Friday, March 29, 2013
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Mabalingwe
So we arrived in South Africa in the middle of March and after fetching D's folks drove straight up to Mabalingwe which is about 2 hours from Jo'burg in the North West Province, it was awesome and hot - I am going to upload my favorite photographs from the 3 days we spent up there!
Love Africa, this trip was so good for my soul and my bones just soaked up the vitamin C like there was no tomorrow.
Love Africa, this trip was so good for my soul and my bones just soaked up the vitamin C like there was no tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Property Tax in Ireland ...
I don't know how to begin this post because I am confused, baffled, startled at the stupidity of the government - I am sure this could have been thought out and implemented better in any country in Africa.
So let me start at the beginning - After the previous government squandered all the money the country had, and the banks had to be bailed out by the tax payer along with a host of other organizations, and this was done by putting up our taxes first personal tax, then sales tax then the introduction of a "Universal Social Charge", then more tax hikes, reducing any kind of benefit they could, they introduced a household charge in 2012.
Not knowing how to implement this, they let the public do it for them, in addition they also want to start charging us for water which is a would you call it a natural resource that there is no shortage of in Ireland, but they have no way of knowing how much water people use as we don't have water meters. So they sent every household a letter for the household charge which I think was €100, and you had to go on-line and pay this, but you also had to answer a whole lot of questions pertaining to your water, drainage etc, so in actual fact what ever person in Ireland was doing was building a database for the government so that they would try and come up with a way in which to implement it, which they still haven't.
So instead they decide to implement property tax, based on the value of your property - but you guessed it how do they know what your property is worth. So once again they consult with the Leprechauns and come up with this idea, YOU the owner of your property have to decide what your property is worth!!! So if you go onto their website and click on the LPT (Local Property Tax - Valuation Guidance)
- You put in your location from the drop down list and property type and state whether it was built before Y2K or after and click on view map. A pop up "Self Assessment Disclaimer" box pops up, which you have to accept or cancel, if you cancel you can't go any further.
So then this awful map with various shades of Orange pops up, Orange???? I ask you could they not have used different colors for each area.
So then you zoom into your area and you can actually virtually click on your house when you have zoomed in close enough, it will then come up with an estimate and what I can only think is they give you the Minimum amount that your house could be valued at and you decide what it is actually worth, however they have our Estate in the wrong Area - did no-one check this, do they not have QA people looking at their software before they release it??? I guess being in QA I constantly look for mistakes these days!!!
I just want to know how this is going to work, What is my neighbor values his house at 100k more than mine, yet mine is in better condition ... they honestly never thought this through, what a bunch of monkeys ... I ask you!
Once you have the estimate you can then go to the Calculator and calculate your property tax for 2013, to see how much more the Tax man is going to try and take from you!
And don't worry he will be sending you a self assessment form in the post in the next couple of days so you can fill it in (once again doing their job for them) and they will then ask for payment. And what if you can't afford to pay it ??? Where are they going to go next to get money once they have squandered this lot and lined their already fat pockets???
As seen by your lender:
So let me start at the beginning - After the previous government squandered all the money the country had, and the banks had to be bailed out by the tax payer along with a host of other organizations, and this was done by putting up our taxes first personal tax, then sales tax then the introduction of a "Universal Social Charge", then more tax hikes, reducing any kind of benefit they could, they introduced a household charge in 2012.
- You put in your location from the drop down list and property type and state whether it was built before Y2K or after and click on view map. A pop up "Self Assessment Disclaimer" box pops up, which you have to accept or cancel, if you cancel you can't go any further.
So then you zoom into your area and you can actually virtually click on your house when you have zoomed in close enough, it will then come up with an estimate and what I can only think is they give you the Minimum amount that your house could be valued at and you decide what it is actually worth, however they have our Estate in the wrong Area - did no-one check this, do they not have QA people looking at their software before they release it??? I guess being in QA I constantly look for mistakes these days!!! I just want to know how this is going to work, What is my neighbor values his house at 100k more than mine, yet mine is in better condition ... they honestly never thought this through, what a bunch of monkeys ... I ask you!
Once you have the estimate you can then go to the Calculator and calculate your property tax for 2013, to see how much more the Tax man is going to try and take from you!
And don't worry he will be sending you a self assessment form in the post in the next couple of days so you can fill it in (once again doing their job for them) and they will then ask for payment. And what if you can't afford to pay it ??? Where are they going to go next to get money once they have squandered this lot and lined their already fat pockets???
