Category: News

Was it always this bad? I suspect it might have been but not having to access too many government agencies in the past perhaps I just wasn’t aware of just how useless they are. On Friday I had two examples of the left hand not knowing what the right hand was up to if indeed the left hand even knew that there was a right hand.

Firstly, we had a letter from HM Revenue and Customs chastising SeamStress Ltd for failing to pay the employee’s share of tax (PAYE in the UK) and insisting that we forward a small fortune immediately or face prosecution if not castration. Fortunately, SeamStress filed the necessary paper work back in April to sack all its employees and insist that they become self-employed. SeamStress Ltd. itself is about to be wound up now that the company financial year has finished (31 July). I suspect you will remember all this but unfortunately the Revenue doesn’t, in spite of having previously sent confirmation that Ms Playchute herself is now obliged to pay her National Insurance personally and that it will no longer be paid by SeamStress Ltd. This required a phone call to the Revenue’s fine offices in Glasgow where we spoke with a lovely lady with an impenetrable Scottish accent who eventually accepted what we told her. (An aside: because the company is registered in Penny’s name she must give approval for the Revenue to speak with me, which we have done three or four times in the past. Nevertheless, every time we have cause to speak with them they insist on asking Penny to come to the phone, identify herself and then authorise me to speak on her behalf. So, on Friday we were proceeding through this pantomime when the lady at the other end asked, apparently, for Penny’s son’s name. Somewhat perplexed, Penny enquired why HM Revenue and Customs needed our son’s name (and, I suppose, which son did they want the name of?). In fact, it turns out that the impenetrable accent was asking her to confirm her surname). Continue reading “14 August 2011”

What a difference a week makes! Last week we were still basking in the glow of the memory of Tuscan sunshine; this week we have come back to earth and reality – arguing and negotiating with our broadband provider, our telecommunications provider and BT (British Telecom who provide all the infrastructure for the various providers to utilise) over who should rectify the fact that we have intermittent or no internet access.

On Wednesday it rained after an extended dry spell. On Wednesday, after weeks, months and perhaps even years of almost flawless service, the internet started playing up. In the past when we’ve had internet or telephone issues the fault has always been located in the junction box on a telephone pole on the other side of the road. Of course, one cannot simply telephone BT and report a fault in any of their equipment; one is required to jump through various hoops with either the broadband provider and/or the telephone provider to determine whether the fault is internal or external to the house. Our experiences in the past would suggest that the fault was likely outside but we still need our providers to confirm this. So, on Wednesday we telephoned support. The problem was that the fault was intermittent and, in fact, the internet was working more than not. So, after a few pointless investigations, we crossed our fingers, held our breath and all of Thursday and Friday it was fine. Then, on Saturday it started again and we were back (a) on the phone and (b) swapping out every piece of equipment in an effort to try and determine where the fault lay. After several hours of fruitless investigation (which involves climbing into the loft and plugging equipment into the main socket) our broadband provider conceded that the fault must clearly be somewhere outside. So, over to BT to send an engineer which they will do . . . sometime on Monday. Continue reading “7 August 2011”

So, here we are after a wonderful two weeks in Tuscany. I have to say, the whole vacation exceeded my expectations and although we had a couple of days of slightly dodgy weather, the villa was fantastic, the area is gorgeous, the family and friends were magnificent and, all in all, it was just about perfect. I guess the only imperfection was having to come home.

Our second week was, apart from one long day out, somewhat more local and relaxed than the first. On Saturday Ben, Nick, Lucy and Bump had to set off fairly early to make their way to the airport and our new guests, the Waltons and Kelly-Browns weren’t due to arrive until late in the evening. So, Adam, Pen, J and I had the day to ourselves. We decided to set off in the car to Montefegatesi, a magnificent hilltop village about thirteen km from Bagni di Lucca. It’s actually probably only about five or six km from here as the crow flies but it’s towards the top of the mountains and hence is accessed by narrow, winding roads that snake their way up the hillside. It’s a gloriously exciting drive up through chestnut woods with fabulous views of the peaks above and the foothills below, the excitement intensifying on every hairpin curve as you wonder whether you will meet another mad Italian careening down the hill. Fortunately, the SatNav guided us expertly and equally fortunately we met only a few other vehicles on the way up. Meeting the bus on the way down the mountain was more than exciting enough. Continue reading “31 July 2011”

