,000. It would be great (well perhaps not exactly great, but you know what I mean) if I could say this shortfall was due to 'high living', but unfortunately it isn't, so I need to find more money.
First thought, of course, would be a job. Due to visa restrictions in Fiji, I can't look for work here, and in any event the wages would not be of any great help. Those still involved in flying, or recently retired, will understand that going back flying is not a viable option. Nobody wants to hire a 59 year old pilot who is not in current flying practice (current medical, instrument rating and class rating) and for me to achieve that lot would take about six months salary and certainly two to three months at the fastest. I don't have either the money or the time, I'll be sixty in May, at which point I can no longer fly single-pilot ops in Europe. Trust me, flying is not an option. So, anybody got a job, or know of anything going? Anything legal considered, but minimum wage stuff might be a bit unhelpful, I may 'take back' one of the books from the agent and self publish on Amazon, but again this is no quick fix.
Which leaves me with a third option, which is to ask for help. The email address is
Peter {DOT} bernfeld {CHANGE TO AT} Gmail {DOT} com
A final twist is that I've been given a warning that the club is thinking of doubling my monthly hard fees sometime next year, from F$500 per month to F$1000 per month. I have a suspicion that this is somebody trying to acquire a boat on the cheap as that has been tried before, but whether or not that's true, it makes the whole business unsupportable unless I have a job or a loan.
My options at this point are stark. Either I get more money by some means, or I will simply have to walk away from the boat in the not too distant future. When I say walk away, I mean the sort of money I would most likely be offered for it is around F$20,000, that's around US $10,000. Probably less, if I am having to bail out.
So, any ideas? I'm not looking for charity, for a few reasons I'd rather be able to arrange a loan (avoiding customs problems in Fiji, avoiding somebody pulling a fast one to get their hands on my home) and lastly getting work outside Fiji. Like I said, anything legal considered.
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