Greenguy's Board - Tuesday August 4th (aka That Was Rick Springfield In True Detective?!)

Weird day today. I was sued this morning. That was not the weird bit, I knew it was coming. The court case did not take place in court but over the 'phone. That was weird but not unexpected, I knew it was going to happen like that, I think I even posted here about it when I was told this would happen. But the case itself was even weirder!

Firstly, I was given a talk on how to behave, court etiquette etc.. And I was told not to call the judge "your honour" but to call them by their first name. In all my years as an outside clerk (occasional court job I used to do when younger) I never heard that happen. Would probably have been "contempt of court" or something.

Then came the actual case. It revolves around me owing a credit card company. I got into a row with them and refused to pay them what I owed them until they sorted it out. They never sorted it out, so I never paid, and eventually stopped answering their calls and letters. However I have always agreed the primary amount (subject to conditions), but since the dispute between us started (over 5 years ago) they have added on interest and (more recently) legal costs and court fees.

I said before the case that I was prepared to pay the initial debt but not the interest/fees. When the judge asked me for my side of the story I repeated this offer and said that I was still prepared to pay the initial amount, could even post a check to them there and then. This initial amount was a bit over two hundred and fifty pounds. The judge then rang off to see if they were prepared to accept this offer (it was not a conference call, the judge rang one side, then hung up and rang the other side, and so on, until everything necessary had been said).

When the judge rang back I was told that the person suing me said this was not acceptable, they wanted some of the fees and interest. However they would reduce the claim a bit. The amount they asked for to cover the initial debt, interest, legal and court fees was just over a hundred and fifty five pounds. In other words, they were insisting that I paid about a hundred pounds (~$150) LESS than I had offered to pay and refusing to accept a penny more than that! I have no idea how the judge kept from laughing when she asked me if I accepted that offer!

So anyway I'm happy. Not only did I get a five year interest free loan, but I was forced in court to not pay all of it back! I genuinely thought I was still asleep and dreaming at that point!

|dog Puppy News

I'm back home now so this will be the last Puppy News for a while.

Giving the dogs their breakfast this morning I did not make the same mistake as yesterday, did not give the husky his medicine until after the puppy had finished his breakfast. Unfortunately I used this time to refresh their water bowl They are both big dogs, so their water bowl is a big stainless steel one which holds several pints of water. As I was returning the bowl the puppy's head shot up quickly (probably checking to see if I had his medicine in my hands). He cracked his head hard on the underside of the water bowl, decided this was probably the start of an attack (which may end up with him getting a mouthful of "no more nails" medicine) and ran off to hide.

Again the husky got to finish off the puppy's breakfast!