life in the UK
Taxman cometh...
So sad, but I think we will be leaving the UK in the next year or so, all because of Alistair Darling’s new “non-dom” tax changes. Even though the details have not been published and the IRS in the US hasn’t commented, it clearly is going to cost me and my family more money to be in the UK — and we believe unfairly.
Here is why…
Currently non-doms only pay tax on UK income. This is changing. The UK is going to move to world-wide taxation for non-doms living in the UK for seven out of the last ten years. However, there is a £30,000 a year levy that you can pay to remain taxed largely as we are now, on a remittance basis. Since this applies to all non-doms over 18, it means that my family would have to pay £60,000 to avoid paying worldwide taxes.
Since this is very near our combined pre-tax income its unlikely we will do this unless our tax bill from non-UK taxes ever approached £60k (say received income of £150,000).
March 18, 2008 |
Category » life in the UK
Comments (1)
UK Weather Forecasting Sucks
“Roads will be icy, in particular … everywhere.”
— BBC 1
“Winds are going left across the North Sea then taking another left at the Bay of Biscay.”
— Sky News
I really want to know why the British are willing to settle for weather forecasts that are so vague as to be comical, if not dangerous?
Last year, the BBC spent millions on new computer animations that made the Scottish feel small and all others dizzy with a virtual flight around the isles looking at clouds. Even looking at a website, you can never know if its going to rain tomorrow, and certainly not when.
When we first moved to the UK, I used to think it must be me. That I didn’t fully understand what I was seeing or hearing. I used to listen to others tell me what they thought was going to happen — often with far more precision than I could ever glean from a forecast. They would say, “oh, its going to rain around 11 o’clock.” However, on pressing them, they were sort of making it up, based on their interpretation of the swirling BBC map.
January 22, 2007 |
Category » life in the UK
Comments (1)
Allotment : Paper Pots
This is our first full season with an Allotment. Last year we got a very overgrown allotment quite late in the season and spent a good deal of time digging it out. We did get a fruit cage in and a huge amount of tomatoes — that was largely it.
This year we are trying to get going early. We started with staring a bunch of plants in the house to get them out as soon as we could. This means making our kitchen look like a greenhouse. It also means using lots of plastic and compostable pots. I had been reading about these paper pots and finally saw the maker in a local nursery.
Its great!
You simply cut some three inch strips of newspaper (full length), roll it around the ‘pestle’ and then press and twist it on the ‘mortar’ a few times and it crimps the bottom. Then you have a free, biodegradable pot. The only problem is that its too small for any larger seeds… but its far better than the plastic trays.
And the kids love making them. It does take some time, so make a cup of tea/coffe and talk to someone reading the paper while you whip out 30 or so.
I highly recommend it.
March 26, 2006 |
Category » life in the UK
Comments (0)
Looking for Work
Well, I seriously doubt if it will help, but I thought I should cover all bases and post my CV/Resumé here.
I have been made redundant/laid off as part of a large, long and painful downsizing at my former company and am looking for something in reasonable commuting distance from Twickenham/Richmond in London or someplace on the US West Coast (other offers considered).
Ideally I would be running all or parts of a website for a dynamic, information-rich company. However, I am interested in all interesting product/programme management work as well. I would prefer permanent roles, but would consider interesting temp/contract work.
If you are looking for a hard working, strategic, technical, web-saavy manager with loads of experience, please get in touch.
CV/Resume in:
February 27, 2006 |
Category » life in the UK
Comments (0)
Becoming British = Becoming a Druid?
After our fourth year in the United Kingdom, we were given our indefinite leave to remain at the low low price of £500, having just missed the cut-off where it was free. This year we will get to become British Citizens (actually dual citizens, we are keeping the USA as well) but we are again narrowly missing the deadline to avoid taking a 45 minute test on “Life in the UK” and the “Citizenship Ceremony”.
So to prepare, I went to the British Citizenship website to learn about the process. I was greeted by the above image of Stonehenge and people dancing — apparently you must become a Druid and learn to dance around on various solecists.
I turns out the actual test is so obscure that the media here is joking about it. If you fancy yourself an Anglophile, the BBC put up a sample test here. Just like having to retake the drivers test, I will have to study some strange book for a month just to pass.
Wonderful.
November 23, 2005 |
Category » life in the UK
Comments (0)
Work for Beer?
Would you work for beer?
I OFFICIALLY WORK FOR BEER
That’s right, I have a completely informal deal to format and send out the monthly Real Ale’s newsletter.
Working for beer sounds good to me - a six pack retails at £15.00 a box on average, how does that sound?
Nick
—
Real Ale Limited
371 Richmond Road
Twickenham
Sound good to me … very good.
November 7, 2005 |
Category » life in the UK
Comments (0)
What is going on this Monday?
Today was a shock for me.
I was IMing with someone at my work, who is based in Stamford, CT. At the end of the conversation, she said, “talk to you Tuesday.” I figured she must be taking a long weekend or something and didn’t think much of it.
A little later, some one else said, “I will have to take a look at that on Tuesday.” This time, I thought it was strange, but the person got off the phone before I could ask.
A little later still, I was on the phone with a German colleague who said that we would have to wait until Tuesday for the US to respond. I finally asked, “Tracy, what is going on Monday that no one is working in the US? So far three people have mentioned it…”.
Tracy just laughed, “Isn’t it your Independence Day_?”
