Author Topic: You know you're middle aged when  (Read 186342 times)

Kim

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    • Fediverse
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1500 on: 20 December, 2023, 08:00:43 pm »
Yes, if you are in receipt of state pension.

Thanks - perhaps it dribbled through my bank account in the past and I didn't notice in previous years - I shall keep an eye out for this year (no sign yet)

They're usually accompanied by a Scary Brown Envelope™.  Though if you're a pensioner rather than someone living in fear of sanctions/investigations/re-assessments, that may not have the same salience when it arrives on your doorstep.

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1501 on: 21 December, 2023, 12:18:01 am »
Yes, if you are in receipt of state pension.

Thanks - perhaps it dribbled through my bank account in the past and I didn't notice in previous years - I shall keep an eye out for this year (no sign yet)

You should have had it a couple of weeks ago I think - try between 4th and 8th of December

robgul

  • Cycle:End-to-End webmaster
  • cyclist, Cytech accredited mechanic & woodworker
    • Cycle:End-to-End
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1502 on: 21 December, 2023, 07:34:55 am »
Yes, if you are in receipt of state pension.

Thanks - perhaps it dribbled through my bank account in the past and I didn't notice in previous years - I shall keep an eye out for this year (no sign yet)

You should have had it a couple of weeks ago I think - try between 4th and 8th of December

Aha! - found it on 14 Dec payment - it was an extra tenner on my state pension rather than a separate transaction as expected - presumably that's why I didn't notice it in previous years?   Winter fuel cash arrived in my account on 27 November

When my state pension started in 2012 they asked me if I'd like annual, quarterly or monthly payments (all apparently in arrears with no benefit of interest etc) . .  just to be awkward I said no pay it weekly, so they do.

. . . and good news on the Scary Brown Envelopes front  - HMRC's missive yesterday said I overpaid £400 or so in tax for 22-23 . . .  no idea how, possibly something to do with my non-working, non-pensioned wife transferring part of her allowance to me?

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1503 on: 21 December, 2023, 02:19:21 pm »
Thx all!  I wondered why DWP gave me £10.

ian

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1504 on: 21 December, 2023, 07:03:37 pm »
In a pique of efficiency, I did my self-assessment yesterday which appears, for also mysterious reasons*, to have them owing me somewhere north of £3k, which is nice.


*my tax code is forever changing despite a stable income the majority of which is through PAYE and the only variable is an annual bonus, so every time I correct it, they change it to something else, and it appears random.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1505 on: 22 December, 2023, 09:27:27 am »
It is simpler than it looks.

andytheflyer

  • Andytheex-flyer.....
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1506 on: 22 December, 2023, 04:56:56 pm »
Not sure why I got it as I only get my pension from DWP, nothing else.  I thought you had to be in receipt of other benefits to qualify.  Did get the £500 Winter Fuel Payment though.  Which was nice...............

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1507 on: 22 December, 2023, 08:58:25 pm »
In a pique of efficiency, I did my self-assessment yesterday which appears, for also mysterious reasons*, to have them owing me somewhere north of £3k, which is nice.


*my tax code is forever changing despite a stable income the majority of which is through PAYE and the only variable is an annual bonus, so every time I correct it, they change it to something else, and it appears random.

I have the same to look forward to, the only benefit being that Mrs ED's tax year for her business is June-Jun, so she does all the numbers for the properties for me.  Mine will be complicated this year by heading towards the top tax bracket and the declining free allowance.

Mine is on a list and will probably be done on the 28th/29th
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

ian

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1508 on: 23 December, 2023, 12:15:13 pm »
In a pique of efficiency, I did my self-assessment yesterday which appears, for also mysterious reasons*, to have them owing me somewhere north of £3k, which is nice.


*my tax code is forever changing despite a stable income the majority of which is through PAYE and the only variable is an annual bonus, so every time I correct it, they change it to something else, and it appears random.

I have the same to look forward to, the only benefit being that Mrs ED's tax year for her business is June-Jun, so she does all the numbers for the properties for me.  Mine will be complicated this year by heading towards the top tax bracket and the declining free allowance.

Mine is on a list and will probably be done on the 28th/29th


They always count my personal allowance wrong on the tax code, which I don't understand because it's a very, very simple number. I think they got it wrong years ago and now I'm cursed to keep over- or underpaying in some curious financial oscillation. They did send me a note saying it's fine not to complete the assessment, but erm, no, not until you can do the sums right.


