Tax Time

This is part one of what I'm sure is going to be an on-going series.

Everyone gets to submit their own taxes over here - it's not just for the self-employed. I've got a copy of this year's tax form on the living room table, and it's 32 pages long, though admittedly a few of those are left blank for calculations. It does also include the provincial form, too - that's right, I need to submit not one, but two tax forms.

I say me; I'm going to be getting a professional to do it.

I don't think it's actually that complicated. At base, I've had the paperwork through from my job saying how much money I made and how much tax I paid, as well as something similar from the bank saying how much interest I've earned. All I really need to do is copy those numbers into the right places, and then follow the instructions to work out if I need to pay more, or if I'm owed money.

The main hitch is that I've still got money in the UK; I need to let the tax people here know how much tax income I've paid on that, and I may or may not be eligible for a refund on that. I've requested the appropriate paperwork from the UK, so once that arrives, I think I'm pretty much set for that.

(For what it's worth, I think I'm in for a fairly minor tax refund; my job had me paying income tax, but I didn't earn enough to put me over the limit where I have to pay income tax, so I think I can claim it back)

More snow

I was all set to write about how winter was almost over; I've been watching the snow on my neighbours' roof slowly melt, and the last remnants had finally disappeared. The snow had melted enough that the driveway was completely uncovered, while I could see the bottom step for the first time since November.

And then on Friday, it started to snow around midday, and it carried on snowing for around twelve hours. There's a little more forecast for the next couple of days, too. So far, I think we've had an extra couple of inches - just enough to cover up everywhere, but little enough that the warmer temperatures today have melted quite a lot of it again.

It's been an odd winter all told, really. We've had the incredibly cold weather that I was expecting, but it's rarely lasted for that long - the last coupld of times we've had temperatures down to -18, it was just for a couple of days. Aside from that, it's generally been a lot warmer than I was anticipating, though admittedly that's a relative term. There have been days were I'd've been quite comfortable walking around without a coat, which I definitely wasn't expecting.

I think the worst part has been the wind chill - mainly because there's no way of anticipating it before you step outside. It'll take a good 10 or 15 degrees off the temperature when it's blowing down from the north. On the other hand, a good hat and gloves will mean you only feel it on your face, and after a couple of minutes, you won't feel it at all!

The nicest part has definitely been seeing the icicles form on the eaves. The living room is soith-facing, so the roof gets sunlight all day, and quite a lot of the snow melting off it ends up in icicle form. I think the largest one so far has been a little over a meter tall... Sadly, the temperature needs to stay in quite a narrow zone for properly large icicles - too cold, and the snow doesn't melt; too warm, and the icicles' bases melt enough that they can't support their own weight.