Effin' Brexit I want to buy something from Denmark via Etsy and it was priced at just over £135 + postage which puts it in the realm of needing me to pay VAT and import duty + courier's ransom fee once it gets into this country. So I messaged the seller who was very good and dropped the price to below the £135 threshold for me. Great. But then I went to buy it and Etsy add VAT to the price which bumps it up to more than the buyer was originally asking. This is fine as I would have to pay that anyway but now neither of us can work out if it's import duty exempt because the item value is less than £135 pre-VAT or whether I get stung for that now. Duty could be anywhere from 6-12% depending on what the item is classed as but it's payable on the entire value including VAT and postage if it's applicable, and the couriers seem to be charging £10-15 "handling fee" on top. At least the NHS is getting that £350million a week though...
Ask the Cornish fishermen if they're glad they voted leave.
On the positive side this vaccine situation with the EU does show why so many people wanted to get away from a relationship with such a group of narrow minded bullies. Every negotiation with the EU has failed since well before Brexit. I'm sure we could have made the point without throwing the country under the bus though...
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
IMO - the way to have fixed the EU was from the inside as you have no influence from outside - and a failed EU would be a nightmare for Europe and the world for decades/centuries to come.
IMO - the way to have fixed the EU was from the inside as you have no influence from outside - and a failed EU would be a nightmare for Europe and the world for decades/centuries to come.
Fix the weak governance of this country first and then tackle the EU from the inside but either way it's too late to worry about it.
Let's instead celebrate the joy of having builders working next door I'm not sure what is my favourite part of the experience as there's so much to choose from. Maybe it's the musical lilt of the petrol cement mixer mingling with the magical fragrance of inefficiently burning oily fuel, maybe it's the inspirational frequency and accuracy of the spitting, possibly it's the amazing volume of the fat builder's burps, perhaps it's the beautiful layer of cement dust that seems to be coating everything and bringing things to life with the sparkle of highly toxic silica dust, an effect that looks delightful shimmering on the baby clothes drying on the washing line, but my favourite thing I think is the camaraderie between builders and the way other builders can't drive past without signalling 'Ho fellow builder! Behold the loud beeping noise my battered Transit van can make! Isn't it a grand day to be enriching the world with our presence?'
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
I'm curmudgeonly today because Sainsbury's have just delivered some substituted Easter eggs, instead of the lovely dark Bournville & Orange one for OH and my Fruit and Nut one, we've now got Dairy Milk ones instead.
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