Paid Off in Full

Well, one of my long-standing battles is finally over. And I lost. For the last two years, I’ve been having endless hassle with Companies House over the annual return for my company. Nothing special – it’s only a sheet of paper. But if it’s filed late with Companies House, they fine you. Fair enough.

I filed my first copy of the return in plenty of time. They lost it. I filed a second one, also in plenty of time. They lost it – and it was now overdue. I sent it to them a third time, recorded delivery. It got there, got signed, and got lost again. Finally, on the fourth go, it was acknowledged, and because it was more than six months late, I was fined £500. Which, needless to say, I objected to – I’d filed on time, and it’d been lost at Companies House. And that’s where it’s been stood ever since.

Companies House is implacable. Sooner or later, they know they will win any issue along these lines. In the end it’s easier to give in, just pay the fucking money, and let them weave their inefficient way through the world. The cheque has had to go via solicitors, and I’ll get a receipt from them. After that it’s not my problem.

However, I do wonder if Comapnies House will ever cash a cheque made payable to “the incompetent inefficient extortionists at Companies House“? *Grin*

Efficient

Considering that my utterly fucking crap landlords still haven’t replaced the window from the break-in, it’s nice to know that some organisations are efficient. Having renewed the contents insurance at 9pm on Friday, I received the complete pack, policy, numbers, and all that gubbins, in the post this morning.

I also received a pack from “Victim Support”, on the same time-scale. Both of which are quite impressive – but I only intend to make use of one of them. And it won’t be the support people.

The joys of insurance, part 2

When it comes to insurance, contents insurance is nothing. A “mere” £350 for the year. The paperwork arrived this morning. In the same post came the documents for the new business insurance – the last lot hadn’t been what I needed, didn’t include Professional Liability etc.

So – I’ve now got new business insurance, including Professional Liability, Employer’s Liability, Public/Products Liability, all the main legal requirements. £11.5m worth of cover, all things considered. (although that includes £10m of Employer’s Liability) which is costing me an annual sum of – sit down – £1,360. All told, I’ve spent (well, I’ve started spending) £1,700 on insurance. *Sigh*

Devil’s Advocate

While the media are – predictably – going bananas about Shevaun Pennington disappearing off into Europe with an ex-Marine, saying he’s a vile paedophile and so on, they seem to be ignoring a couple of – to my mind at least – relevant points.

I know that my views will possibly be contentious, and so be it – they probably are. My first problem with the entire story comes to light with the story that he thought she was 19. Shevaun (and oh lord how I hate that spelling) has been portrayed as some innocent 12-year old who’s done nothing wrong – but 19’s a long way from 12. It’s not even a typo, it’s a lie. And yeah, we all know that the Net is full of people saying they’re things that they’re really not – but she’s no innocent blossom on this one. Would he have come over to see what she was like if he’d known she was really 12? Would he have been attracted to someone nearly a third of his age? Who knows – but I doubt it.

Second is the problem that she took her passport and clothes with her. This isn’t an abduction – she knew she was going to be travelling. She said to friends that this man was her “boyfriend” – personally, I find it far more worrying, far sadder, that people can now see themselves as being “in a relationship” with someone they’ve met online, and have never met in person. To me, that’s just wanking and a keyboard. But I digress.

Yes, in the eys of the law, this ex-marine is going to be in epic amounts of shit – but is that fair? I don’t think so – at most, so far, he’s guilty of being lied to, of being gullible. No-one even knows if she’s yet told him what her age actually is – and I have my doubts that she has. But the law doesn’t care about that – he’ll still be “a child molester”. And while I’m absolutely not pro-paedophiles, I do feel that in this case there’s a likelihood that he doesn’t really qualify for the title.

UPDATED : OK, for once I’m going to qualify this one a bit. In light of Peter’s comments; yes, there are still issues on both sides. Saying “he should’ve walked away” is slightly farcical though – you find out someone’s 12, and walk away from them in the middle of Manchester, London, or Paris. Great way to get yourself even more vilified in the press. As soon as he’d met her and discovered her age, he’s between a rock and a hard place. The only semi-decent way to conclude it would be to travel back with her, and deliver her to her parent’s door. And, of course, then get arrested.

As for “knowing she was 12 when he met her”, I simply don’t believe it’s always possible to tell any more. I’ve a friend with a (just)14 year old daughter, and she could easily get served with alcohol in pubs, let alone cigarettes. Could she pass for 19? Yeah, I think so. Try wandering down the street, working out how old people are. It’s getting more and more difficult.

Pet peeve

via Gordon, I’ve just laughed out loud at some of the phrases in the Guardian’s piece about the future of the apostrophe in the 21st century. Yes, maybe it’s a sign of being a complete bobble-hat – and yes, I did email the story to my father as well, who’ll appreciate it – but the errant apostrophe is a source of irritation for me.

And, while it’s a nasty site (even with the Yellow™), the Apostrophe Protection Society certainly deserves more recognition/publicity. I’ve a nasty suspicion that my father will join up…

Toys

Oooooh – just as I start considering a new main PC for home (the old one is beginning to annoy the tits off me in various ways, so it’s likely to be upgrade time fairly soon), Silicon Graphics releases it’s new machines, the Tezro (stupid name, nice design) and Onyx4 on to the market. I’d never utilise the full power of them, but hey, a geek can dream…

Now, where did I put that wishlist?

The joys of insurance

I renewed my contents insurance on Friday (for obvious reasons) – with MoreThan, the people I was with previously, £60,000 worth of cover including specifics for the two laptops, PC, TV, and so on, has cost me £350 for the year. Not a bad deal.

Looking on the website of my bank, they’re saying “you can have a 10% discount on your insurance because of the account you have with us” In for a penny, in for a pound, I had a look at a quote. Frankly, fuck that. Before the discount, it would’ve cost me £580 for – are you sitting comfortably? – complete cover of £25,000. So 10% discount off that makes it… £522 One hundred and seventy pounds more, for less than half the cover.

Someone’s taking the piss…