Hi Wildebube, Things are OK here. I think that to a certain extent I have learned to accept my lot. Yes the Friday nights are mostly still on but despite my efforts to suggest some variation it is all a bit mechanical. I had hoped that with frequency she would start to let go a bit and start to contribute but she is still not able to kiss me or touch me anywhere other than to put her arms around my neck but that is the way she has always been even at the beginning. My feelings, desires and needs just don't figure in her thought processes. Everyday life is much better than it was though and we are much better at being friends. There is only the occasional row. I think this is mostly because before saying something I decide whether it is likely to wind her up and if I think it is, I keep quiet. Tax - your joking right? The govenment here takes 40% of Gross Domestic Product. The main taxes are Income Tax which varies but is 20% for people earning up to $50,000 then 40% on earnings after that. 17.5% Value Added Tax (VAT) and equivalent to your Sales Tax. Council Tax which pays for schools, police, fire, garbage collection and local bureaucracy and is based on the value of your home. I pay $300 per month. They collect 60%+ on gas which costs us about 94 pence per litre (approx $6 per US Gallon). Then there is 40% inheritance tax and 40% Capital Gains Tax. And they get 3% on house sales. They're sqeezing us so hard we are squeeking!
