I had occasion to use a German ATM this week. When I entered my card I was give the following options
1. 500 Euro
2. 400 Euro
3. 300 Euro
4. 200 Euro
5. 100 Euro
6. Another amount
Needing cash for a bus ticket I selected “another amount” and was offered multiples of 50 Euro notes. This raised a couple of questions for me such as who takes the equivalent of £435.00 out of a cash point, why do Germans carry so much cash around with them anyway.
This is becoming more common all over Europe, a totally man made beach by a river. In this case it is next to Berlin Hauptbahnhof and the “beach” is an outdoor nightclub with a different theme every night of the week. Given the winter weather in Berlin I assume they bag up their beach and put it into storage until next year.
It was time for the annual holiday in Scotland recently; we make the journey from London in a single day with a stop in a North Yorkshire village for lunch. This time we stopped in a small cafe where they were advertising a special deal of a bottle of wine for £2.50 if two people bought an evening meal. I can work out if was going to be an incredibly good deal or an undrinkable bottle of wine
A recent visit to a Middle Eastern country in Summer lead to some VERY high temperatures it apparently reached a top temperature of 48.5C...... or did it!! I later learnt from one of the people that I was with that there is a law where everyone can go home from work when the temperature reaches 49C. In order that no one ever gets the day off work the maximum temperature in the country is 48.5C when it goes above that figure the temperature becomes a “perceived temperature”. I understand that the airport had a temperature of 51C on that day of my visit but that the thermometers were wrong and in fact it was only 48.5C after all.
As a person who works in the private sector I have long held the view that the Civil service in the UK is a necessary evil. And should be as small as possible to remain effective, if it ever was effective!
Having spoken to a number of people in public service over the years they seems, as a generalisation, to not understand that they are a cost to the economy and they need to be as efficient as possible. It appears to be almost impossible to lose your job and no one is accountable for failure and you are encouraged to spend money left in your budget regardless of the need to do so. I could go on but my blood pressure would go up, the story below does nothing to change my view
Filed under: Taxes
You might have thought the taxman had managed every possible variation on the stupid mistake. However, it has just come up with another. Hundreds of thousands of people have yet to receive a reminder about the tax they are due to pay this month, because HMRC ran out of paper.
You hear about labelling like this but it stunned me to actually see this on a packet of cashews. The warning next to it stated that the packet contained nuts.
Working in the Aviation industry i find myself on a lot of aircraft, yesterday I was on a train journey for the first time in a couple of years. Criticising the rail network is a national sport in the UK, High fares, low service and overcrowding and three regular complaints.
I booked to travel from London to Birmingham 5 days in advance on Virgin West Coast, The fare was £45 in Standard class or £55 in First class, it was a bit of a “no brainer” decision on what to choose. The fare into London on the connecting train was £17 and we got nothing other than a seat. On arrival in Euston I transferred to Virgin, the carriage was almost empty and as we pulled away from Euston I was offered coffee shortly thereafter my breakfast order was taken and it arrived (on a plate not just in a foil tray) with orange juice toast and more coffee. I arrived in Birmingham an hour and 10 minutes after leaving London very refreshed and ready to go. Contrast this with all the hassle of security at airports and the packaged food, I must travel by train more often.
