Cambridge

As it was dry this afternoon, we went into Cambridge for a walk around the Backs. There were aconites and snowdrops out, but we only saw one daffodil out.

Cambridge is famous for its bikes!

Tax return completed today

I finished my tax return today, but suspect there may be an error in the calculation of tax due because of an error at the IRC with the calculation algorithm. I need to check first, but will write if I am correct. I only found this by accident.

There was also (yet again) a problem writing in the section for you to add any other comments. One is very restricted in the characters one can use. Why, oh why, is this form so stupid in this day and age?  Surely it should be possible to create a form which would allow you to simply write or at the very least tell you what the error is if you make one?

After nearly 2 days I was not impressed.

Tax return

I am doing my tax return online. It has to be done by the end of January.  Apparently I owe the Inland Revenue much more than I thought although I am sure I must have made a mistake. My wife says look at the form again tomorrow when my head is clearer. She is right.

Relatives

This weekend we drove up to Barnsley, Yorkshire, staying one night away to help one of the relatives of Lis celebrate her 30th wedding anniversary.  It was my furtherest drive since my stroke. It was a good chance for Lis to see relatives she has not seen for many years and to revisit old haunts in Barnsley.

2016 is here

So, the new year is with us. A time for new beginnings and new hopes. May I wish  every reader of this blog, where ever you live on this small, shared, planet of ours, a very happy and peaceful 2016. I hope we can all enjoy 2016 in peace and goodwill.

My main ambition is to make the most of life: it is a precious gift.

So I really hope you have a great 2016 whatever your situation. We must grab life with both hands.

2015

As I write this we have just under one hour to go of this year. In some parts of the world it is already the new year. For me, it has been a "challenging" year with only slow, slow improvements in my stroke. My voice is still poor, I still have problems with many drinks and I have not made the full recovery by now that I was hoping for so much. I just hope next year is better, or at the very least that I can better adapt to the "me" I am these days.

Horses at Newmarket

Newmarket, the worldwide home of horse racing, is just 4 miles away. We do most of our food shopping there - mostly in Waitrose and sometimes at Tesco. Today we drove through Newmarket and did a walk at nearby Dalham, which is a real "chocolate box" village filled with thatched cottages. A hundred and fifty years ago these would have been tithed cottages for agricultural workers living in abject and grinding poverty. These days they are worth a small fortune and they are probably homes for the well grounded. Many may be second homes for people coming to Newmarket for the races.