SNAP
silence
“Ah, yes, thanks…”
I have been over in London for four years and forgot, completely. Its such a non-event here that it didn’t register. Also, no one I talk to regularly has mentioned any big plans… but how lame am I?
July 4, 2005 |
Category » life in the UK
Comments (0)
Announcing the Launch of St Margarets Community Website
For a long time I have wanted to do something like this, but have always been too busy. Finally a good friend spurred me into action (not to mention some job issues) and I have built a new community website for the village I live in, St Margarets, right outside London.
Currently its sort of lost between the far larger Richmond and Twickenham, specially when it comes to our local council’s actions. However, it is a real community with a large park, excellent schools, three pubs, a wonderful high street, a train station and post office.
So I have worked with three other people on the content and built, designed and wrote nearly all of the content for the site, stmgrts.org.uk.
The site was originally nearly all Movable Type, but I started using my own little CMS for some static pages. Then the volume and dating issues around events got a little problematic, so I wrote a little application for that. Then the display of the local information directory got cumbersome, so I wrote a little application for that. Then we wanted some polls, so I did that as an application and the newsletter and finally YABB for the forum.
I think that Movable Type could have done the static and even the events and directory if I setup separate blogs for each, but that seems a little nightmarish to knit altogether.
Right now we are in beta just showing it to a select few people, but I am anxious to get the word out and see how people use it. Then perhaps a bigger launch at our fair in July.
Take a look and give me some feedback!
May 25, 2005 |
Category » life in the UK
Comments (0)
Snow.
We have been having a few days of flurries in London this last week.
The snow never lasts long, but it is lovely and the kids are having a blast throwing snowballs and making mini-snowmen. Its not quite the Wisconsin winters I grew up with, but its all relative to a child.
February 25, 2005 |
Category » life in the UK
Comments (0)
Olympic Coverage - UK vs. USA
Wow, what a difference in Olympic coverage, BBC compared to any US Network.
August 16, 2004 |
Category » life in the UK
Comments (1)
London Trains Suck
Tonight was proof again why I bought a car…
For the first year I was in London, I took the train to work. I was thinking… so it takes a little longer, but its better for the environment and probably cheaper.
Well, a big NO on cheaper. It actually costs slightly more than running my car. But as time went on, and the days turned to winter, the trains got more and more unreliable. “Leaves on the Track”1 or “cold lines” so the trains are running extra slow. In the summer it was “hot lines” so trains have to run slow. Or, my personally favorite, “Crew didn’t turn up.”
Well, tonight, I took the train in so I could go right into the city to meet a friend from the US. I got to Staines Station by 5:15pm. I was about to put about £8.30 into a machine, when my friend Xav told me, “you better hold on a sec.” I looked up at the monitor, EVERY TRAIN IN BOTH DIRECTIONS WAS DELAYED… since 4:40pm! Then they slowly started to get canceled. And of course, there wasn’t a train worker to be seen, in fact they had closed the information office and the ticket windows. They were probably hiding in the back somewhere.
Well, to cut a long story short, I finally got on a train at about 6:40pm and home by 7:10pm or so.
I didn’t even try to get in the city. I chatted with two train drivers. Neither of them had any clue what was happening or which way they were going. I told them that it was a derailed train in Egham. So sad.
Well I have a few ideas for National Rain and Southwestern Trains specifically:
- Staff the stations with helpful people
- Make Public Addresses for all information that you have been asked for by three people in a queue in a row (hint hint… the queues will shrink)
- Cut down trees near the track
- Have extra staff in case someone doesn’t turn up
- Try making people pay for riding on trains (another huge issue for me how many ‘upstanding’ people who don’t feel the need to pay)
- Update the track to deal with hot and cold conditions that I believe occur in other metro areas, like I don’t know… NEW YORK!
- Get rid of level crossings inside the M25 (duh!)
March 10, 2004 |
Category » life in the UK
Comments (0)
Things I miss... 2004 edition
Well, in general I haven’t really been missing much from the US over the last 2+ years. Really its been confined to things from Wisconsin that I used to be able to occasionally get in NYC from visitors, or specialty stores.
However today my brother hit me with a double wammie, his breakfast which had in it two of my absolute favorites.
- Nueskes Bacon
what can I say, my second favorite bacon in the world, the first isn’t made anymore (Sheboygan bacon my grandfather used to get with THE best Kaiser Rolls the world has ever known). John even sent me a NYTime article on how Nueskes came in second in a big NYC top chef taste test.
DINING IN, DINING OUT/STYLE DESK | January 21, 2004, Wednesday For a B.A. in Bacon, They All Chewed the Fat By LINDA LEE (NYT) 1588 words Late Edition - Final , Section F , Page 1 , Column 4 DISPLAYING FIRST 50 OF 1588 WORDS - FROM the worried expressions as my guests stared at the oven door -- one of them asked, ''Are you sure it's all right in there?'' -- you would have thought there was a cat having kittens in my oven rather than strips of bacon cooking in a pan. They need...
- Racine Kringle - my absolute favorite is pecan
if you want to know what one is… go to the site or read this “Kringle is a thin and delicate pastry developed hundreds of years ago in Denmark. Racine Danish Kringles are made from a traditional recipe that Danish bakers brought with them to the US when they immigrated to Racine, Wisconsin in the 1880s. This authentic, old-world recipe has been handed down from generation to generation”
Well… I am still drooling.
February 1, 2004 |
Category » life in the UK
Comments (0)
| TrackBack (0)