Going round in circles

I skipped the farm today..........the reason, we're going there tomorrow, for Karen's birthday and I needed to do my tax.

I started my morning, gathering bits of paper, from banks at the mall.  Apparently sending them by post, is TOO MUCH TO ASK.

Once I had them,  I returned home to regroup.

And then, I found, I had not printed one of them.  OMG !  Now what ? 

Barbara to the rescue...............

Mom phoned her, she was in and said, it was okay to pop by, to print them.  Of course, this was not a pop by.  We did not have tea, but there was chit chatting for a good 25 minutes. 

With all the papers in hand, I proceeded to the tax office in Springs.

PS.  I left Mom in the car outside.

It took over 3 hours.............. and 3 separate cues, each of which took about an hour to move through.

Cue 1
To get inside.  

And for the record, when I did get inside, the room was not chock a block, in fact, there was probably around 30 people in total, sitting waiting to be helped.  There were plenty of empty chairs.  PLENTY !

Cue 2
To be served in the general query line, which boiled down to, you should do your tax on the mobile app, inside SARS.

I kid you not.

I went there, because I could not make the online submission, because I now have an overseas investment and had, no idea, how to put it in.  So yes........ I wanted to wait 2 hours, to get a women, who wanted me to submit it on line, using the cell phone app.

I tried to explain, this was not a solution, but this fell on deaf ears.  To be helped, I must have the app. Irritated,  I  downloaded the  app -  AT MY EXPENSE i.e. using my data. 

Once I had it on the phone,  under her instruction, I tried to log in. 

IMMEDIATELY it indicated, I would not be able to complete it, because my tax was COMPLICATED.

Okay, it did not use those words, but that was the gist of it.

Cue 3
So, I was deflected, to another cue, for another hour.  As were all of the other people, who had ended up in cue 2.  NOT ONE OF THEM, was actually able to use, the app.

Finally I was helped and exited the building.....as I said, 3 hours later.

Double eish !  I left the 87 year old, in the boiling hot sun, for 3 hours.  I did leave her with the keys, but she didn't realize this.

We got home and had a very belated lunch !

Then she went to lie down................... EXHAUSTED. 

When she emerged, it was to bake and decorate Karen's birthday cake.  I did what I could to help. It turned out, not to be much of a day off.

NOTE : The blip is of one of the plants, growing on Mom's kitchen window, who knows what it's look for.........like me today,  it's going round in circles.