Look at my wad

Posted on August 11, 2006 by Paul

We bought a new car yesterday, with the intention of paying by debit card. At the last minute I thought to phone the bank to make sure that such a large withdrawal would go through OK (cars have got much cheaper in the UK while I’ve been away, but aren’t exactly bargains even now). They told me that I could only withdraw 10 grand* using my debit card, leaving me around 2,300 short. So I hopped on the bike (because we don’t, obviously, have a freaking car yet) cycled to the bank, withdrew the equivalent of $4,500, and headed up to the dealership with the cash wedged in my cycling shirt pocket. This, I think, easily surpasses the time I hitched 15 miles to buy a car with 800 quid in my wallet.

* I’m still using a US keyboard, so please read an implied pound sign as appropriate

Taxing matters

Posted on May 25, 2006 by Paul — 3 Comments ↓

I’m not a huge fan of taxes, but as a good liberal I acknowledge that I like many of the things that they buy, so I understand the need for them (though a few less bridges to nowhere might increase my enthusiam).

Now it appears that we’re going to get back some of that money, because of a legal case addressing the ‘luxury’ tax on long-distance phone calls. Now however much I dislike taxes, it is as nothing compared to my dislike of getting taxes back. A few years ago we got a tax rebate from the State, which meant that we effectively gave them $110, they took $10 for unnecessary admin, postage, etc., and sent back $100. This is, it would seem, the definition of stupid waste, a pointless recycling of cash.

But now not only do we get the money back less collection and reimbursement costs, but we actually have to fill in vile, loathsome forms to get it! Please, please keep the money. All of it. Lower some other tax, buy everyone in the government a latte, or even, heaven forbid, get the rest of the troops in Iraq the body armor they should have had for the last 3 years. But please don’t waste both my money and my time!

Pick up the Change

Posted on May 10, 2006 by Paul — 2 Comments ↓

I was very surprised to read that my native country is still paying my adoptive country (or should that be foster country, as I’m heading back?) for the loans we received after World War II. It would be easy to complain that we should have been let off the loan early, or even that it should have been a gift, but there are a couple of reasons why I don’t subscribe to such a viewpoint.

The first is that these loans are frequently made between nations, and anything that damped the expectation of their being repaid would also tend to reduce the chances of their being granted, to everyone’s detriment.

The second is that we still owe the US billions from World War I that we’re not paying off, so to complain would seem petty.

Garage Sales

Posted on May 5, 2006 by Paul — 2 Comments ↓

We have a garage sale tomorrow to clear out some stuff that we can’t take back to the UK. For shoppers I guess this is good news, as we’re not really selling much junk (we’ve only been here for 7 years, so if some stuff is junk at least it’s relatively new junk).

For me, however, it’s bad news. One of my least favourite* things to do that doesn’t involve electrodes is packing for a move. Clearly, therefore, moving to the UK is a short-term negative for me. But take the worst part of moving (sorting stuff out), and then add in random interaction with strangers, and you get garage sales. Now I’d rather interact randomly with strangers than pack, but it’s a close-run thing, so you can understand why I’d rather spend the morning jabbing myself with a fork.

And we shouldn’t forget that I’m English, so presuming that someone will want your cast-offs is rather like exposing yourself in public. Did I say it’s rather like? Well that’s wrong; it’s actually exactly the same thing.

On the upside the alternative is to pay someone to take the junk away, so I guess I’ll just have to suck it up. But that’s not going to stop me whining about it.

*Trying to get back into proper spelling

Logic

Posted on May 4, 2006 by Paul

We’re currently selling our house, and this morning got an offer. It’s a fair way below the listed price, but near enough that we’re considering it. One of the odd things about the house is that we have one full bathroom, and a plumbed-in space that will become a second, half-bath. We’ve offered to either complete this space before closing or give the purchaser $2,500 to do it themselves. So, in all but the most literal sense, our house has (will have) 2 bathrooms.

You can understand our confusion, then, when the offer came in with the following comments:

Purchaser wants the $2,500 for the bathroom to pay for A/C [fair enough]
Offer price is lower because the house only has one bathroom.

W, as I believe the saying goes, TF?!