Calm down, dear!

Well, I was a cork, and not a Christmas pudding, at swimming today. I must have done 40 lengths. There was a lull between all the morning swimmers getting out and the ladies who do aquafit at 9am getting in. And so I kept going.

I then spent at least two hours on the phone going between the HMRC (Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) and the SPPA (Scottish Public Pensions Agency) as I wanted to find out why my tax code changes every month and why I seem to be paying more and more tax on my meagre pensions. I don't have a full teachers' pension, more fool me - I was never going to get old back in the 70s, so why would I think of keeping up a teachers' pension?

The SPPA told me to ring HMRC to find out what code I was on, and I got a very aggressive young man who talked to me like I was a Silly Old Biddy (SOB). Which I freely admit I am about tax matters. The Nasty Young Man (NYM) told me that I'd have to ask THEM what tax code I was on. I said that THEY said THEY used whatever tax code YOU told them to use. The NYM kept repeating, loudly - as if I was deaf as well as stupid, that I'd have to ask THEM. HMRC would recommend a code, but whether that was the one the SPPA used was another matter.

I really really wish I had complained about his manner and asked to speak to his superior. In the end I just had to put the phone down (rather rudely) and I just bawled. It's so frustrating.

I rang both departments again. There was a Very Nice Young Man (VNYM) back at the SPPA, and he could hear I was upset, and kept asking if there was anyone I could talk to about it - my accountant, my bank... Of course, this sympathy made me worse.

Anyway, a different YM at the HMRC (this sounds like gobble-de-gook) who looked at all my stuff and declared that I had UNDERPAID by £845.16!! OMG!

And so, completely stressed, I abandoned plans to go to the gallery, but fiddled about in my cupboard darkroom to calm down. It's amazing what a bit of fiddling in the darkroom will do for your blood pressure. Black material background, just torchlight and a long exposure. You can see the torch trails on the glass.

Mind you, I should have dusted those glasses first, lol!