The New Property Tax for 2013
Your House
As seen by your
buyer:
As seen by your lender:
As seen by the bank's
valuer
As seen by Irish
Revenue Commissioners:
Sunday, March 10, 2013
A new Blogging Venture ...
I recently started blogging again, so if you like what you are reading on my blog please leave a comment here and vote for me!
Thanks and keep reading!
Thanks and keep reading!
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
It's in the Past ...
It's hard to accept, but I can't change the past.
I can't go back and manipulate things to the way I wanted them to happen.
Because life'd be meaningless and boring and just not worth living. But I can
change the future and that's a beautiful thing about life. Yes, I will make
mistakes. And yes, I will have bad days - but as long as I let the past go, I'll
have such a gorgeous and bright future ahead of me. Knowing that things were
meant to happen. Knowing that each day I will learn something so that I keep
growing to be a better person. Life is like a rope, twined in all its
complexities and yet weaved into one marvelous stream that I have the chance to
use something amazing from.
http://myscoop.co.za/top-100-blogs/
http://www.expatsblog.com/
The Big Egg Hunt
They are doing a Big Egg Hunt in Dublin to raise money for charity, and we happened to come across 3 of the eggs in Dundrum Shopping Center on Saturday. You can read all about it here
The Big Egg Hunt 2013 will be Ireland’s biggest and most interactive public art display where 100 exquisite and uniquely crafted eggs designed by leading artists and celebrities will take over the streets of Dublin. The Eggs will be placed in key locations in Dublin from the 12th February (Pancake Tuesday) to the 15th March after which they will be brought to one central location and displayed for one week.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
In 13 days time ....
I'll be swapping this:
For this: - (At least the clouds in the picture below, don't mean "All Day".
For this: - (At least the clouds in the picture below, don't mean "All Day".
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Mine Dance ...
What's a "Mine Dance"? I hear you ask ... (also referred to as the Gumboot Dance).
I have been reminiscing about my youth in South Africa, and a vision of "mine dancers" popped into my head, you see my mothers ancestors would have come to Johannesburg in the late 19th Century early 20th just after Gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand. My grandfather was a miner and all my mothers brothers (7 of them) were miners.
My father was in construction and built many houses, power stations and buildings, he was the foreman when they built "His Majesty's", and oversaw the completion of the Kelvin power station and a few cooling towers in and around Johannesburg. Anyway to get back to the mine dancers, we lived in the Southern Suburbs of Jo'burg and my mom's family were all on the West Rand on the mines.
Once a month we would have to do the journey to the West Rand to visit them, it was a journey that seemed to take for ever, in those days there were no motorways, so we would drive past Uncle Charlies, along this long road that seemed to go through a forest, until we got to "Main Reef Road", once on "Main Reef Road" we would drive for miles and miles to first get to my Grans house, which seemed to be the only house in an open stretch of about 10 miles. I just remember she had an old coal stove, and NO inside toilet!
Going along Main Reef Road you would eventually go past the miners compound, I forget what they were called now, and often you would see the miners standing on the side of the road, big burly muscly miners wearing their mine helmets and big rubber boots with "jingles" attached to them and some of them brandishing spears, doing a mine dance.
I remember one of the songs they used to sing was sho shaloza which was adopted as a rugby song when we participated in our first Rugby world cup in 1995 held in South Africa. It's a vision that will always be implanted in my memory banks, I think I was lucky to live in South Africa! I found this video on Youtube of a "Mine Dance".
I found a bit of history on "The Cape Town Magazine" website written by By John Scharges which I will transpose here:
- See more at: http://www.capetownmagazine.com/whats-the-deal-with/Gumboot-Dancing/125_22_17289#sthash.C5ctslYI.dpuf
I have been reminiscing about my youth in South Africa, and a vision of "mine dancers" popped into my head, you see my mothers ancestors would have come to Johannesburg in the late 19th Century early 20th just after Gold was discovered on the Witwatersrand. My grandfather was a miner and all my mothers brothers (7 of them) were miners.
My father was in construction and built many houses, power stations and buildings, he was the foreman when they built "His Majesty's", and oversaw the completion of the Kelvin power station and a few cooling towers in and around Johannesburg. Anyway to get back to the mine dancers, we lived in the Southern Suburbs of Jo'burg and my mom's family were all on the West Rand on the mines.
Once a month we would have to do the journey to the West Rand to visit them, it was a journey that seemed to take for ever, in those days there were no motorways, so we would drive past Uncle Charlies, along this long road that seemed to go through a forest, until we got to "Main Reef Road", once on "Main Reef Road" we would drive for miles and miles to first get to my Grans house, which seemed to be the only house in an open stretch of about 10 miles. I just remember she had an old coal stove, and NO inside toilet!
