Painful Days

The howl of pain reverberating around the estate yesterday was initiated by receiving the Edinburgh City Council notice of the council tax for the coming year. Having been frozen for several years, the tax has taken a new lease of life and we are a whole lot worse off.
Now I think we all should pay more for the services we expect in hospitals, education and care for the elderly, but the anomaly is that, having downsized our home in terms of space and cost, we find ourselves in a higher band than before and therefore paying considerably more than had we stayed put in the old castle. Because we now find our selves in a band that contains castles, footballers' houses, and Russian oligarchs' residences, we have been hit hardest with the necessary rises.

All this because of an outdated valuation system which took place some 30 years ago on existing housing stock at the time. Since the Dower House is a renovated old building, it's rateable value was decided in the last 10 years when house prices have rocketed in Edinburgh and so despite the fact that it cost considerably less than the price of the old castle, we are paying £600 more that the present owners of the latter. Where is the justice in that? Hence the cry of pain.

The cry of pain today was not for the injection I was expecting at the dentist but at the realisation that, having foolishly requested a white filling rather than a silver one, I was £96 out of pocket. Ouch!
There will not even be crumbs of comfort from scones as they have been banished forever.....well for the foreseeable future.