Note to an Australian friend
It is icy cold over here with the first real bite of winter hitting across the country. We have had a little snow but nothing serious. The southern part of England seems to have been hit harder than Scotland.
Such strange white flakes do not enter the world of the Western Australian as he sits in the air conditioned cool of his castle. I am unsure if I could ever get used to the absence of the distinctive flavours of the passing of each season. They provide such luscious sensory punctuation marks in the passage of each year. With global warming, we may even lose that here, so I am going to luxuriate and appreciate while we have it.
Now, I must start my working day. It is the tax return time again - one seasonal event that I would happily do without. Then again there is a feeling of satisfaction and relief once it is all done and the send button is pressed on the on-line forms. It is a bit like sticking your finger in a socket, painful and shocking while it is connected, but oh, the relief, once it stops. (This trick must not be carried out at home and adults must be under the supervision of a responsible child while reading this).
So no more procrastination. Render unto Caesar and Gordon Brown, that which belongs to .... well, me actually! I shall imagine my hard earned money pouring into the homes of the empoverished, feeding starving children, bringing education to the masses, making a positive difference to the world. Yes, that is so much more comforting than knowing it is killing people in Iraq, paying the salaries of incompetent Home Office management who cannot even keep their filing up to date and supporting the life styles of politicians who want to award themselves a 60% increase in salary when low paid government workers like my husband are being told to settle for less than the rate of inflation.
Such strange white flakes do not enter the world of the Western Australian as he sits in the air conditioned cool of his castle. I am unsure if I could ever get used to the absence of the distinctive flavours of the passing of each season. They provide such luscious sensory punctuation marks in the passage of each year. With global warming, we may even lose that here, so I am going to luxuriate and appreciate while we have it.
Now, I must start my working day. It is the tax return time again - one seasonal event that I would happily do without. Then again there is a feeling of satisfaction and relief once it is all done and the send button is pressed on the on-line forms. It is a bit like sticking your finger in a socket, painful and shocking while it is connected, but oh, the relief, once it stops. (This trick must not be carried out at home and adults must be under the supervision of a responsible child while reading this).
So no more procrastination. Render unto Caesar and Gordon Brown, that which belongs to .... well, me actually! I shall imagine my hard earned money pouring into the homes of the empoverished, feeding starving children, bringing education to the masses, making a positive difference to the world. Yes, that is so much more comforting than knowing it is killing people in Iraq, paying the salaries of incompetent Home Office management who cannot even keep their filing up to date and supporting the life styles of politicians who want to award themselves a 60% increase in salary when low paid government workers like my husband are being told to settle for less than the rate of inflation.
Ah well, Don Quixote rides again; windmills to the left of me, windmills to the right of me; into the valley of a million windmills rides the lone ranter! Damn, my eternal optimism is taking over and I feel a gratitude list coming on. In spite of the best endeavours of government, I have so much more than I actually need; I just wish that what I give as a citizen would be more effectively distributed so it does some good in the world but I would willingly settle for the knowledge that it is at the very least doing no harm.
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