Richy B. – Page 142 – Richy's Random Ramblings

Personal: Income Tax, No VAT…

April 15, 2003

Hector - the old Inland Revenue mascot Arrghhh! The other day I received my first “Self Assessment Tax Return” which means I’ve got to inform the tax office of all my income last tax year and let them know if I owe them any money or the other way round.

For the last 12months, I’ve either been employed (and paying tax via PAYE – pay as you earn) or unemployed (where the tax is taken off my unemployment benefit at source), and since I’ve been employed from mid-January I’ve been paying “Emergency Tax” (i.e. tax at a higher rate than normal) as for some reason my “proper” tax code still hasn’t reached my work.

However, I’ve also been running a small business which has been generating some income – around £2,500 to £3,500 at a rough estimate. But, alas, most (if not all) of that income disappears into business costs: I’ve got a dedicated web server in London which is a “necessary asset” to run the business: that’s around £3,000 I *should* be able to write off against the income, then I had to buy a new computer to conduct business on (another £880) and then there’s the dedicated work telephone line (only around £120 per year) and then there’s the internet connection – £300 per year. Total income at most: £3,500. Total expenses: £4300. So hopefully I’ll be entitled to a tax rebate or something…

However, I’ve got to double check 3×30 page documents before I’m even mildly sure I can claim some of that back (I may only be able to claim 40% of the cost of the new computer back for instance), but I’m hoping the whole process won’t be as complicated as it appears!

So the forms that are sitting on my desk awaiting completion: New Credit Card application form (4 pages), Mortgage transfer form (8 pages), Tax form (30 pages), 2 letters to return to the bank (to close “dormant” accounts) and I’m sure there’s quite a bit more paper work to do. *sob* I hate doing paper work – don’t these people understand I’ve got a cat that needs fuss? (hey, I wonder if I use Smokey as the “company mascot” whether or not I can get a tax-rebate on her cat food and litter? It might be worth a try 😉 ).

(obligatory disclaimer: nothing in this post should be interpreted as any sort of tax or financial advice yadda yadda yadda. I am not a lawyer [IANAL] and I have never played one of those on TV or on stage…)

Books: Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix II

April 15, 2003

5 Comments

Whilst I may have come in for a little bit of stick by just the way I presented the facts about the new Harry Potter book back in January, I thought I’d just revisit the subject and do a quick summary of what more information has become available regarding “Potier De Harry Et L’Ordre De Phoenix” (and, no, I don’t know if that is the correct French translation of “Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix”).

“The Order Of The Phoenix” is available in two editions: the childrens edition and the Adults version. The childrens one is currently on “pre-order sale” at Amazon.co.uk for just £8.49 (saving 50% off the normal retail price) and is a hardcover book with 768 pages due to be released on the 21st of June this year – the cover shows a golden phoenix bird emerging from the flames and is the first childrens edition book cover not to feature Harry Pottery himself on the book design.

The Adults edition (which has a much darker and blacker cover with a silver Phoenix) is also available at the same price in the same format with the same number of pages – the only difference between the two is different cover artwork (so don’t expect any nude Harry Potter pictures from the Naked Quidditch Match)

The US variant, however, is available in two different formats. The “Standard Edition” amazoncom:043935806X currently at $17.99 (equal to £11.46) is a hard cover version and has 896 pages – somehow you are getting an extra 128 pages for the extra £2.97). I’ve got no idea if it’s just larger type, smaller page sizes or quite how they’ve managed to squeeze and extra 128 pages out of the same Harry Potter story – but it’ll be slightly interesting to find out. Oh the cover is also different from the UK version – it shows 15year old Harry holding his wand in-front of a number of doors and is drawn in midnight blue, indigo and flame blue (making it look a lot more “dark” than the brightly coloured UK version).

There is also a “Collector’s Edition” available for $42.00 (£26.75) amazoncom:0439567629 which is a “cloth-covered deluxe edition featuring full-colour printed endpapers, a foil-stamped title on the spine and a full colour slipcase with an exclusive book jacket design”. Worth an extra $24? I’m not sure, but if you are an avid fan with money to spare why not order it for June 21st?

The book (which has 255,000 words and is rumoured to be in 38 chapters) has already sold half a million advanced copies and will be released in USA, Canada, UK, Australia and in many other English languages on the 21^st of June (which is the longest day of the year) right after midnight British Summer Time (GMT/Zulu +1) – and would be approximately two and a half years since the previous Harry Potter book “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” was released (which helped bring the total number of “Potter” books sold to over 192million copies).

Ok, that’s enough of the release date – but what about the contents? Well, thanks to a leak from the American publishers and other “leaks“, the following is known:

The first two sentences of the book are:
“The hottest day of the summer so far was drawing to a close and a drowsy silence lay over the large, square houses of Privet Drive.

The only person left outside was a teenage boy who was lying flat on his back in a flowerbed outside number four. ”

I would guess the “teenage boy” is Harry himself.
Harry confronts “the unreliability of government and the impotence of the authorities at Hogwarts”
Whilst on the subject of Hogwarts, another little leak gives us the snippets:
“Dumbledore lowered his hands and surveyed Harry through his half-moon glasses.

‘It is time,’ he said, ‘for me to tell you what I should have told you five years ago, Harry.”
Ron Weasley (Harry Potter’s friend) becomes keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team
The new defence of the dark arts teacher (a woman) has a personality “like poisoned honey”
Professor Lupin will be back with “a lot of old friends”
They’ll also be a venomous, disgruntled house-elf and the end-of-term Ordinary Wizarding Level (OWLs) exams
Harry has nightmares about a single door in a silent corridor which is “more terrifying than every other nightmare combined”.
There will be a new Sorting Hat song
They’ll be a bit more of characters such as Mundungus Fletcher

There’s no doubt the book will be a huge success, but will the latest Harry Potter book live up to the hype or has its readership grown up in the intervening years since the Goblet of Fire…. Only time will tell….

Guess That Movie: L: Godzilla

April 14, 2003

6 Comments

Guess That Movie Round 50 Yep, it’s time for round 50 of Guess That Movie! Yippeee!

Round 49 of Guess That Movie was guessed by “long term contestant and constant winner” Kymberlie R. McGuire who recognised the 1987 movie “Hulk” amazoncom:6302874599 which aired last week on the UK TV channel “Five” (so called as it’s our fifth terrestrial television channel).

Ok – so here’s round 50. Take a guess which movie that screenshot has been taken from, and leave your guess (along with your name or an alias) in the comments and I’ll let you know if you guessed right or wrong. Guess Right – and you get points: and 500 points equals a £5 Amazon gift voucher (Kymberlie walked away recently with a $25.04 gift voucher!). If you guess wrong, you just slightly reduce the points available for yourself and others (and, yep, you can make multiple guesses: but after I’ve said if your previous guess is right or wrong).

And now for an extra long “Richy remembers his youth with points-free corrupted childrens TV lyrics post”…
A: Godzilla. amazoncom:0767817478 Correctly guessed by “Dr G”

Snippet: Feline Floor

April 14, 2003

1 Comment

*snippet* It seems Smokey was a bit scared last night of her new environment and kept on crying every time I left her alone with the lights off for more than 10 minutes. I ended up having to sleep on the floor with her to try and help her feel safe. She seemed alright with that, but 6 hours on a floor isn’t my ideal sleeping environment – hence I’m still pretty tired now 🙁