Ops-Normal.org

OFSO wrote: ↑

Tue May 21, 2019 5:10 am

I have been trying to get HMRC to send correspondence to my UK address since 1st Jan 2018. No, they send it to Spain.....

I gave up my sideline business in 1999, having used an accountant friend to do the books. He was on the tax returns as my agent. In spite of telling HMRC in 2000 and annually thereafter that I no longer had an agent it took 7 years before they finally stopped sending him documentation relating to me. I suspect it only stopped when he retired and the letters were returned to HMRC.

Electric toothbrush packed up in midst of morning toilet

Magnus wrote: ↑

Wed May 22, 2019 8:24 am

I take it that the Woody scanties are now a delicate colour?

Fortunately not, but received bollocking for mixing whites with colours

I still get frequent correspondence from HMRC regarding my landlord status. I ceased my UK activity nearly 3 years ago and they know that.

ian16th wrote: ↑

Wed May 22, 2019 8:39 am

Electric toothbrush packed up in midst of morning toilet

........and then we went out.

SWMBO discovered that the watch she had selected to match today's Haute Couture trip to the hairdressers had stopped!
So I have to get out of the car to see about a battery change.

Then she discovers that the sole is falling off the right shoe!

A problem in these humid parts is that adhesives simply give up the ghost, in a very short time.
Makes one understand how Mosquitoes fell to bits in Burma.

I have told my helpers in Spain to return all post from HMRC. The PO will just chuck 'em in the bin if told to send them back, so I paid for postage and envelopes. I see on-line there are a number of letters sent to me that I never received. I also found - surprise, surprise - my correct address in the UK on their website, so why are the blighters not using it !

Got me car back.

Surprise, surprise, it has had a new battery fitted under warranty as the other one wasn't taking/holding the charge.

Honda been fobbing me off for months saying it was about my driving style, the mileage, what was switched on/off, the weather, the price of fish, etc. They've finally acknowledged that perhaps a customer may know what they're talking about.

We shall see if the new battery works.

Best ever excuse for tyres worn unevenly was BMW in Darmstadt who asked my colleague, the owner of a 5 series, where he lived, and then said "Ah that explains it. You have been making too many right-hand turns off the autobahn."

Amazon usually works great,but not when you get delivered an unordered,very expensive shower head.Have checked order account but nothing ordered under the influence.If I had an expensive shower I would be tempted to keep it but will probably contact the feckwits at Amazon tomorrow.

Electric toothbrush packed up in midst of morning toilet

Yes, funny how they do that without warning.

It isn't just the computerised British tax system that has problems!

A de-rant. Un-rant? A tnar ? Walking up in mountains today, phone rings, man from DGs office HMRC, apologises for them being unable to get my address right, he is seeing to it personally, my fine rescinded as their error and please note his personal number and call him immediately if I have any problems. Much appreciated. Nice guy.

I wonder if my file will get flagged "handle with care, troublemaker" ? My Spanish electricity provider file was after I wrote twice to the DG in Madrid. Kid glove treatment.

We used to red paint incoming telephone jumper wires back in my GPO apprentice days for troublemakers.

Squeaky axle gets the most grease. Always has, always will.

Just spotted this one while doing research on income tax:

It's often said that the taxman will chase you to your grave, but French authorities have taken this to the extreme, sending a tax bill to the cemetery and specific tomb of a man who had been dead for months, it was reported on Tuesday.

With France struggling to pay off its public debt and the government embroiled in an offshore tax evasion scandal, the country's fiscal authorities might be forgiven for being a little more thorough than usual in reclaiming revenue these days.

But surely chasing a man to his grave is taking things a little too far? That, however, is exactly what the notorious French taxman has done, French media reported on Tuesday.

After attempting to send a tax bill to the unnamed taxpayer’s home, in the Ile-de-France region surrounding Paris, last month, the Centre for Public Finances had the letter returned to them, marked “Deceased” - a status the man had had for months.

Undeterred by this detail, it seems someone at the tax office in Vincennes, just outside the French capital, tracked down the man to his final resting place – a cemetery in Autheuil in the Lower Normandy region of north-western France.

To ensure there would be no mistake in delivering the letter on this occasion, the address on the envelope was even marked, “Tomb 19”.

Astonished, the postman on duty that day seems to have decided on a better destination for the letter – the local mayor’s office.

After receiving the dead man’s tax bill, Autheuil mayor Béatrice Devedjian told RTL radio: “I was a bit shocked. It can’t be that we’ve reached the point where we’re harassing people in their final resting place.”

Currently in possession of the infamous letter, Devedjian is trying to trace the family of the deceased man, in order to forward them the bill, according to French daily Le Figaro.

