Fly away Peter, Fly away Paul.

This morning,on a Friday 22 August 2008 I had a breakfast appointment with Hank, my class of '64 organiser who told our former classmate who now owns Westport that we would like to have a proton each as door gifts ( sic ). I had been fascinated by his partner Jodie's latest proposal to start a birdhouse and if you have read his blog at swiflet.blogspot.com then you might want to know more about the project.So I arranged this appointment so that I can get a clearer and bigger picture of it. It seemed to be a viable proposal, but I told him to be cautious because I knew that Hank is a well meaning person and could get easily carried away by money spinners who abound the business fly by night world, and when the chips are down, they just disappear into thin air. I do not claim to be any wiser than him, because he ought to know better after being in the money spinning business for more than three decades! But as a friend it's my duty to remind him of the pitfalls of such a venture, but he assured me that he shall not be disbursing hard cash, as he only provides the land where the birdhouse will be sited. Two years ago he signed an agreement with Jodie so that he and him could see a housing area coming out on Pasir Ambor road, wherever that place may be, near Juasseh, Kolopilah! But owing to the slow progress of his partner's project being completed in Rompin, Pahang, the project is not off the ground yet.So in order to get things moving faster, apart from bridging finance, he's looking for faster method of improving his cash-flow, so to speak.So that's how the idea came about, and it started with the duress test. As always, being a former bureaucrat that was, I was looking at the downside first, before that money which does not grow on trees vanish with the dream of becoming rich! It's a natural desire wanting to be rich, except for weirdo's like me who looks at money as a means rather as an end in itself. I am always reminded by Mdm Connie Chang, a family friend who once worked in the same office as Nasimah, that whatever money you have is not yours until you spend it. So, after an exhaustive question and answer session with him over breakfast ( he only had coffee and a burger, plus a hash brown which I insisted that he try), it finally dawned upon him that he needed an independent input from outside his Jodie's circle for a more informed decision. I said to him, what if the birds suddenly refuse to roost in the birdhouse due to some inexplicable reasons, what would become of the investment which could be another white elephant. Now his grandchildren would be reminded of that phrase in the rhyme, two little Dicky birds sat on the wall, one named Peter the other named Paul, fly away Peter fly away Paul, come back Peter, come back Paul! But once the investment goes down the drain, it just flow into the Muar river which starts from the Sungai Muar Dam near Talang, Tanjong Ipoh, Kuala Pilah district of Negri Sembilan