I’d like to thank my mate at the pub, who covered for me with the magazine article last month. I felt personally he hit the nail right on the head with his article and, like many think, if we don’t get this lot out of government in October, then I too will be heading overseas to reside in calmer waters. So for all our sakes, vote for a National/Act Government. 

I had a lovely five weeks overseas, with not a road cone in sight. The weather was beautiful wherever I went. I went first to San Francisco to catch up with American friends I’d sailed with many years ago.  From San Francisco we drove to Newport Beach in southern California again catching up with friends I hadn’t seen for a few years due to the Covid situation. From Newport Beach we drove out to Utah in the Arizona area to go house-boating on the largest man-made lake in America, which lies behind the Glenn Dam. The lake took 30 years to fill up after they completed the dam and now has a foreshore of 2000 miles and a length of 200 miles.  
I spent a week on the houseboat, with various friends. The houseboat was 100 feet long with four decks of pure comfort. There were 12 people on board along with a professional chef; a wonderful relaxing holiday, a lot of it being due to no telephones, internet etc. due to being within the vast canyons surrounding the lake. From the lake, I flew from Las Vegas to Baltimore, where I stayed with Geoff Stagg who was the watch leader 40 years ago on my first Round the World race. Geoff settled in Annapolis, in the state of Maryland, after that 1981-82 Round the World Race and began working for Bruce Farr, a New Zealand yacht designer who had based his office there. Basically, Geoff went there, and never came home.  
During my stay with Geoff, I went to visit Washington DC, and had a look at a couple of art galleries. It was the most beautiful weather in DC, very clear and warm and I had a great deal of pleasure in walking around a big city, taking in all the special places. The Smithsonian Institute, the incredible Library of Congress which houses 53 million books, the American Portrait Gallery, the President FDR Memorial, which is spread over eight acres, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Memorial. It is such a wonderful city, beautifully designed and so easy to get around. Every museum and art gallery had free admission, and there were so many people ready and willing to help to make the day easier.
From Annapolis, I caught a train up to Newark Airport and got a flight to London. I was picked up by another English sailing mate, who I’d met 45 years previously when he sailed to New Zealand and stayed for six months. The following day I drove down to Southampton where there was a gathering of former Whitbread and Volvo sailors prior to the start of the Global Ocean Race. It was a wonderful occasion outside in Southampton in big tents, so many friends who I hadn’t seen in years. A great reunion.
After the reunion I drove down to Dorset, Devon, and Cornwall where again the weather was absolutely perfect, allowing me to swim in the ocean most days. Again, I caught up with friends and watched the first All Blacks’ pool game versus France in a tiny pub in Cornwall, surrounded by a few French and Kiwi viewers. Not a great night to be a Kiwi.
After this sojourn around England, I got myself back to Heathrow and caught a flight home. It was indeed a wonderful five weeks that I will remember for a long, long time.  
On my return, I received a letter from the Ministry of Social Development dated 13 September, which read… “Tena Koe Simon – I’m getting in touch because NZ Customs Service (Customs) let us know about your recent travel. MSD and Customs share information to make sure our information is up to date and we give you the right services. The information we have from Customs shows you left New Zealand on 14/08/2023 on Flight number… Let us know if we’ve made a mistake. You can call us on…. [numbers provided]. We’ve stopped your winter energy payments because we’ve been told you’re overseas. We’ve stopped the following payment: Winter Energy Payment from 13/09/23. Please get in touch when you are back in the country. If you still qualify we can start these payments again from the date you return.
So in saying that, I had to email them back with my travel details and confirm my return to New Zealand and the date. So, I gave them the date I returned, and they also asked me for my reasons for leaving New Zealand. I answered them, and said I had to go on a much needed holiday, because I can, and to get away from this useless Government we currently have.  
A week later, I received another letter…. Tena Koe Simon, Thank you for getting in touch. We always want to get it right for people, so we recently reviewed your payments after we found you’d left the country on 14 August on Flight NZ… If you travel overseas and plan to return to New Zealand we can keep paying any extra help for the first 28 days. Here are the details of the overpayment… Winter Energy Payment $2.92, total overpayment amount $2.92. We have restarted your payments. As you returned to New Zealand on 17 September 2023, we restarted the following payment… Winter Energy Payment from 17 September 2023. Repayment – we’ll deduct this automatically from your next payment.
On that note, I’ll see you all next month.