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Well the old tax year has closed, time to put "Tax Return" in the diary. Why the rush? Well non-residents are still not allowed to complete a Self-Assessment return online. Thus a paper SA100 needs filling out to arrive in their grubby mitts before 31st October. Ok, download a blank as before and se...

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Hmm - has this move been coordinated with HMRC? Those overseas that have achieved the increasingly difficult to obtain "non-resident for tax" status need to be very careful to minimise or avoid the "ties test" if they make visits back to the U.K. "On the electoral roll" is not in the current table o...

Bank of Scotland injected yet more unsolicited mail into my overburdened inbox today, Friday: Your latest credit card statement will be online soon. [/i] Untrammelled excitement was soon dashed by a codicil: If it isn’t there right away, it will be within 2 working days. [/i] Hmm, so maybe the state...

Grease will often do the trick. A blob of bacon fat (cholesterol horrors!) or olive oil (blended sufficient) turns the adhesive into a chewing gum texture that can be removed. Now degrease the part, eh voilà.

The Chequers it was. The other clue if you couldn't decipher the roadsign pixels is the pump in the foreground - one of four in the village installed following a 19th century outbreak of cholera. Yes, just up the road from Duxford - a nice gesture from the Imperial War Museum is free entry for resid...

UK is correct - East Anglia to narrow it down. Circa 300yr heritage gone in just over an hour. Unlikely even an ersatz replacement will appear - despite Grade II listing, once it's gone, it's gone. The chain owners have already sold the site and moved on - doubtless a couple or three of executive 5 ...

The loss of a favourite watering hole.....

Ancient thatch and forgetting to turn off the resturaunt breaker overnight don't mix.

The soulless "open plan" with token lollipop trees and trendy purple logo squiggle says it all...

Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough! It isn't fit for humans now.
There isn't grass to graze a cow. (John Betjeman)

Marriott Moxy, Slough UK

Welcome!
Nothing new in aviation - behold the "Flying Bedstead", courtesy Rolls-Royce in the 1950s (ample drafts included).

SIA recently introduced a bidding system to mop up empty business class seats close to ETD. Basically if you are on a full fare cattle segment you are invited to "bid" for an upgrade (hardly a auction bid since SIA sets the price differential). It's difficult to tell if there is much discounting goi...

Get up early and pick fresh mushrooms from a couple of fields over. Gone the way of most mixed farming in East Anglia - the cow pats were the secret. Nothing but mono culture of whatever is the crop de jour - was rape for ages, seems to be switching back to winter wheat for now.

Just try and wriggle out of that..

Raffles Hotel it is. The surrounds still have class: Beach Road (it really was edging the sea before reclamation) leads to the Padang, a tree-lined open area still used for cricket. Alas, with the astronomical land values, construction continues on high rise "carbuncles" that now dwarf the hotel and...

Still a charming building - Raffles Hotel, Singapore. Of late often overcrowded with Japanese tourists but still does a classy afternoon Tiffin.
The eponymous "Sling" is mixed in 5 gallon plastic buckets behing the bar - too sweet for my taste, but downed in quantity.

The Royal Mail website for tracking packages is down for a couple of days already. Lookup attempts (if you can get past the 'your cookies are important to us' interrogation) are met with an admission of their failure to keep a basic service running. Some weasel words state "You can still track items...

Mobiks = slang for fresh, unwilling conscripts.

Indeed llondel, paper returns are still a requirement for those deemed or wishing to be deemed non-resident. As compensation for the expense and delay, the filing deadline is brought forward . ~X( Any residual income arising in the U.K. triggers the requirement for a tax return - unfortunately thoug...

I remember taking off 15 minutes late from Cambridge for a flight to Schipol. We arrived pretty much on time due to the 100mph tailwind that day. I assume that the departure delay was deliberate in order to arrive in the assigned slot at the far end. What was memorable that day is the way the weath...

+1 indeed!