Sabine in Gozo

This is not a Kempinski blog!

This weekend Renzo and I got a real break for a change, as we’ve roped in a guest blogger for Discover Gozo: Philip from Switzerland, who wrote about his diving experience in Gozo last September. This means I have actually a little time for my own blog!

Jean Paul, a blog reader who commented on my last post, gave me some headache… In his opinion my blog “seems to be a right extension of Kempinski Hotel Public relation.” But it isn’t, and I really don’t want it to be. Only, there’s the little fact that I love my job (as much as I moan about it at times!), which happens to be marketing manager at the hotel. Apart from about 10 hours every day at the office, I spend a lot of my spare time thinking about work-related stuff at home. I do almost all my creative thinking at home, when I’m relaxed… it’s a curse!

Well, all I want to say is that this is my blog, and it shall remain all mine, you hear? But Kempinski is part of my life, and I’m proud of it, too. So I’m afraid you’ll have to bear with my occasional digressions in that direction. Hmph!

Now, to prove that I’m not a slave to my job – not completely yet, anyway! – I’m going to totally change the subject! As July is creeping closer ever so slowly, I booked my hotel room for my trip to Roger’s gig at the Tollwood Festival in Munich. And what do you know: I chose a Best Western! (Now tell me you aren’t surprised LOL)! The reason: all the Garden Gate Gang members, who are coming for the festival, are going to stay in the same hotel – even more of them than I’ had known about when I booked! So we’re all going to be together, and we’re all very excited about it – it’s going to be awesome! If only I could stay for longer than three days…

<RANT>

On other fronts, life’s been a little less rosy. This week (just after booking the hotel, perfect timing!) I received a statement about provisional tax being due this year. What a bummer. I had to pay €290 euro immediately, and the next two payments are far worse at €435 and €726, respectively – the latter just in time for Christmas… And all this on top of my normal income tax that I’m paying for my wages! They based this on my earnings of 2 years ago – which is ridiculous because those taxes are higher than the pittance they are supposed to be paid on. Um… Was that English? When I get angry, my knowledge of the language tends to get a little muggy…

I still have my VAT number because I was hoping to sell a few more copies of Angelina’s Ghost… I guess I’d better close that chapter and rid myself of the headaches it brings. Maybe I should make a big book sale – buy ten and get ten free or something like that. Any takers?

Oh yeah, and on top of that – geez, once she starts ranting, she won’t stop! – Go Mobile has also thrown a little spanner into my financial works. The ‘mobile connect’ contract I signed last November was supposed to be charged monthly, and I had to sign a direct debit mandate for that. So far so good, only they never charged me a single cent. End of story (so far): this week I had to pay over €200 in one lump sum because they weren’t able to get their records right.

Man, I hate the way ordinary people are constantly at the mercy of the ‘big one’s’ whims.

</RANT>

Now that I got all that out of the system, I’m going to start my weekend. I’m planning to stay away from the PC and spend some quality time with my camera instead. Which will require more sitting at the PC afterwards, but for now I’m signing off. Have a good weekend – I see the sun has finally come out too after an overcast morning… Enjoy!