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Jan 23 2012
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Life

Tax return

I now have to do one and last Friday I did one. Because of the nature of my current work situation it’s been fairly easy to calculate how much I owe in tax for a while but I still hate doing it. Why do I hate doing it? Because the form that HMRC set up is full of questions that require me to do a double-take.

For example, I know that I am really a self-employed worker. I do my own invoices and such so there’s no other bracket I could fall under. Despite the fact that deep down inside I know all this to be true, the wording of the questions regarding this fact had me doubting my own mind because they were so hard to understand. It should be pointed out that I am not someone who is an expert on financial matters and I don’t keep up with financial news that much. I imagine someone who was the polar opposite of me might have a better understanding of the questions.

This got me thinking…how many others out there are in my position? How many other people who recently graduated from university and went down the freelance road are having to do this for the first time? If you are one of those people please leave a comment about how you found the whole experience and whether or not you found it daunting or otherwise.

I guess what I’m asking is this: am I really that thick?

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Dec 16 2011
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Life

Taking a break for the holidays

The tree that currently sits on our coffee table

No sooner have I found my feet again when it comes to maintaining this blog I am taking a break for the Christmas and New Year holidays. It’s been a weird one for me on a personal level and I’m quite amazed to see the finishing line in sight. Over the winter there will be a few sporadic Guildford People updates and some planning for things I’d like to try and do next year but mostly it will be a period of total relaxation.

Normal blogging service will resume sometime in the first or second week of January. For now though, have a very peaceful Christmas and happy New Year.

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Dec 13 2011
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Life

24 hours in Manchester

Over the weekend I went to Manchester to see Manchester United play Wolves in the Premier League at Old Trafford. I’ve been supporting them since 1996 so I’ve been waiting to see them for a long time and was very happy that I finally could go t0 the Theatre of Dreams. This also came just after the humiliating exit in the Champions’League thanks to Basle. My main concern was that we’d struggle to get past Wolves and that we’d probably just squeeze a victory. Infact, when the first shot of the game came from them with just under a minute played I got worried.

In the end we thumped them 4-1. This was exactly the performance I wanted to see at such at such a legendary stadium. The first half was full of glorious attacks by United with Nani in particular being outstanding. His brace of goals was well deserved and Rooney also seemed hungry – he also got a couple.

The atmosphere was fantastic and it confirmed to me that the reason that some naysayers think that Old Trafford doesn’t make any noise is because the sound on TV is considerably low. There seemed to be an endless supply of chants from down the years emanating from the stands and it really added to a fantastic atmosphere.

This was taken about mid-way through the second half I think on my pathetic camera on my pathetic phone

Other than the game I didn’t get to see too much of Manchester unfortunately. It was also a Saturday so there were plenty of people looking for Christmas presents. Going to shopping centres is one thing, going on Saturday is another…but going so close to Christmas is quite scary.  We went to a nice restaurant in the evening where we sat opposite the pass to got to see lots of tasty steak being cooked. I’d probably like to go back at some point in the future to explore the city further but this was still an enjoyable weekend.

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Nov 01 2011
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Life

Movember

This month I’ll be taking part in Movember, which is growing in popularity. Basically it involves grown men growing a ‘nose neighbour’, as Ned Flanders would call it, for a month to raise money for testicular cancer initiatives. It’s a fun thing for a great cause.

What I’m asking from you, blog readers, is to help me raise as much money as possible. I figured that if half of my Twitter and Facebook friends gave me money I’d be raising £289.50. That’s a lot of money. So even if you could give me just a £1 that’d be super. I mean, what’s £1 worth to you. If the world’s economic markets crumble and we all perish into some sort of ‘nu apocalypse’as Fred Durst would probably call it then probably a huge amount but we’re not at that juncture yet! So please give me your money and I’ll keep growing this moustache for the whole month.

To donate, go and visit my profile on the Movember website and press the Donate button under my profile picture, which looks a bit weird but it’ll do.

Thanks!

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Oct 11 2011
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Arts & Entertainment, Life

Some odds and ends on the 11th October

Here’s a summary of things that have happened or will happen:

  • Tomorrow I am going to see Sam Amidon play a gig at the Crypt Bar in the Angel Hotel, Guildford. I’ve been there once on Heritage Open Days this year and I think it’s going to be very interesting to see how that plays out. It’s a near sell-out the last I heard from Howard Blake, who owns the People Independent Music store in town and is promoting it, and he’s hoping to put more shows on. I hope so. I get the feeling that something good is happening in regards to the Guildford music scene; more doors are opening and in a few years I think it could be a really thriving community.
  • There’s a new project I’m in the early stages of planning that I don’t want to talk too much about but it’s probably the most entrepreneurial project I’ve undertaken in the sense that, if it succeeds, it might be a profitable venture.
  • Very soon I will join the iPhone world. I’m not going to get the new model because it doesn’t feel like a huge step up from iPhone 4 and I’ve managed to find a very reasonable contract deal for two years. I’m still going to keep the old Nokia smartphone because it’ll still have some uses if I need a back up phone but I think I’ve outgrown it. It’s a good beginner phone for those who are daunted by the iPhone and the sheer number of things it could do but developer support is waning and I’m jumping ship now before it sinks.
  • Me and Aino went to the Scandinavian Show at Earls Court last Sunday. It was a relaxing and enjoyable day. One of the food stalls was occupied by a Michelin Star restaurant, which means I can now say I’ve eaten Michelin Star quality food. It was pork belly with tarragon and pickled carrot. The pork and tarragon were divine, the pickled carrot less so but that might just be my palette.
  • Also at the Scandinavian Show was Sofie Gråbøl and Søren Malling from Forbrydelsen (aka The Killing), who did a Q&A that was so popular there wasn’t enough room for everyone to fit so some people spilled out onto some stairs. They both came across as really charming and lovely people and the amount of times that Søren swore throughout was amusing. I’m very much looking forward to the second series.
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