And then some woman was being investigated by the Tax Office for some kind of irregularities in connection with a hairdressing salon. It turned out that many years ago she’d also been the subject of an investigation in respect of a chip shop somewhere in Bradwell in Newcastle under Lyme. Quite naturally, having fallen foul of the Tax Office twice they were being quite severe with her. This investigation had been going on and I’d been asked if I would like to take part in part of it. I went along to see the people there at the Tax Office but for some reason they were extremely busy and never had the time really to talk to me. I just sat there and listened. I knew that the information that they were discussing was wrong but what business of it was mine? The interesting part about this was that they came out with something that was called “The Secret Root”. I didn’t have a clue what the Secret Root was. It turned out that it was some kind of secret and unofficial percentage that the Tax Office uses to bind all transactions together, bearing in mind of course that people have business relationships with each other and that all transactions are somehow interlinked. Back several years ago the figure of the Secret Root was 3.9 but now it was 3.1 and that made a difference to some of the calculations that had been made. I was sitting here really interested because I’d never heard of this Secret Root before. I was intent on finding out more about it because it sounded quite so interesting so I didn’t even bother to mention what it was that I’d come along here to discuss. I just sat there and listened while they were discussing this Secret Root. <\/p>\n
One or two people who follow this blog know about my relationship with the local Tax Office in Crewe and I’d tell the rest of you about it, except that a certain law called the Obscene Publications Act is still in force. As well as that, there are certain well-enforced Laws of Libel in the UK and the site that deals with the administration of this blog has terms and conditions about its use.<\/p>\n
So instead, let me just ask you what the Tax Office and a pelican have in common.
\nThe answer is that that they can both shove their bills up their @rses<\/p>\n
There was no pizza dough left in the freezer so I had to make some more. But Rosemary called me just as I was starting and I ended up being all behind. To make matters worse, I used the wrong flour so the base for the one that I baked wasn’t as good as it might have been.<\/p>\n
It was still quite delicious though, as I found out when I came to eat it. And I’m sure that the two in the freezer will do just the same.<\/p>\n
So doped up to the eyebrows in painkillers and falling asleep, I’m off to bed. And I’ll try to keep out of mischief while I do it. I can’t go through this again.<\/p>\n
But final word on the subject of last night must go to my cleaner.<\/p>\n
Having called her at some silly hour to come to my rescue, I apologised for waking her.
\n"Ohh, I wasn’t asleep"<\/em><\/strong> she said. "I was watching TV when you phoned"<\/em><\/strong>
\n"Then I hope that I didn’t make you miss anything interesting"<\/em><\/strong> I said.
\n"Don’t you worry about that"<\/em><\/strong> she said. "What goes on in your apartment is far more interesting than anything that I could see on TV."<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n
