The last few posts have been copied from my Astcote News blog but I feel they sit here just as well, if not better. I shall, henceforth, try to keep my personal activity and feelings to this diary, though. I had forgotten about this and only remembered when I looked at my 'Profile' within Blogger. I had not appreciated that almost all my blogs are listed and this is, indeed, one of them. So others may be reading this and I suppose I shouldn't be too concerned. This is me and I am not perfect!
So now I believe I have more or less caught up with things. The situation now is that from this week restrictions on travel within England have been removed, with some ability to meet other people too, although still pretty limited and no touching allowed! It is so strange to think that I have been able, admittedly some time ago now, touch Olga by flying Ukraine and back but I cannot touch anyone in England! Indeed, if a couple had not formed some sort of 'bubble' and were living apart they would not have been able to touch each other apart, briefly, perhaps on Christmas Day, for many months! So, despite all the hassle and delays, I have been quite fortunate.
On May 17 the present plan is to permit a lot more travel and activity and that has been the date when we have expected to be able to go abroad. I changed my ticket to an 18 May departure with that in mind. Olga and I had both hoped that there might be some relaxation in April and I could make a change again to this ticket but this is now looking very unlikely indeed.
Whilst the UK is doing really well and our numbers are down to around 10 per 100,000 (still too high but one of the lowest in Europe) and I have had both vaccinations now, the rest of Europe is in a right mess. Numbers of new cases have gone through the roof again in many countries, much as they did here in December and January. Ukraine is also experiencing new problems. There are now doubts as to whether we will be permitted to travel abroad on 17 May after all, the fear being that we might bring back a nasty variant from countries where the virus is circulating wildly and that could possibly happen.
This is frustrating to say the least. Even if I am permitted to go out of the UK, coming back looks like being a right pain as I will need three tests at great expense and inconvenience. Then there's another ten days of isolation which might not be so easy to escape from. The nightmare scenario would be if Ukraine were to be placed in a Red Zone by the Uk and that would require me to do the hotel thing on my return which is totally out of order! Indeed, I think I would, in that case, stay in Ukraine and fly back later when things had improved if it were not going to be too long. That isn't something I particularly want to think about - but I may have to. It is just the business problems that would result if I cannot send out parcels for more than a couple of weeks. I may well have to show Matti or Kirri where to find things, just in case. If they can find the right car then the packing and sending isn't too bad. Everything else I can do from anywhere else.
At the time of writing, I have a slight hope that I will be able to take the 18 May flight but with all those tests on my return to pay for. I need to find out how to get them and what they cost. Almost as likely, however, would be yet further delay until those return procedures are relaxed but I have a feeling that could be some considerable time as the population here have got into a very panicky and fearful state when no-one should, in their opinion, get into the country at all. Goodness knows when that attitude will ever change.
Holidays may be permitted to places where the UK government reckon that the virus is under control, judged by the vaccination progress in the country concerned and how well they have been handling things. On that basis, Ukraine is not likely to be 'Green' for some time, vaccination being way off yet.
I have a feeling that Olga may well have to take her English test alone - assuming the offices re-open for her to take it in Kiev before too much longer. If I don't have to supply any original documents for the application then she could even submit the application without me being there. So, whilst her test is delayed, perhaps the application will not be put off too much further. We're hoping for an application in June or July with a decision made in the Autumn. That is still on track but there are a good few hurdles to get over still.
It is now 75 days that we've been apart. We did 167 from February to August. I hope we don't have to do that again!
All my news appears to be COVI-related but it seems to take over so much these days. However, others things are happening. Corgi Toys did really well in January and February but slowed down a lot in March. I hope they pick up again as I like the extra income and have a good stock still. Particularly annoying has been the problems following Brexit where some Customs Offices are being over-zealous in performing whatever it is is they think they should be doing. A 20% VAT charge for my customers is not so bad but the admin fee often added is a lot and seems to be putting them off. The pound is also at a high figure for Americans and Euro users too so that doesn't help either. America seems still to buy reasonably well but I have seen a drop in Europe orders.
One annoying case was sent on 10 March but has been held up in a Customs Office in Frankfurt. I believe that staff are also off due to the virus dramatically increasing there, or maybe the office is closed for longer hours. Either way it is not possible to know when it will be released. the buyer has persuaded Ebay to give him a refund even though I tried to resist that and asked for some extra time in the exceptional circumstances that we have. So now he gets his money back and, one has to assume, will also get the model in due course. Will he retur it to me? Will he expect me to pay the return postage? My personal view is that he may have been contacted by the Office and told that a fee is payable and he has now ducked out of the deal. I don't know what happens next. I may be wrong but, whatever the case, unless it truly is lost, I am on the losing side here and it seems unfair. My best hope may be that it is lost or comes back damaged and then I can claim on the extra insurance that I arranged.
Steve gave me the job of helping him get a refund of some tax that had been deducted from a PPI settlement a while back. I did the papers for him but he only got one payment back out of four that seem due. He has hoped that that would cover his tax, both the amount deferred from April 2020 as well as the amount due January 2021. However that hasn't come through and they're taking their time to reply to any letters or calls and he borrowed some money from his mum to make a settlement of the April 2020 figure. We did his Tax Return at Jason's place in August 2020 and I was surprised that he hadn't had any bill for the January payment. Looking at correspondence about the PPI claim, though, I spotted that he was being fined £100 for not making a Tax Return! We met in Milton Keynes and, keeping our distance as best we could, I saw that there had been an error in the online form and that it had not gone in, despite my being able to get a download of the whole document without any obvious problem. Very odd. anyway, we got it completed and successfully sent in this time and I am hoping he will be excused the fine. All very complicated! We also wrote a letter to them, just to make their files even fatter and make it more awkward as we felt that they'd let us down a bit. I am sure that I should not have been able to download the complete return in August if it had been incorrect.
The poor fellow does panic with anything to do with tax. I do my best to help him but one evening I had one message after another on WhatsApp! I guess that's what friends can be for. He did appreciate my patience and explanations, or attempts at same.
I have started communicating a lot more with Brian now that he can use WhatsApp and we are not constantly having to worry about what his missus might say. Much better! We are sharing pictures of our old cars, slowly from start to finish, one at a time in turn. It is bringing back lots of memories and great fun. I am not keen to see his missus again, though, so this lockdown kind of helps in some ways!!
No comments:
Post a Comment