Robe
Hello y'all
I'm writing this partly to kill time today. I'm pretty bored to be honest, and if you're reading this then you're more than likely to be too. If not now, then definitely in a couple of minutes.
Ya see today I'm on holiday. I was meant to be going to Rome to visit Stevie, then that was cancelled, but my lessons for today had also been cancelled. Therefore, I'm just kicking about. Shooting the breeze. Wasting your time. Choose as applicable.
For the past 9 months, I've been paying 30% tax. It's not through any particular good will on my part, that's just how much the government takes. But now the financial crisis doesn't only exist in banking and the newspapers, but is wreaking terrible damage on TEFL land as well. The idyllic landscape of beautiful teachers running through meadows filled with singing birds and beer-filled streams has been replaced by a dark, barren landscape where hideous hunchback mutants shuffle along the dark path beside the stream, wincing at the putrid smell of the tramps pee that's replaced the beer which replaced the water. Yes, it's that bad.
Sooooooo.......................... I've been paying 30% tax, which seems a bit steep, even when the financial waters are as untroubled as a newborn. However, as is now the case, the waters are now (maybe a little) reminiscent of Joaquin Pheonix's grip on reality (or is it all just a publicity stunt? Do I care? No, not really, but was I struggling to come up with something suitably current and troubled? Yes.), so I need to do everything to maximise my earnings while not actually working any harder. See, because companies now have slightly less money, they are less willing to pay for their students to have English lessons, even when their teachers are witty, urbane, dashingly good looking types. My students have also had their lessons cut. Therefore, just as a melting snowcap trickles eventually into a vast body of water, so these cuts at the top of the figurative mountain are now having an effect on Loch Michael and its all too shallow finances. So, to cut a long, albeit illustrative if a little punctuaution heavy point short, my hours are down, and I have less cash. This is why I mention tax. There is a way of reducing your tax rate down to 25%, which to be honest, I'm not entirely clear about, but I understand that having what the Italians call a 'Carta di soggiorno' helps a great deal. This is essentially me telling the government that I'm here.
In order to get one of these, you have to first have the patience of someone with a lot of patience. Which is kind of perverse, having seen people drive here. But anyway, this morning I went along to the Post Office where I hung about for a while before getting the relative document to complete. I was quite pleased though, as the attendant lady said well done about my Italian. Get in! After 9 months I can make a simpe request in the Post Office! Rather than making this form a straight forward task for the non-Italian, the document is about as difficult to comprehend as people believing in Scientology. (Seriously, lizards? Who ever heard of such a thing?) So, after making a pigs ear of the first copy, I think I understood it enough and went to hang about in the Post Office again for a fresh copy. Now, I only need to send it away, cross my fingers, toes and testicles, and hey presto, in no sooner than a months time the government will know I'm here!! Yay for bureaucracy, Italian-style!!
Next week I creep closer to death, officially, as I turn 26. I realised the other day that I'm now closer to 50 than to 0, which is sobering. However, I don't remember being 24 never mind 0, so I'm not too bothered by this. To mark the special day my mum and dad will spend half the day in Italy with me before going to enjoy themselves in France for their proper holiday. It'll be nice to see them and to show them the city. It shouldn't really take too long, but still, quantity not quality, as they say. Oh, wait, that's wrong. But Genova is short of both, so I guess it'll have to do.
I hope this hasn't been too rambling for you, if it has, you've probably not made it this far, so I think you smell and look funny.
G'day
I'm writing this partly to kill time today. I'm pretty bored to be honest, and if you're reading this then you're more than likely to be too. If not now, then definitely in a couple of minutes.
Ya see today I'm on holiday. I was meant to be going to Rome to visit Stevie, then that was cancelled, but my lessons for today had also been cancelled. Therefore, I'm just kicking about. Shooting the breeze. Wasting your time. Choose as applicable.
For the past 9 months, I've been paying 30% tax. It's not through any particular good will on my part, that's just how much the government takes. But now the financial crisis doesn't only exist in banking and the newspapers, but is wreaking terrible damage on TEFL land as well. The idyllic landscape of beautiful teachers running through meadows filled with singing birds and beer-filled streams has been replaced by a dark, barren landscape where hideous hunchback mutants shuffle along the dark path beside the stream, wincing at the putrid smell of the tramps pee that's replaced the beer which replaced the water. Yes, it's that bad.
Sooooooo.......................... I've been paying 30% tax, which seems a bit steep, even when the financial waters are as untroubled as a newborn. However, as is now the case, the waters are now (maybe a little) reminiscent of Joaquin Pheonix's grip on reality (or is it all just a publicity stunt? Do I care? No, not really, but was I struggling to come up with something suitably current and troubled? Yes.), so I need to do everything to maximise my earnings while not actually working any harder. See, because companies now have slightly less money, they are less willing to pay for their students to have English lessons, even when their teachers are witty, urbane, dashingly good looking types. My students have also had their lessons cut. Therefore, just as a melting snowcap trickles eventually into a vast body of water, so these cuts at the top of the figurative mountain are now having an effect on Loch Michael and its all too shallow finances. So, to cut a long, albeit illustrative if a little punctuaution heavy point short, my hours are down, and I have less cash. This is why I mention tax. There is a way of reducing your tax rate down to 25%, which to be honest, I'm not entirely clear about, but I understand that having what the Italians call a 'Carta di soggiorno' helps a great deal. This is essentially me telling the government that I'm here.
In order to get one of these, you have to first have the patience of someone with a lot of patience. Which is kind of perverse, having seen people drive here. But anyway, this morning I went along to the Post Office where I hung about for a while before getting the relative document to complete. I was quite pleased though, as the attendant lady said well done about my Italian. Get in! After 9 months I can make a simpe request in the Post Office! Rather than making this form a straight forward task for the non-Italian, the document is about as difficult to comprehend as people believing in Scientology. (Seriously, lizards? Who ever heard of such a thing?) So, after making a pigs ear of the first copy, I think I understood it enough and went to hang about in the Post Office again for a fresh copy. Now, I only need to send it away, cross my fingers, toes and testicles, and hey presto, in no sooner than a months time the government will know I'm here!! Yay for bureaucracy, Italian-style!!
Next week I creep closer to death, officially, as I turn 26. I realised the other day that I'm now closer to 50 than to 0, which is sobering. However, I don't remember being 24 never mind 0, so I'm not too bothered by this. To mark the special day my mum and dad will spend half the day in Italy with me before going to enjoy themselves in France for their proper holiday. It'll be nice to see them and to show them the city. It shouldn't really take too long, but still, quantity not quality, as they say. Oh, wait, that's wrong. But Genova is short of both, so I guess it'll have to do.
I hope this hasn't been too rambling for you, if it has, you've probably not made it this far, so I think you smell and look funny.
G'day
posted by michael | 09:50
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