I suppose tax forms are a middle-aged thing. Mind you, I did my 1040s in the US some time ago*. Oh happy times.


*technically I looked at them, thought fuck this and took them to little tax shop in the mall. They said 'where are your receipts?' and I realised I was in a very foreign land. Apparently, if I'd religiously saved and filed every receipt I could have saved up $36.63 or somesuch. Americans have a very peculiar love-hate relationship with tax.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: You know you're ready for the booby-hatch when
« Reply #1509 on: 03 February, 2024, 09:11:52 am »
When you remember removing that used varus insert from among the bars, gels & so forth in the cycling-fodder box but can't remember where you stashed the bloody thing.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1510 on: 03 February, 2024, 10:15:14 am »
I'm officially post-middle-aged, as bus drivers now wait for me to take my seat. Either that, or I'm too used to West Midlands bus drivers who couldn't give a toss and Warwickshire's are more patient.
Haggerty F, Haggerty R, Tomkins, Noble, Carrick, Robson, Crapper, Dewhurst, Macintyre, Treadmore, Davitt.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1511 on: 05 February, 2024, 09:49:07 am »
I went to a birthday party on Friday. The birthday girl (who I didn't know) was 61 (I think) but everyone there was a friend of her daughter (or in my case a friend of a friend of her daughter). There were balloons. No, not nitrous balloons, just standard inflatable rubber balloons, that we all had a great time batting around in a room full of music. Some of the balloons had sequins inside and everyone know and again one would hit the empty light socket and burst, showering us with discs of sparkle. Afterwards, Becky, 431/2, sound "I never knew middle-aged people could have such fun with balloons. I thought they were just for children."
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1512 on: Today at 07:33:22 am »
You've just found out what Twitch is and how unbelievably big it is.

And your immediate reaction is that you just don't care.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1513 on: Today at 08:36:55 am »
Thee and me both.

"Download Twitch and join millions" sez the second response on Glloog.

Fuck no.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1514 on: Today at 08:51:15 am »
You've just found out what Twitch is and how unbelievably big it is.

And your immediate reaction is that you just don't care.

I've been aware of Twitch for a few years but it still baffles me. What does it say about the state of the world that people can get rich from other people watching them play video games? (Don't answer that, I really don't want to know.)
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1515 on: Today at 09:07:36 am »
You've just found out what Twitch is and how unbelievably big it is.

And your immediate reaction is that you just don't care.
Was that in the context of the granny who started playing fortnite and now has thousands of followers?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-68635687

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1516 on: Today at 11:13:35 am »
You've just found out what Twitch is and how unbelievably big it is.

And your immediate reaction is that you just don't care.
Was that in the context of the granny who started playing fortnite and now has thousands of followers?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-68635687

 ;D

No, bizarrely, that passed me by.

It came in the context of starting to dj which is, in and of itself, a sign of middle-age.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1517 on: Today at 12:26:51 pm »
You've just found out what Twitch is and how unbelievably big it is.

And your immediate reaction is that you just don't care.

I've been aware of Twitch for a few years but it still baffles me. What does it say about the state of the world that people can get rich from other people watching them play video games? (Don't answer that, I really don't want to know.)

I used to think that, but I've come to realise it's not all that different to all the watching-siblings-playing-computer-games we did as kids.  A lot of the time I was more interested in seeing what came next in the game than I was in winning, and watching someone who was better at it was actually fine (even if the main motivation at the time was that there was only one computer and they wouldn't let you have a decent go).

The way I see it, Twitch makes about as much sense as podcasts[1] or reality TV[2].


[1] A radio programme about your niche interest, what's not to like?
[2] In which it's considered normal and ordinary for half the nation to spend hours watching randoms complete arbitrary tasks.

Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1518 on: Today at 12:45:45 pm »
All those things above from Twitch to computer games, podcasts and TV pretty much passed my by as I made the decision with every one that I would be better off spending more time becoming a better musician. We each make our own choices and I do not regret mine. I am middle (or old) aged and living on another planet!

Kim

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    • Fediverse
Re: You know you're middle aged when
« Reply #1519 on: Today at 01:22:35 pm »
Similarly, I completely lost interest in gaming when I realised there was a nearly endless list of more interesting things you could do with computers.  Every now and then someone shows me a gaming thing and I'm awed on a technical level[1], but I can't maintain interest.


[1] Much to the bemusement of TLD (who is presumably a proper grown-up by now) inna bunkhose in *checks notes* 2013.