A small group of people on the Isle of Man have just dropped their coffee, croissant, bacon butty, or whatever their preferred choice of breakfast is, why? They are the ones who understand the title and have just realised there is something they haven't done yet. Don't worry that's what this gentle reminder of a post is for. I will explain to our non Manx readers."Traa dy liooar" means "time enough." It's one of the first Manx saying you learn when you arrive. The pace of life is slower here and this saying is a gentle reminder, an affirmation of that fact. Why tear around? It isn't city life! Things will get done. Pour yourself a coffee, take a break, rest a while then do what needs to be done. If it's Friday night and the business you need to contact is not open again until Monday, why worry. It takes a while to get used to, but it certainly is a lot more relaxing than the stressful breakneck speed of like in the UK.
Speaking of Monday, this Monday 6th October that's the cut off date for our tax forms to be in.
Hence the dropped bacon butties. Time enough, now becomes needs to be done. Really need to.
We complete our own tax returns yearly here. We've had months to get them in, but with "Traa dy liooar," over it's one of those chores that has a definite deadline. So there's you gentle reminder to those stragglers. You have the weekend to complete them and the Tax Office will be open at 8.am on Monday for those who will be working, you can drop your forms in before you start work, otherwise it's a £50 fine for late returns.
I hope that didn't scare you too much over your cornflakes. To balance the tone of the text we have Ramsey Beach. There will be time enough to walk the dog, play with the kids or just look across to the UK and be thankful you aren't rushing around. You may spot the odd passing seal,
practise your photography, or just sit and watch the waves lapping or crashing against the shore, but not until you've settled your tax affairs. I promise the beach will still be there.
Do you have to complete the dreaded tax returns in your part of the world and do you have a quaint saying like Traa dy Liooar?
38 comments:
looks so peacefull here!!!!
Aye, taxes are like death ... no escape. Lovely gentle reminder. As a business owner, taxes to various government agencies besides the Federal blokes come due all too frequently. Time enough and procrastination could, in the case of taxes, be synonymous.
LB,
Are you not part of the UK? I got to get a handle on this. Yeah, the US Tax situ. Do you have conversational Manx in bars? Brad Jnr. would get a kick out of that beach. Did you use a tripod?
Stay Loose
Beautiful beach! And yes we have a magic tax date of April 15 (unless the post office is closed on the 15-th).
April 15th damn it all. Your photo is lovely. Take a stroll with G.
V
April 15th. My neighbor is a manx Irish lady. The beach looks pretty and wild.
Such a lovely landscape and you talk unromantically about tax forms etc ! Since 5 years for me Traa dy liooar is applicable !
I definitely choose to walk the dog ;-). You promise the beach will still be there but can I trust you?
Hello You...
Funny story : but, I walk with my animals...
Nice beach for walking...
See You later.
I never realized exactly how hectic and fast-paced my life was until I went to the Caribbean. My husband and I got married in St. Lucia and they talk about how there is the rest of the world and then there is "Island Time." Island time sounds a lot like what you describe with Traa dy liooar!
Why is it where ever we are we always leave tax returns to be completed in panic mode? With that view I'd be leaving it until there was no traa dy liooar.
Beautiful scenery! It looks a bit cold but I surely would love to walk on that shore. Your previous photo is stunning! I love that sky!
As to taxes, well, I still have a few monthes left before having a headache... :-)
You can escape taxes by not making much in the first place. Or, you can give the whole job to your spouse who can buy programs at Office Depot and do them for you.
The expression, "Enough is Enough" hasn't worked here in this country since the Boston Tea Party. The people no longer have that kind of courage and strong will.
Have you seen what those people who play with money have done with it? They went bankrupt and now the taxpayer is paying their bills and putting them back in black instead of red. That is far worse than the Boston Tea Party.
Here in Serbia there isn't any income tax that people pay on a certain date; amounts according to what they earn are deducted from their salaries. Only really big money earners pay taxes, at least the honest ones do. But there are more of the other kind, who don't pay a thing...
now that the charetered flightes out of the island are diminishing here in hania, life is definitely slowing down to a more normal island pace...