Going along Main Reef Road you would eventually go past the miners compound, I forget what they were called now, and often you would see the miners standing on the side of the road, big burly muscly miners wearing their mine helmets and big rubber boots with "jingles" attached to them and some of them brandishing spears, doing a mine dance.
I remember one of the songs they used to sing was sho shaloza which was adopted as a rugby song when we participated in our first Rugby world cup in 1995 held in South Africa. It's a vision that will always be implanted in my memory banks, I think I was lucky to live in South Africa! I found this video on Youtube of a "Mine Dance".
I found a bit of history on "The Cape Town Magazine" website written by By John Scharges which I will transpose here:
...Gumboot Dancing?
Stomp, spin and step got you confused?
A Humble beginningGumboot (also known as Wellington boot) dancing originates in the gold mines of South Africa, at the height of the oppressive apartheid pass laws. Due to the extremely poor conditions, mine managers saw the easiest solution to be the outfitting of workers with a uniform consisting of no shirt; a bandana to keep the sweat off the brow, and in order to combat the damp – Gumboots.
Workers were often not allowed to communicate with one another, which led to them developing their own sort of Morse code through slapping their gumboot covered feet with their hands. With little or no other freedoms allowed to them, it was not long before the workers developed this into the full fledged expressive art of Gumboot Dancing.
The Humble DanceLike many African dances, the Gumboot dancer articulates his whole body in performing the moves, often in syncopation with the other members of one’s group. A rhythmical, percussive, almost... ‘stomp’ is the end result – nowadays bells are often attached to the boots for added impact. The whole effect creates something akin to a whole body drum, and one cannot but admire the skill required, the visual and aural picture painted.
The songs that accompanied the flurried frenetic adaption’s of traditional dances (traditional dances, as with traditional dress, were outlawed) were sung in the workers’ native languages and spoke of the trials present in their work life. Some of the moves were even developed in mock imitation of the way the mine operators themselves moved. Contemporary gumboot dancing has more varied themes, but follow similar paths, if only due to origin.
Into Modern TimesThis dance became a representation of the everyman; and its popularity has continued into modern South Africa – with local musicians like the ‘White Zulu’ Johnny Clegg utilising it extensively in his shows, and international musician Paul Simon even naming a song on his Graceland album ‘Gumboot’. The famous Drakensberg Choir even incorporates Gumboot dancing as part of their African-folk routine.
Gumboot dancing troupes are now a fairly common sight, with places such as the V & A waterfront playing host to a number of different groups. Most festivals have at least one group performing, and gumboot dancing buskers have become regulars at tourist hotspots.
The end of Apartheid allowed dance to flourish in a way it had never before, with South Africa embracing and utilising its artistic heritage - to create new and exciting expression through movement, and breathing new life into the old.
Workers were often not allowed to communicate with one another, which led to them developing their own sort of Morse code through slapping their gumboot covered feet with their hands. With little or no other freedoms allowed to them, it was not long before the workers developed this into the full fledged expressive art of Gumboot Dancing.
The Humble DanceLike many African dances, the Gumboot dancer articulates his whole body in performing the moves, often in syncopation with the other members of one’s group. A rhythmical, percussive, almost... ‘stomp’ is the end result – nowadays bells are often attached to the boots for added impact. The whole effect creates something akin to a whole body drum, and one cannot but admire the skill required, the visual and aural picture painted.
The songs that accompanied the flurried frenetic adaption’s of traditional dances (traditional dances, as with traditional dress, were outlawed) were sung in the workers’ native languages and spoke of the trials present in their work life. Some of the moves were even developed in mock imitation of the way the mine operators themselves moved. Contemporary gumboot dancing has more varied themes, but follow similar paths, if only due to origin.
Into Modern TimesThis dance became a representation of the everyman; and its popularity has continued into modern South Africa – with local musicians like the ‘White Zulu’ Johnny Clegg utilising it extensively in his shows, and international musician Paul Simon even naming a song on his Graceland album ‘Gumboot’. The famous Drakensberg Choir even incorporates Gumboot dancing as part of their African-folk routine.
Gumboot dancing troupes are now a fairly common sight, with places such as the V & A waterfront playing host to a number of different groups. Most festivals have at least one group performing, and gumboot dancing buskers have become regulars at tourist hotspots.
The end of Apartheid allowed dance to flourish in a way it had never before, with South Africa embracing and utilising its artistic heritage - to create new and exciting expression through movement, and breathing new life into the old.
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