Dear lord, I got quite anxious a little while ago. I wanted to pay my tax bill. *Wanted* is pushing it, actually, but I thought I might as well do it now as at the end of the week. So I had checked with my accountant what my reference was, logged on to my bank account, transferred the money from the savings account and set up a new payee. And that was all fine until I put in my reference number, which should have been followed by the letter K.
There was no option of switching to the alphabet, nor putting in a letter, though letters were put under the numbers, as in the dear old Nokias we used before smartphones. But I couldn’t find out how to get hold of one.
I have accounts at two banks, darlings, because I don’t trust anyone fully, least of all those who have my money. So instead, I transferred the money to my other bank and then went through the rigmarole again. And this time it was fine, except it didn’t give me a choice of several HMRC references (PAYE, Self Assessment and half a dozen others) but just one. So pfft. It was sure to be fine, I said anxiously. And typed my reference in twice, numbers and letter because I was given the option that time, and then noticed they didn’t match, so had to check where I’d made a mistake.
And then I was asked for my password. I blanked. I had no idea and stared at it for at least a minute. I’d already logged on, so it couldn’t be that … it didn’t take too long, I remembered it and put it in and it’s all gone through, I trust. Well, trust is a strong word, innit? I almost cried on LT’s shoulder, but just leaned on it for a bit instead. Sheer anxiety made me lose my marbles for a minute. Dear oh dear.
Anyway, let’s go on to much more interesting news. I have finally got my clarinet tuned and serviced and it’s amazingly easy to play, now that it’s been repaired. I feel quite excited and will certainly take the lessons I’ve been saying I will for ages and ages. In fact, I’ll email about them Right Now.
Yeah, with HMRC you go through all the rigmarole and then you have to put your password in again to confirm it’s you regardless of how much they actually want the information/money.
It’s entirely your problem if a mistake is made, even if it’s by them, of course!
I hate the blank password moment… especially when it’s longer than fleeting.
Sx
I was supposed to book into governors’ training on Safeguarding yesterday and I can’t remember my username – which I was given, I didn’t choose. No idea. Apparently, I was notified by letter, two years ago. I mean, how absurd is that?