Yesterday evening I settled down to watch my weekly trip to Coronation Street.  I don't like the programme much, but I like to indulge my homesickness.  Just before 8pm the phone rang.  I've turned into my parents and get anal about late evening phone calls.  Like the Queen of sheeba, I gestured to Steve to answer the phone and unless it was a select number of friends who's calls I can authorise at that time, I told him to say I wasn't available.  He adopted his deadly serious tone for this call and then said to the caller, best to speak to my wife about this.  Oh no, it was evening, I was relaxed and when Steve says that it means he's calling on the Big Guns.  Cocked and ready to fire I took the phone wondering who would be the recepient of my rapid fire.  It was a Detective.  He was calling about the Nanny, he had some questions for me.  I obliged his questions as helpfully as possible, but I wanted to add my own two cents worth in.  This girl had a lot of time and exposure to valuable goods in our home, we had no reason to distrust her and as such, she never stole from us.  It was important to me that he know she wasn't just a thieving criminal, trying to make an extra buck or buy some drugs.  This girl has a clear compulsive personality, she uses theft to get back at people she feels wronged by.  She never sold any of the goods, instead choosing to hoard them.  Her dismissal from our family was instigated at the request of the college - not us. He told me she's facing court action, and as cops usually do, tried to use lots of long words that he didn't really understand, so ended up sounding rather like a wally.  It always gives us much amusement when cops tried to sound so formal and so educated, but pronounce words incorrectly or don't fully understand there definition, thus making no sense.  I told him of course that I would help with investigation and wished him the best with the investigation.  I ended the call feeling quite emotional.  Firstly, I do resent being pulled into these things.  I can make enough trouble for myself, let alone being dragged head first into someone else's!  But I also feel sad for the Nanny.  Where are her parents?  Does she comprehend the sheer depth of the trouble she's in?  When she goes travelling, she will always be forced to declare this black mark, and employers will struggle with it.  I don't condone her behaviour at all and of course, at her age, she should be well aware of the ramifications of her actions,thus taking accountability and facing the consequences of her bad decisions.  But, this is a girl who needs help.  This is an example of someone, that unless given tools to help herself will continue to do this over and over.  Why aren't her parents supporting her and insisting on help for her?  Why aren't they forcing her to face the families and help them deal with her behaviour.  They feel quite rightly violated and betrayed.  But I'm sure facing the Nanny and talking through it will help to heal this for them more then baying for her blood.  I guess this is when the question of community vs individual comes into effect.  Who should help this girl - the community or herself.  Who has a responsbility to this girl?  I do feel that we have somewhat of a moral obligation to look at her case based on its individual circumstances.  So, I text her and told her about the call.  I told her once again that she needed to get help, she needed to do the right thing and she needed to keep her head down and out of trouble.  I assumed she knew she was being investigated, she didn't seem to in her responses to me.  Who knows whats going in real life?  She text me that she was scared.  A vulnerable message conveying innocence and genuine fear of realisation of what was happening, or a message created so that I would instantly feel sorry for her and instinctively protective of her?

My cleaner came today and told me that her rent had been put up.  She's only lived there for six months, a one bed room flat.  A $30 increase?? Disgusting.  I told her so and told her that was completely unreasonable.  I then set about looking at the market rent value of a one bed flat in her area through the department of building and housing.  She's already paying well over the market value.  She's clearly being taken advantage of.  I cannot bear these unscrupulous landlords in NZ.  Thank god its so regulated here.  I printed off the information for her and told her she needed to get onto this.  Initially directly with the landlord.  If she paid this new increase,  by law, the homeowner would be liable to pay back the difference.  Its serious business you know.  

I'm putting the world to rights!  If only I could get on with my text books and assignments with this much vigour!  My degree would be a sinch!  As it happens, I keep reading the same bloody pages over and over.