Good morning and welcome to another week at the Villa San Francesco. The bad news is that we are half way through this vacation – doesn’t time fly when you are enjoying yourself! The other bad news is that Ben, Nick & Lucy and Bump left yesterday. It’s been absolutely wonderful having them all here and especially having Ben and Adam together. (Of course, I am not saying that it hasn’t been grand having Nick and Lucy here but we do have the opportunity of seeing them quite regularly. The last time we had all three boys together was at Nick and Lucy’s wedding two years ago). Our disappointment in saying “good-bye” to Ben (and Nick, Lucy and Bump) is only marginally tempered by the arrival yesterday evening of our friends Dave and Sue Walton and Sue and Stuart Kelly-Brown who will no doubt try their best to help us through the rest of this week. Continue reading “24 July 2011”

Hello and welcome to the Villa San Francesco, Bagni di Lucca. We arrived yesterday after a long but reasonably straight-forward journey from downtown Byfield and have been relaxing in the splendour and pleasantness!

As Donna once said (when we flew off to Spain for a week): it must be nice living so close to Europe that one can, indeed, nip off for a week or so very easily and that is certainly true. However, as I said then, it would be even better if we lived as conveniently close to an airport as she and Ben do to LAX. As it happens, our flight was from Gatwick (two and a half hours from Byfield) to Bologna (about two and a half hours drive from Bagni di Lucca). So, five hours of driving sandwiched around a two hour flight. Continue reading “17 July 2011”

Oh my goodness! Can it get any worse than this? I suspect it can!

You will all recollect the phone hacking scandal at the News of the World, one of Rupert Murdoch’s News International titles. Clearly, the attempted cover-up has not succeeded and the story has been blown wide open this week with such a force and pace that it’s difficult for a poor befuddled weekly periodical such as the Befouled Weakly News to keep pace. I don’t imagine there will have been quite so much coverage in countries other than the UK so I’ll try to provide a potted update of the latest developments. For fuller details have a look at the Guardian’s coverage. Continue reading “10 July 2011”

Apologies for the failure to provide any advance warning of last week’s Weakly News “outage”. Some of you know that what it’s like becoming increasingly incapable of remembering stuff and remembering that we were off to the south coast last weekend was clearly one of those things that this tired brain was incapable of doing.

As I mentioned, we were making our way to the south coast to spend some time with our friends Sue and Stuart and to join in the celebrations surrounding Stuart’s 60th birthday. When we had planned all this many months ago, we knew that Sue and Stuart would have a houseful of family and guests so, on this occasion, we would be obliged to find alternative accommodation in the vicinity. Similarly, some months ago our neighbours across the road, Paul and Mary, commented that we would be welcome to borrow their camper van if we ever wanted to. Continue reading “3 July 2011”

You’ll be pleased to hear that our swallows are doing well. The first batch has just fledged and are flying in and out of the garage like kids playing tag in the park, quickly and noisily. I think there are four chicks, all of whom look very fit and healthy. The next batch won’t be too far behind.

The only problem is that they have erected their apartment in the apex of the garage roof, immediately above my bike. The weather hasn’t been conducive to too many long bike rides recently (that’s my excuse, anyway), and in its state of immobility, my bike’s front tyre is now encrusted to a considerable depth with swallow poo. I’ll have to move it (and get back out on the road again). Continue reading “19 June 2011”

Good morning to you all. Yesterday was a glorious sunny day – I wonder what today will bring? The forecast is for heavy rain which probably means we can look forward to a splendid barbeque this evening.

The big news this weekend is the successful conclusion of a significant surgical procedure for one of our occasional readers. After struggling with debilitating pain in one of her hips for some weeks, Pen’s mum Beryl had a hip replacement done on Thursday which seems to have gone well. By Friday morning she was apparently back to her daily calisthenics regime consisting of jumping jacks, sit-ups, squats and lunges. She’ll be in for a few more days and then will come to us for a recuperation period as their cottage is riddled with steps and steep stairs everywhere one turns. Perfect for an elderly couple! Continue reading “12 June 2011”

Good morning and welcome to another edition of the Befouled Weakly News

After many, many years of non-interest in the proposition, I finally started recently to investigate the potential of becoming a citizen of the UK. You can tell that I tend to do things very quickly when I get motivated! It’s only been about thirty-six years since I first acquired the right to reside here permanently which has served me admirably well all this time. However, the incident which finally stirred me to action was waiting in an airport immigration queue with all the other dregs for about an hour while UK and European Community citizens breezed through by waving their passports in front of a very bored immigration official. That was two years ago when we came back from France so, again, you can see I’m right on top of this! Continue reading “5 June 2011”