30 November 2006

Negotiations on the house are progressing though it’s a very slow dance. We’ll get the house at the price we are prepared to pay, jus getting the landlord to see it that way is proving tedious. After that I will have to buy a few appliances but the cash hemorrhage doesn’t stop there.

The new house will be unfurnished which makes sense as you can then maximize the house you get for the allowance. Furthermore, and possible more important to the Lady of Leisure, shipping in our own furniture means that she will not have to be embarrassed the gilt chandeliers, or age effect dado rails or floral print everything that seems obligatory in furnished rented accommodation, but are the antithesis of our personalities.

We hadn’t counted on the random nature of rules and regulations here. In their infinite wisdom, customs have decided that expatriates are only allowed one tax free shipment. That meant I have wasted ours on a fews Cd’s, wine glasses, golf clubs and a bean bag. We are now likely to be charged Duty at 25% and then VAT at 16.5% on that again. Our stuff is already on the water but at 45.6% of value to be charged, I will be paying more at port than I did for shipment. That is only based on the insured value, their deemed value could be larger again.
It is no wonder corruption thrives so readily, when the bureaucracy is so punative and apparently so random and arbitrary in its application. I would prefer to do everything by the book here, but there is no way I am paying £7g’s to get my own used stuff into this country for a couple of years. When in Rome…………….