A true American…

Tuesday night, I felt like a true American for two reasons! I attended my first NBA league basketball match, and I also joined the long queues at midnight to get my tax return in on time! More of that later…

Firstly, I headed to Oakland to the Oracle Arena to watch the Golden State Warriors v Dallas Mavericks – they won 111 v 82. It was a corporate event, and we were well looked after in the box. A great view and a great game. The rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner by a unaccompanied lone singer at the start was very impressive and it was great to see such patriotism from the crowd.

The second real American experience was the tax return. In California, everyone must have their state tax returns postmarked 17 April. Anything later and you’re looking at hefty penalties! I would never leave it until the last minute, but due to some issues with my expatriate accountants, I had to file for an extension at the last minute. So, there I was at 11.30pm at the central San Jose post office. It being America, everything was so well organised, but there were long traffic queues. The post office workers worked late and had kerb side drop facilities. A strange thing to see!

It reminded me of the Simpsons episode when Homer lands himself in tax trouble as he’s audited because of a late submission!