Well every time I come to this blog I seem to end up ranting about flights and airlines. Which I was going to do again but decided to leave it, because there are far more interesting things to talk about (even though planes are a big part of my life again).
So this morning I took a rather big step: I went to see a tax accountant. There is something very grown-up and definitive about this, I find. Like a cleaner, once you have one you can never live without one.
Bar the obvious fact that my company ought to be doing this for me, it was quite nice sitting down and working out how much the government here owes me and even nicer when he found an extra lump sum that I was owed. A long-overdue but successful meeting, triggered by my transfer to the 52% income tax bracket. Ouch.
The tax accountants are based in Leiden, which almost put me off going there. However, I did make it and luckily, when I was lost in a forest of buildings asking the way, a lady decided to give me a tour of the Biotech park which was on the way to their office (she had been working there for 10 years and knew all the companies). Random but sweet.
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Wednesday, August 08, 2007
Gatwick
Well I am flying home tomorrow and trying out a new route with VLM: Rotterdam to City Airport, which ought to be a lot more pleasant. Will see how that goes. In the meantime, found this fun little piece in the Guardian the other day which sums it all up:
Gatwick terror panic
The government has banned airline passengers from wearing green hats after a man in a green hat was arrested at Gatwick airport carrying a bottle of potentially lethal hydrogen peroxide. Holidaymakers who flout the new rule face severe penalties, although hats of other colours will still be permitted, as will rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
The terror alert led to half-mile queues at airport security checkpoints, but tourists caught in the chaos proved phlegmatic. "It's not really any bother for me, because I come from a Scandinavian country and therefore have an essentially imperturbable temperament," said Finnish gap-year student Ari-Pekka Sjöström, who spent the night trying to sleep on a bench outside Burger King in Gatwick's south terminal. "Also, I'm on a gap year, so hanging around airport terminals talking to journalists is about as constructive as anything else I could be doing."
A defiant group of Britons interviewed by ITV News also refused to be cowed by the threat of terrorism. They said it was crucial for the survival of liberal democracy that they press ahead with plans to spend the weekend getting life-threateningly drunk in the lap-dancing clubs of Tallinn.
Gatwick terror panic
The government has banned airline passengers from wearing green hats after a man in a green hat was arrested at Gatwick airport carrying a bottle of potentially lethal hydrogen peroxide. Holidaymakers who flout the new rule face severe penalties, although hats of other colours will still be permitted, as will rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
The terror alert led to half-mile queues at airport security checkpoints, but tourists caught in the chaos proved phlegmatic. "It's not really any bother for me, because I come from a Scandinavian country and therefore have an essentially imperturbable temperament," said Finnish gap-year student Ari-Pekka Sjöström, who spent the night trying to sleep on a bench outside Burger King in Gatwick's south terminal. "Also, I'm on a gap year, so hanging around airport terminals talking to journalists is about as constructive as anything else I could be doing."
A defiant group of Britons interviewed by ITV News also refused to be cowed by the threat of terrorism. They said it was crucial for the survival of liberal democracy that they press ahead with plans to spend the weekend getting life-threateningly drunk in the lap-dancing clubs of Tallinn.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)