I become an honest woman

View from Regression classroom window

No, I haven't got married (that would be unexpected), I've just paid my taxes. Finally after a year and a half of guilt I can hold my head up high, even if I did have to borrow the money from my parents. Of course the tax for 2005-2006 wasn't late, just very close to the deadline, but on the other hand that was only £202 whereas the tax for 2004-2005, which very much was late, was £1866.

I'm actually amazed by how simple the tax calculation was in the end. Yes, it involved about a hundred little boxes that all had to be filled in, yes there was a lot of copying stuff from other pages and comparing to see which figure was lower, yes it seemed to have picked the most convoluted way of calculating everything, and yes, it took about six hours. But compared to filling in the tax return it was simplicity itself. No digging around trying to find bank statements or P60s. No wondering which heading something comes under. No difficult decisions. Just solid arithmetic.

Today felt quite busy in spite of the seven hour gap. I joined in the launch event for Discover Islam Week: students standing in the John Watkins Plaza outside the Library in the shape of a giant 'Salam' (Arabic for 'Peace') and a photo being taken from the top floor of St Clement's, but mostly I was finding things to do on the computers so that I would get any emails as soon as they arrived: our motions were submitted late this afternoon so everyone was commenting on them throughout the day. I did of course also fit in paying the tax and sending off the returns, lunch, and a small amount of work (reading the papers for this week's Surveys and Experiment Design).

Tomorrow will really be busy though:

9-12 Multilevel methods (1 hour lecture + 2 hour computer class)
12-? Staff Student Liaison Committee (where we get to tell them what we think about the courses and they may or may not listen)
1-2 Sutherland meeting (if SSLC doesn't make it impossible for me)
2-3 Free
3-4 Multivariate Methods
4-5 Free
5-7 Regression computer class
7 Meet Ginger
8.45 See film at NFT

Though admittedly a lot of it is sitting listening to lecturers or other people and therefore not as stressful or challenging as your average job, it has to be said that, unless you're talking about the city or something similarly high-flying, there are not many jobs where you would be working from 9-2 without any break whatsoever (not even a quick coffee break), unless I have been very much mislead about the World of Work. Students: not all layabout dossers. :-)