Ireland day 0591. Friday 12 May 2023- Tax Tax Tax *

Ireland day 0591. Friday 12 May 2023- Tax Tax Tax

Today’s summary	Val cycled out to Howth and back and I spent most of the day working on tax. We did manage to find a couple of hours to have a walk along the shore of the lagoon, and enjoy a little of the brilliant sunshine
Today’s weather	Brilliantly bright dry and sunny all day. Light easterly wind. Appx 14C

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): Broadmeadow evening shoreside with Val

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

A beautiful sunny day beckoned outside.

So after breakfast, Val headed off on an epic bike ride around Portmarnock and Baldoyle. I, meanwhile, stayed behind to do a bit more work on our UK tax return. I thought it would take an hour or so and that I’d have it finished by the time Val got back. Then we had planned to go into Dublin to enjoy the sunshine.

Instead (as I might have predicted from experience) it took me until nearly nine o’clock this evening to finish getting all the bits of paper ready, with just a couple of hours off for a lovely walk along the lagoon with Val, and then to enjoy an excellent focaccia and sausage sandwich that Val expertly pulled together for tea.

Anyway eventually it was all done so hopefully now our UK accountant should have everything then need to do our return. Then we can start on our Irish one. None of this is especially complicated, I should add, as we don’t have millions stashed away. It’s just that we need to get everything right so the UK and Irish tax returns reconcile, which is complicated by the fact that the UK and Irish tax years aren’t the same. Hopefully once we have got through this “transition” year, things should be a lot easier and we won’t have to pay anyone to help us do it. Anyway, step one seems to be completed so now we just have to wait and see what HMRC have to say.

Although today didn’t work out as we had hoped, I always hate doing tax and to have broken the back of at least part of it felt, to me, like a pretty significant achievement and a reasonably worthwhile way to spend the day.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


In the demesne, resplendent in green	In the bed alongside the entrance to the castle demesne – the one that I keep waxing lyrical about. Now yet another layer of blooms has appeared – this time it’s a second flush of late narcissi, plus some stunning pink alliums. It must have cost a fortune to plant, but so worth it.

Cup-of-tea-stop by the Broadmeadow lagoon, near the playing fields alongside the Estuary road	Well – it’s self explanatory! There were a few insects sniffing around to see if it would make suitable digs for the summer, I think

If you look carefully you can see the massive swan’s nest on the islet in the middle of the Gaybrook stream, near where it enters the lagoon	Beautiful wallflowers at the entrance to the Milford estate. The residents here always seem to make an effort to keep the place looking smart, and it really shows

By the boat-cum-flowerbed at the entrance to Killeen Park