Yes I have been quiet this week - have not bombed up to London or done anything at all which is stressful or busy. After October, when I did not know if I was on my head or my heels, the last ten days has been wonderful. I have slept in a lot in the mornings, sat up late at night playing daft games on the computer, watched a lot of DVDs (House Series 6 is my favourite at the moment), listened to music, done some walking, exercised at home and also spent time in the kitchen cooking. The results of this repose in my freezer at the moment: Chicken and leek casserole, pork chops and peppers, braised steak and onions and a beef casserole. I have enough meals in there for at least another week so in the morning I just haul one out and leave it to defrost. I used to do this years ago and such a joy to have time in the kitchen nowadays and I am really enjoying it. At the moment I have the fruit for my Christmas pudding soaking in rum and tomorrow I will be making about three or four for myself, family and friends. Not going to bother with a cake this year though, it hangs around too long.
I have been on line and done most of my Christmas shopping and it took me precisely one hour. There are a few odds and ends to get but they can be picked up easily over the next week or so and then I am done. Have to get a parcel off to Australia by 4 December which is the final posting date, by air mail, and am getting that together for Kathryn. Christmas is going to be such a change this year. First time I won't be with Kathryn, first time I won't have my mother and first time with Florence so very much mixed feelings at the moment.
Have been reading a mixture this week - I re-read A Private Patient by PD James last week and nipped into the library the other day and came across one of hers I had not read. Oh great I thought and then when I got home realised it was by Peter James who, of course, is next along the shelf. I was a bit annoyed and then decided to sit and read it and found I thoroughly enjoyed it so in town today I popped in and found another one so will post about those in due course.
Then read Death at Mansfield Park which the author Lynn Shepherd kindly sent to me and really enjoyed that too and will also be posting later on.
The highlight of my week, if I can call it that, was filling in an income tax form ONLINE. Because I worked for a few months in the last financial year the Inland Revenue told me I had to fill in a tax return. Before I could get on line I had to register which appears to be straightforward and simple. Nothing is simple with the IR and after it refused to recognise that I existed, even after filling in all the details and giving them my National Insurance number etc etc I ended up ringing the so called Help Line. The lady I spoke to took me through the entire thing all over again as she did not believe I had done it properly, I could tell by the tone of her voice, and so I was quite pleased when I had done it under her supervision and the end result was the same. Oh she said I can't understand it....
In the end it seemed my postal code was throwing the system as it did not recognise it. Heaven knows why. I registered and wanted to get cracking but oh no I had to wait for my ID number to be sent to me in the post and my activation code. About three days later they arrived and I finally got on line again, did the necessary, and then sat down to fill in the form.
I am not stupid but I really had to concentrate to fill it in and then I got to a page where it said 'Please fill in more details about your employment in the box below' so I did, pressed enter and then it came up in red that I could not use certain letters and numbers and it was invalid. Tried again, nada, so in the end I thought Sod it and deleted it all and went on.
Upshot was that they did my tax calculation and told me I owed them over £2,000 at which I nearly had a caniption and fell off my chair. I then went back to double check everything and found an extra figure had crept in one of the entries by mistake so deleted it and then it was recalculated. I then found to my delight that they owed me a tax rebate. I was thrilled to bits and had visions of all sorts of lovely things and then up came the amount.....£21.60. Better than a kick in the teeth I suppose. Wonder what I can spend it on?
Off now for cup of tea and my re-read of Bill Bryson's book Down Under which I feel is obligatory reading prior to my trip, have also borrowed guide books from the library and will be doing a bit of research. Then I will be watching Strictly Come Dancing later on and will give you my elevated thoughts on same tomorrow.
Have a good weekend everyone.
