A few whinges, plus the Christmas photos

As I sit here, on a lovely cool day, in a refreshed Aldinga Beach, due to rain last night and again this morning.   Hopefully the rain has reached all the parched areas of Australia.

I should be back in the study, sorting out my continuing problems relating to pensions and tax, but writing a blog is far more appealing, especially as I want to have a whinge about it all.  And  I need to post a few photographs of Christmas, before we have our next big family meet up, on Australia Day.

I love living here, in Australia, and in Aldinga Beach in particular; the freedom, the lifestyle, our large and comfortable house and garden, and especially the white sandy beaches.   

But there is no doubt about it, getting one's head around a system that has changed since we left twenty eight years ago, is not easy.  The health system being one of them, and government processes being the other one, although they are linked of course.    Walter has a Gold Card, due to his service in the army, and he is very well looked after by the health system, and he gets a small disability pension too.   And we are very appreciative of this.    

I am out there on my own.  Thank goodness we are only dealing with one person.  I have private health insurance, which I found out has its limits when I reached my allowance for dental work.     Dentists certainly charge more here than the private dentist I went to, in the UK.    And I am never sure just what are reasonable charges for dental work, as I get given quotes for the specific work, then 10% off because I belong I go to a nominated health fund dentist and another 10% off as I now have a Seniors Health Card.   But it is all a bit too nebulous for my linking.     Am I being ripped off or not?  I always have doubts. 

I will not mention at this point, the cost of my new glasses, which I organised through my local optometrist. They were certainly more expensive than any pair of glasses that I have bought before.

 And my Seniors Health Card, which is a flimsy piece of plastic, gives me 10% off medical and dental bills., medicines and a few household bills.    Every bit counts so they say, but it took z fair amount of work to get the thing, I might add.

I am still waiting on a reply from Centrelink as to whether I receive a top up on pension here.   Another blood, sweat and tears application, which was put in, in September, 2019. And I have had to submit a huge amount of further evidence after I put the claim in, plus a few trips to the local Centrelink office.    All I want to know is whether I am going to get a top up or not.   A decision please.   And now that Centrelink staff members are busily processing claims for bush fire victims, the decision regarding my claim will no doubt be pushed to the bottom.    

Bureaucracy!

However, it is no better from the UK side, just different.   And here lies my frustration yesterday.   Last July I sent the Double Taxation forms to the Australian Tax Office.   I had tried to do this in July 2018 but was told I needed to put a tax return in here before they would look at the Double Taxation form.   A few months later I received a letter from the Tax Office to say they had sent it off to the UK and it was up to the UK Tax Office to action it.   And there it rests, ;permanently I thought.   But when I logged into my UK tax file I found out the office was processing something and I would hear the result by the 19th December.   Well I have not heard!

But I found out something interesting, I have to let the Tax Department know of my reduced UK State Pension, and there is a form online in which to do so.   One has to look around a bit to find the form to upload.   There is no clear message as such.

At no time have I been told to inform the UK Taxation office that I have a reduced State Pension, and more importantly how to go about doing so.   I have tried writing and phoning and have not received any straight or informative answers.   So now I know!   

However I do not feel proactive at the moment.   

 Instead I will write this blog.

Our cute Piper sitting in her favourite place, amongst the herbs.

and fast asleep on the couch.

The new dog in the family, namely Charlie, a labrador/kelpie  cross.  A gorgeous dog, with a huge labrador appetite, who is now on a diet.    He is six years old, and comes from a very loving family who can no longer look after him.    He has settled in with Emma, Steve, Jackson and Isabel and loves his new family.   A friendly gentle giant. 

Piper's not always well behaved, as can be seen from the torn up book in the photograph below.   Luckily she only tore up the front of the book, so I was able to read the last third.   I was not impressed.

Our new outside fan, such a life saver, in the hot weather.

The evaporative air conditioner, which keeps us cool in the dry, hot weather.   Another lifesaver. 

A relaxing Christmas Day.

The video dancing was a big hit.

Jackson received a giant chair.   His Secret Santa present from Scott!   Secret Santa ended up by not being so secret afterall.   We all loved the chair!

We had nineteen festive people sit down to dinner.   Our food included prawns, eaten out in the gazebo by the pool.   Far away from the non prawn people who ate chicken shashliks at the dining table.   Non prawn people do not like the smell or the look of prawns.   Hard to believe really!

This was followed up with buffet food, both hot and cold, and a variety of puddings to finish off.  And later on a cheese board, and hot mini pies and sausage rolls.  So much delicious food.

Glasses were raised!

Rachel, Elliot and Emily celebrated with us, all the way from the UK.   Their trip was too short, as they are back home in the cold and darkness.

Piper preparing for Christmas Day, looking reasonably relaxed on the outdoor couch,

after she chewed a hole in one of the cushions.   It is just as well we love you, Piper.

And to finish I will recount a very funny moment.   As I my blood pressure was a little high, when having my expensive (for me) check up at the doctors I was told to monitor it for a couple of weeks.   So we bought a blood pressure monitor.   Now put that into the hands of an amateur and there could be problems.   Instead of putting my arm through the band and tightening it I wrapped the band around the arm, with some difficulty.  When I turned the monitor on, it just about took my arm off, and my blood pressure was extremely high, both top and bottom.   I panicked, and had to walk around the block to calm down.   It was some time later that I realised what I had done.  I now have bruises on my arm.   Hope no one notices them.

It pays to read instructions first.

But thankfully, later readings showed I do not have high blood pressure, just a 'white coat syndrome' problem.