But surely chasing a man to his grave is taking things a little too far? That, however, is exactly what the notorious French taxman has done, French media reported on Tuesday.

NZ Tax system has recently announced that it has undergone some "modifications" and anamolies might occur ?

Recent articles in the national Press have noted that .... a family registering a newborn arrivals Birth Certificate then received a demand for a tax return for the newborn !

Yesterday it was reported that a man tried to check his tax account Online, but couldn't access it. After a few attempts to talk to someone, and only finding a Robot on the end, he did eventually succeed and was told the he was dead. Lucky him, no more tax to pay for the rest of his life !

Keyboard geography.

My mobile phone keyboard is rigged with 12 buttons aligned in a 3 x 4 block pattern, starting along the top line with 1,2,3,
my desktop calculator has a similar block of keys, but starting 7,8,9,
the burglar alarm pad inside my front door starts 9,8,7, so when I fumble in the dark, and insert the wrong PiN number, and the alarm starts beeping to give me about 5 seconds to correct my error - I usually fail.

Remember when the 'phone dial was just a rotary dial, with the 9 almost resting against the curved finger stop at the bottom ? That was why the UK Police chose 999 as the emergency number, to make it easy to find the 9 in the dark, and maybe why NZ chose 111 - so why did the USA go for 911 ? Almost as daft as their date protocol ( we won't start that again )

WTF can't there be some sort of standardisation for the modern pushbutton equipment ?

The USA picked 911 as it was easy to remember and had not already been used as an area code or other special code - area code 999 is in the Yucatan, Mexico, in case you were wondering.

ExSp33db1rd wrote: ↑

Thu May 23, 2019 10:51 pm

Keyboard geography.

My mobile phone keyboard is rigged with 12 buttons aligned in a 3 x 4 block pattern, starting along the top line with 1,2,3,
my desktop calculator has a similar block of keys, but starting 7,8,9,
the burglar alarm pad inside my front door starts 9,8,7, so when I fumble in the dark, and insert the wrong PiN number, and the alarm starts beeping to give me about 5 seconds to correct my error - I usually fail.

Remember when the 'phone dial was just a rotary dial, with the 9 almost resting against the curved finger stop at the bottom ? That was why the UK Police chose 999 as the emergency number, to make it easy to find the 9 in the dark, and maybe why NZ chose 111 - so why did the USA go for 911 ? Almost as daft as their date protocol ( we won't start that again )

WTF can't there be some sort of standardisation for the modern pushbutton equipment ?

There's a tale behind the choices. An easy-to-remember number was required. 111 in the UK was out because it could easily be spuriously dialled by a faulty line, being three pulses. Successfully achieving three sequences of nine pulses by accident is highly unlikely. New Zealand, for some reason, had their dials wired backwards, so 111 would deliver nine pulses per digit. I guess 911 is a compromise, given that dialling a couple of 1s is faster than a couple of 9s, but it needs the properly-spaced 9 to initiate the call.

If you want to really wind someone up and they've got a push-button phone, take it apart, swap the 123 with the 789 and observe the results. I did it once and it's fascinating to watch. Muscle memory fights with the conscious brain.

All wrong ! 999 was picked because the Strowager Switches were so damned slow they needed the time for the dial to return from the furthest position. OFSO former T2A, GPO, 1961-1968.

When I went to cast me vote last nightI noticed that beside the ballot paper box was a piece of wood. On it was written "Ballot paper compaction tool". Complete with our council's cipher and the words "Property of South Kesteven District Council". It was just a wooden stick FFS. An ordinary office ruler would suffice. I wonder how much that piece of "engineering" cost the tax-payer.

OFSO wrote: ↑

Fri May 24, 2019 5:42 am

All wrong ! 999 was picked because the Strowager Switches were so damned slow they needed the time for the dial to return from the furthest position. OFSO former T2A, GPO, 1961-1968.

OFSO, do you, and Alison, remember the fly back dials on the V-Bomber dispersal phones? I think it was so you could locate the next number while the phone innards unwound.in

While we are dialing a telephone, does anyone still dial? The alternative is 'press the keypad ' as 'keypad 999' doesn't work. Dial is a verb and keypad isn't.

Now one time I tested telephones for French Philips for the UK market including the instructions.

"Place yourself by the telephone and press the green button, when you hear a tone press the keypad buttons" Or words to that effect.

Still French, daughter, aged about 20 got a temp job with Valleo in UK. She was an excellent speaker and had only A-level French. The interview was conducted in French. She had no technical French but with the aid of my AA European breakdown booklet translated their French manuals into English.