Springtime is Most Beautiful!

I have written a lot about the weather in my blog and I guess I will continue to write more about the fascinating change of seasons that we have expereienced. To my wife and I, Spring is the most beautiful of all seasons. The spring colours are vibrant and so pleasing to the eyes than the fall ones.

The greenery all around us is much appreciated along with the beautiful blooms. Spring time is also gardening season and it is great to see everyone invest a lot of time in keeping their surroundings beautiful and green. Almost everyone who owns a home does work on either their lawn or in their gardens and in most residential communities, the ones that ignore can their lawns and backyards could get fined.

As we come close to completeing a year in this country, we totally appreciate all that we have experienced and have no regrets for what we left behind. There are tough times and things that you wished were better, however, it is important to hang in there and make the most of what you have.

Warm April & Cold May

Traditionally, Spring is expected to last from March 22 to June 21. In the spring, it is still chilly and the temperatures are expected to hover around in the range of about 5 - 15 degrees. This year has been different, following the extremely severe winter and April felt more like late June according to experts and May was like April.

I'm born in May and all my birthdays have been hot, hot and hotter. This one though was the coldest ever and some parts of Ontario actually saw light snow on that day. It was a different feeling for me, though I kinda liked the change.

April is Tax Return Month!

In Canada we pay a lot in taxes - direct and indirect taxes. Although late last year the PST (Provinical Sales Tax) was reduced from 7 to 6%, we still pay lot in income taxes. April, is the month for all to file tax returns and in most scenarios if you pay your taxes regularly, you do qualify for a refund.

As with most things in this country, the processes and dealings with the government offices are mostly hassle-free and pretty well structured. The financial year for income earning runs according to the calendar year, however, business and organizations use different periods in a calendar year to define their fiscal year.

The deadline to file your tax returns and pay any taxes that you owe the government is April 30. If the government owes you money, you do not have to stick to the deadline, though if you owe the government and do not pay the taxes by the deadline, you can be charged really high interest and penalty fees for each day that you go beyond the deadline.

In order to file your tax return, you need a T4 slip that is provided by your employer and a T5 from your bank or financial institution if you earn interest over $500.00 in a tax year. The process for filing your tax returns are simple, you can use a lot of the various options available such as an accountant, tax software or simply 'do it yourself' using the Canada Revenue Agency's (CRA)online tax return tool and guides.

For first timers, tax returns are filed in paper forms and they have to be physically sent to the closest CRA office. The refund cheque can take about a month to come your way. Subsequent returns can be filed online and you can chose a direct-deposit to any of your accounts for the refund. This process is really fast and few of my colleagues have told me that they got their refunds in less than a week.

While the simplicity of it all should have people paying their taxes and filing returns on time, however, in reality, we are all procrastinators and wait for the deadline to pass...

Earth Hour!

Most of my blog over the last couple of months or maybe three has been about the weather. The changes and the ways to deal with it. The reason for the change has been purely due to our own neglect and the abuse of the environment and our natural resources. In 2007, the people of Sydney, Australia took it in their own hands and made a difference by powering down for an hour between 8 - 9 pm. This initiative was followed in 30 countries this year and I was proud to be part of it too.

What worked for the Aussies last year was applied across the globe in several cities and Toronto was one of the leading participants. Over the last few weeks the hype has been great and even the local Brampton newspaper stressed the importance of it. So my wife and I decided that we must contribute to it. We powered down all our non essential lights and electrical equipment at 8 pm.

There were several things planned for people to do during this hour and it was amazing to see the CN Tower power down as well as several buildings downtown turn off their lights. There was a concert at Nathan Phillips square with Nelly Furtado performing an acoustic concert. It is a small step toward a great savings for the future. There are simple things that we can to do on a daily basis to save more energy by switching off unnecessary lights, doing our laundry with cold water and driving at posted speed limits.

We hoped that our neighbours would be a part of the initiative. Unfortunately, Earth Hour was not welcomed by as many people as we thought on our street, we hope though, that there will greater acceptance of this in our locality and across the world in the years to come.

It is now Spring, is this how it is supposed to feel?

At 1:48 this morning, we officially switched seasons and Spring is here. However, the weather is cold, cold and colder. With temperatures in -11 to -15 range and the added wind chill factor it is as low as -20, it feels like anything but Spring. It is still bloody cold and the weathermen say that we may have six weeks of winter left.


Climate change is what is to be blamed for this and Torontonians have not been taking very kindly to this weather. This has been anything but a normal winter that like I have said in the past, it has been very warm during the same time over the last two years. There has been a maximum of three or four snow storms in a year. This year, I lost count after the eighth or maybe the ninth one.

DST Yipee!

I've been writing several pieces about the cold, cold winter and now to help us feel a little better, the clocks changed this Sunday, March 9, 2008. We spring forward by an hour though officially Spring is two weeks away. What this also means is that we lose an hour of sleep and we now see more sunlight. In the next couple of weeks we should see at least 12 hours of sunlight, when the sun does come out.

Daylight Savings Time (DST) is a concept that is used in the cold countries where the winters are long and there is limited sunlight. Studies have proved that DST is beneficial in helping people overcome the long depressing winter and exposure to sunlight makes them more productive. There is another school of thought which implies that DST benefits businesses with shoppers out longer in the summer months. DST also helps in energy conservation and that is why the Governments in North America chose to bring DST forward by two weeks. DST in the past, used to be the first Sunday in April while now DST will run from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.

The sudden switch impacts people as the loss in an hour of sleep does take its toll on concentration and productivity at work. The first Monday after the DST switch is supposed to be recorded as the worst day for road accidents. It takes the average person about two to three days to come to terms with the switch. While the easy remedy for this, is to sleep an hour earlier the day that the DST switch happens, it is not the popular choice for all. I must admit that though my sleep patterns were regular when the switch happened, it did take me three days to adjust to the change.

Worst Snow Storm!

Today we experienced the worst snow storm of our first winter in Canada. The snow started late Friday evening and the dumping continued for almost 24 hours. This after we had a snow day on the Wednesday of the week. Close to 30 cms of snow was recorded in Toronto and that brings us close to the record that was set almost 70 years ago.

The record is 208 cms and we are currently at 189 for the year. It has clearly beaten the average snowfall record and is almost twice the snow that has been recorded in the last two years. Before we came here, I had never seen any of the white stuff and now I will be very happy when it all ends.

It is great if you are at home or are a skier, however, when you have to shovel and clean your driveway, it is no fun. Apologies to those who do not share the same feelings about the snow, in my opinion most of the locals have had it with the snow for now.