Well, this morning on our chat net, (I use to call it 21 net, but it has moved to 65 now) anyway, "Blue Wizzard" came on with a news break. He had received a letter from the US Social Security department, saying that his Social Security check ( which would be our old age pension checks, for us Canadians) for July was cancelled due to him being out of the country for over 6 months. If he wanted to question that he had to go to a consulate and prove he was still a US citizen. Of course this raised multi questions, and caused him and his family untold grief. He phoned the gov't department to verify that this was correct, and they said that they had sent out a number of these letters, and were getting "lots" of phone calls. This is a real concern to all of us sailing because, of course we are out of our home countries for more than 6 months, and for a lot of people there is also the problem of mail that hasn't caught up etc. Which means that, if you rely on your SS cheque being in the bank every month, when you go to the bank you might be rather shocked!!

He thinks that he may have sorted it out, because he called Barbra Boxer (sp)( I think she is a senator, being Canadian I don't know all the US gov't officials and their designations,) anyway, she agreed to sort it out for him, and he feels that the government official can be trusted to do that, so he is feeling relieved. I guess time will tell whether he has to go down to Cabo and show his passport etc. to the consulate.

So, if you get said letter, you might try his route and call up your government official and see if it helps.

After that, Bob from "Pantera" came on and said that if Canadians were out of the county for 6 months our Old Age Pension checks were cancelled as well. I disagreed with him, and he bet me a looney he was correct, so I looked it up today on the net, and Bob you owe me a looney! Not only are they not cancelled but they are paid anywhere in the world, and if you want they will deposit them anywhere in the world in the correct currency. It comes under FAQ--Do I have to be in the country to collect?

So,, As the anchor drags, that's all for today.