Duties, Taxes and a Baby

A Vancouver Visit

Dad in contemplative mood

Fri April 29th

WARNING

There are going to be quite a few baby pictures in forthcoming blogs.

We had been holding off coming over to Vancouver to clear our shipping container contents though Customs, until the wee bairn had arrived.  With Sebastian (Seb/Sebi) now home we caught a Thursday afternoon ferry and headed over to Granville Island and our favourite Vancouver hotel.  

The plan was to go over to the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) office closest to Granville Island first thing Friday. A local dog sitter, a lovely lady called Karla, was going to look after Jack for the day until Duty duties and baby visits were complete.

'Oh', she said 'have you seen the news reports about the queues at that office, people have been arriving the night before to queue for passports'.  Noooooo.  "We're not queuing" I helpfully offered on the drive over to the CBSA.  "We'll come over another day on the early ferry".  

I headed off looking for a parking space while Fred started queuing. I was just about to press the 'PAY' button on the parking app when Fred phoned to say she'd finished.  Nothing to pay and she was on her way out.  

Besotted

It seems it was a different queue for Customs from the one for passports.  Not only was she in and out in five minutes, the customs officer complimented her on the detail of her packing lists and item by item secondhand values which we'd spent hours working through.  Well Fred had spent hours and I'd had cursory nanosecond of a review.  I had expected we would have duty to pay based on 5%-7% of the secondhand value, so was delighted that no tax was due.  Having questioned the time Fred had spent on various lists I was somewhat chastened that it was all over so quickly and successfully. 

Half an hour later an email arrived from the accountants we'd used to prepare our Canadian Tax Returns, which we are now required to do, and which I was dreading.  This had been my task.  Canadian taxation we had been advised was higher, so expected a largish bill to settle, despite the UK/Canada double taxation treaty.  The tax year ends December 31st and returns have to be submitted by May 2nd and money paid.  The tax bill was an outrageous 10 cents. Relief was palpable all round.   'Anything under $2 they don't collect', though I'm frankly surprised they'd even bother with $2.  It must cost more to collect it.  Huge relief, though Fred who managed all the shipping, was ahead by 10 Cents!

Somehow I set him off!

The rapid completion of the Customs visit rather threw out our day's plan as we'd expected to be tied up for several hours.  Nick, Lizzie (plus her sister) and Sebastian were heading over to Deep Cove for a stroll.  At the far Eastern end of the North Shore, Deep Cove faces out over the the Indian Arm, a large body of sea that stretches inland from Vancouver Harbour.  It is a beautiful location, has a popular donut shop, a large canoe rentals and a number of small restaurants. It is definitely worth a visit if you are in Vancouver, but needs a car to get there.

It was our first sight of Sebastian Wilfred sleeping soundly in his stroller, hugs and cuddles would come later when we had arranged to head over to their flat.  It was a slow gentle amble around Deep Cove with coffee and donuts from Honey Donuts.

We gathered up Jack on route back to the hotel and after collecting supplies headed over to Nick and Lizzie's and hands-on cuddles.  He was sleeping soundly and was remarkable content being checked out by the two of us, until he was handed to me, whereupon he cried.  A sharing-platter nibbled, champagne drunk we headed back to the hotel with a warm glow.  Jack, who had been walked about three times by then slept in the car throughout the celebrations upstairs.  He has yet to meet his new playmate!

Speaking of Jack, he has become a seasoned traveller and amazingly adaptable.  Whether walking round the ferry terminal, watching the scenery on the ferry deck, strange dog sitters, hotel lifts, being left in hotel rooms while we are eating.  He just takes it in his stride.  What a gem.