Monday 5 August 2013

Office work

How did I ever manage to go out to work and hold down any kind of job which needed administrative work?

Every three months I have to submit a VAT return for our farm business (I do the ledger) and every three months I approach it as though I have never seen it before.

The language is foreign and I have a struggle.   Perhaps it would be better if it were submitted every month, before my pea brain began to lose it.   As it is, I struggle.

I suppose the plus side is that when I have finally understood what goes in which box and have completed it and the figures all balance, everything else falls into place.   Rachel suggests this in her reply to my blog yesterday - you are quite right Rachel - get the rotten jobs out of the way first and then you can enjoy the rest.

My latest read (which I am trying to ignore on the bookshelf while I do more pressing jobs like this blog) is a jolly good one.   If you are a Henning Mankell fan and have not read 'Kennedy's Brain' do look out for it.   And while I am on the subject of books, if you are an Alexander McCall Smith fan and have not read his Isabelle Dalhousie books - then you are in for another treat there too.

The rain is just persistent today and it really feels as though Autumn has set in here in the Yorkshire Dales.   The grass verges have gone to seed and are all brown.  Apart from a few purple thistles and an awful lot of ragwort there is nothing much left flowering in the countryside and on the rowan and hawthorn trees the berries are rapidly turning to red.   Seems as though the best of our wonderful Summer is over and the season of 'mists and yellow fruitfulness' may well be just beginning.

6 comments:

Heather said...

I would be totally useless at keeping business books and don't envy you that task.
I'm hoping that summer hasn't quite gone and don't want to think of ripening berries,etc., just yet. At present we are having a thunderstorm and lots of rain so gardening has been postponed once more.

Arija said...

Dratted tax returns, I have a GST statement for the farm to do, the annual farm tax as well as our two individual statement to do. I am no fonder of the process than you are. Entering all the receipts that have faded into the computer and compiling everything. I also have to compile all medical receipts.
I had rather bay far prune my roses, read a book or even weed!

Reader Wil said...

The temperature is oppressive because of the high amount of humidity. I cannot think properly!!
Thanks for your visit!
Good luck with the tax papers.

Hildred said...

Pat, I am a frequent visitor to the world of Isabel, Jamie and Charlie - is it too much to say I adore Alexander McCall Smith's writings! Have just finished his latest, Trains and Lovers and am always on the look out for more, having read all except some of his children's books.

Henning Markell I haven't read, but will keep him in mind.

I haven't discerned that hint of fall in the air here, but you have earlier springs than we have so I guess it would follow that summer comes to an end sooner as well.

Pondside said...

It's still high summer here - just had a morning on the beach at low tide, picking shells for a wreathe.
I swear that my mind is like a computer and it deletes anything that hasn't been used for more than a month - makes it hard to keep up with my paperwork!

A Cuban In London said...

The key phrase in your post is: the figures all balance". You're right, as long as they do, all is well with the world. :-)

Greetings from London.