A Boring Tax Bit and an International Spy Denial

I managed to get into a spot of bother over my social security last week. Having been told that the job I have on contract was paying it, I'd assumed that this meant that I didn't have to pay it my self as an autonomo, but apparently it doesn't really work like that so I wound up with a €80 fine. I'm still not sure quite how it works to be honest, despite getting on better at the social security office this time armed with a bit more Spanish. My only guide is my friendly English speaking bank 'cashier' (for want of a better word) at La Caixa (which isn't even really a bank... it's complicated). Now I've got to worry about my British tax return which I've got to file online by 31st Jan, because I was self-employed in England. My tax return for this year will be a nightmare: having been both employed and self-employed in both the UK and Spain this year!

Anyway, so far, so dull, I've also been following with complete fascination and amazement the story of the undercover police that have been living in the environmental movement in the UK for years (you can read a bit about it here if you've missed out). It's of course utterly bizarre that they'd waste that amount of time and effort on interfering with a peaceful protest movement, especially as it seems as if this guy has actually helped facilitate several actions, acting as a driver, as well as being an informant, as well as providing funding. Having just been through the court process for this kind of thing, I find it particularly wierd that he used police money to pay court fines for activists! What a huge waste of time! It occured to me, however, that I'm someone who, having been (very sporadically) involved in the environmental movement, has just suddenly upped sticks and left the country... I'm hoping that friends in Manchester aren't now suspecting me! I'd like to reassure them that I'm just a whimsical individual with an inclination to move around rather than being a police spy on the run!

A techy side note, I've put a thing on the side with all the tags from posts, so that you should be able to click on 'jobs' for example and get all my posts that say something about getting a job etc. I thought it'd be useful seeing as people keep asking me about various aspects of moving to Spain, but please still send me a message if you do want to know anything else and I'll be happy to tell you all I know!