What do you think:
- How has 600 years shaped Perugia?
- What’s it like to smell history?
- Blind people getting their tax allowances?
How has 600 years shaped Perugia?
Throughout the weekend of 11/12 June this year, Perugia was alive with a joyous cacophony of crowds cheering tug-of-war contests and bands of drums and horns competing for maximum volume. Shops were decked out with medieval costumes and, before the next deluge, citizens paraded to celebrate their traditional skills: from the armourer to the farmer followed by his sheep, goat, chicken and duck!
Umbrian locals doubtless commend this regional capital as a city. But the hill-top intimacy, cobbled streets, stone homes and piazzas speak of the community growing from roots entrenched in living tradition. That underground history bustles to this day with locals’ short- cut alleys casually offering visitors insight in to the very foundations: layers of cellars and storerooms surviving the centuries’ cycle of destruction and regeneration. The temperature drops and the air is filled with the smell of damp earth as the escalator descends from street level to ancient paving – sounds re-bounding, hand-made bricks and rough stone.
Re-surfacing to warmth and light, a short stroll will circumnavigate the centre with stops for spectacular views and shopping forays (not, I’m told, a chain-store in sight). Ceramics feature majolica from near-by Deruta and, while stores offer home-produced oils, cheeses, meats and more, it is the Baci chocolate factory and emporia that have re-shaped the local economy and gained international currency.
What a privilege to be there marking a date in1416 – it made one feel like rather a newcomer to civilisation but part of a much longer continuum.
Blind people getting their tax allowances?
The UK Blind Person’s Allowance is an extra amount of tax-free allowance. It means you can earn more before you start paying Income Tax. The allowance is £2,290 in 2016-17. The allowance is the same for everyone who is entitled to it, regardless of age or income. It is added to your yearly Personal Allowance. The Blind Person’s Allowance can be transferred to a spouse and backdated to the previous four tax years if you were eligible during that time.
Marriage tax Allowance
The UK Marriage Allowance lets you transfer £1,100 of your Personal Allowance to your husband, wife or civil partner if both are eligible, saving up to £220 in tax in 2016-17. This transfer will increase their Personal Allowance and reduce your own Personal Allowance. You can apply for Marriage Allowance if you meet all the following conditions:
- you’re married or in a civil partnership
- your annual income is £11,000 or less
- your partner pays tax at the basic rate
- you and your partner were born on or after 6 April 1935
Special support from HMRC.
With more tax forms and information now being on-line, you can get extra help from your friendly tax man or woman if you explain that your health condition makes using IT too difficult.
Penny Melville-Brown
Disability Dynamics ltd www.disabilitydynamics.co.uk
Helping disabled people to work since 2000