In my country we fill in our tax form until June. So when you come back from your vacations and you have spent all your money the tax office sends you a paper with what you ought to pay according with your incomes. Some people don't pay but on the contrary take back some money-that is when the state has kept back more taxes through the year that it should do!
Did I bewilder you? Imagine US!!!
What a beautiful shot and a timely reminder! Fortunately I don't need to do these, but I love the "Traa dy Liooar". That's my motto. Unfortunately, as tax return filler outers will know this weekend in Manxland, it only goes so far...!
Our filing deadline is April 15 too, but if you are just a salaried employee like me it's very easy to fill out and we just submit it to our accounting department, which takes care of sending all the papers to the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
It may not be 'island life,' but the low stress levels are the reason why I've stayed on at our university (not as faculty, though). Whatever stress we experience is just a tiny fraction of what my friends in large corporations go through. Won't ever be able to go around the world, but I do have lovely grounds to walk around in. And I love seeing the young students — so much energy!
Lovely photo of a lovely beach. But more than anything else, thank you for the gentle reminder. Not about the tax — since it's not quite applicable — but about balancing your life.
:) in a place like that it must be so easy to be laid back!
I think we do have a quaint saying here in Chinese, "劳逸结合"， similar in meaning but may not be the equivalent.
Lovely shot and the beach looks very nice.
Babooshka, you do a fine job of bringing Ramsey to us and helping us understand the uniqueness of your island.
What a brilliant saying it is. Since living on the island I've got more laid back and don't rush around half as much as I did. As for the tax form I filled mine in about a month ago. I kept on putting it off. Don't know why really as it didn't take long at all. Thanks for your very kind post on my site. Much appreciated.
Just as perfect as a postcarD! Love it so much!
Mabuhay and God Bless^^
Steven^^
In Singapore, most people file electronically.
They are schemes where companies submit electronically details of what they employees earn. If you are an employee of these companies, during tax time, you just need to log in to the tax office's website and check if it's in order and then acknowledge.
easy peasy. no brainer at all :-)
Thanks for the reminder. 8am opening is a good idea. Not for the staff though, but good for me. Cheers for saving me 50 quid.
I could use some beach time - usually I'd be hiking on New Jersey shores about this time, but alas, not this year. So your photo is brilliant - I'm willing my spirit there for a picnic today. I have a saying I use liberally around tax time, rhymes with "cluck".
Alas no, the tax inspectors / Government take my hard earned dosh each month out of my paypacket and then waste it on Wars
Arrrgh TFx
Beautiful photo! I hate taxes.
Great! This means I can go around saying this to people (hopefully pronouncing it right) and feel lovely that I'm possibly the only one of them who know what it means!
Cheers, ciao!
Scarlet xx
It must be nice to live in a place where there is no "road rage" where people can get killed over minor traffic matters. April 15 is tax time in the US...I love your SW photo too and thank you for the kind comments you leave on my blog. It is much appreciated... Michelle
My ignorance can overlook the taxing concerns, love the photo!
I was trying to pronounce this new mank phrase ... and to tell you the truth, I can't imagine how close it was to the way the Isle of Man's natives would pronounce it. ;)
And with beaches like this, who needs to rush? I'd love to live in a place where I don't have to rush like this.
Babooshka: Lovely sky shot for SWF, nicely done.
Ramsey Beach is so beautiful! It's easy to see why you like living there. The pace of life in the southern US is much slower than in the north and I like it that way. We don't rush to do anything - except maybe the people who wait until April 14th to do their taxes. The ones you see rushing around are "transplants".
What a lovely picture - it looks so calm and restful. Which I guess is what you need if you're stressed out doing your tax return!
Hope you get yours in on time! Thankfully at the moment I don't have that joy, but when I finish my studies I'm hoping to do some consultancy work as well as having a proper (hopefully part-time) job, so I guess I'll have this joy to come.
That's a beautiful beach. Makes me regret the fact that I lived in Manchester for 13 years and never once visited the Isle of Man...
This is a wonderful beach scene - just gorgeous! I love the island motto. I think more people should take time to enjoy life and stop all the rushing around...
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