I knew all this before moving into this house, so why did I go for something that was going to cost me much more money in the long run? Well, firstly - they look great. And they are usually much bigger windows, letting more light into the rooms - which makes a great difference when one spends so much time at home sitting in front of a computer as I do.

However since moving in the windows have slipped somewhat and will not go back again - and have ever tried getting an Irish landlord to fix anything. They have all read Castle Rackrent I guess.

So the next house will be more utilitarian - double glazing please.

According to Roman historians they became aware of the existence of glass accidentally in the region of Syria around 5000 BC. This short history looks at the birth and evolution of man-made glass and the new developments in smart glass.

Glass beads are thought to be the earliest man-made glass they were mainly opaque and are thought to date back to around 3500 BC. They have been found in Egypt and Eastern Mesopotamia. The oldest fragments of glass vases date back to 1600 BC and were found in Mesopotamia.

Egyptian craftsmen are thought to have begun developing a method for producing glass pots around 1500 BC by dipping a core mould of compressed sand into molten glass and then turning the mould so that molten glass adhered to it. There is not much evidence of further advancement until the 900 BC. Over the following 500 years glass production centred on Alessandria from where it is thought to have spread to Italy.

The first glassmaking manual dates back to around 650 BC. A major breakthrough in glassmaking was the discovery of glassblowing some time between 27 BC and AD 14, attributed to Syrian craftsmen. The long thin metal tube used in the blowing process has changed very little since then.

The Romans spread glassmaking technologies the result of their conquests. During the reign of the emperor Augustus, glass objects began to appear throughout Italy, in France, Germany and Switzerland. It was the Romans who began to use glass for architectural purposes, with the discovery of clear glass. Cast glass windows with poor optical qualities began to appear in the most important buildings in.

Archaeological excavations on the island of Torcello near Venice, Italy, have unearthed objects from the late 7th and early 8th centuries which bear witness to the transition from ancient to early Middle Ages production of glass.

Towards the years 1000 AD significant changes in European glassmaking techniques took place. Given the difficulties in importing raw materials, soda glass was gradually replaced by glass made using the potash obtained from the burning of trees.

The 11th century saw the development by German glass craftsmen of a technique - then further developed by Venetian craftsmen in the 13th century - for the production of glass sheets. By blowing a hollow glass sphere and swinging it vertically, gravity would pull the glass into a cylindrical “pod” measuring as much as 3 metres long, with a width of up to 45 cm. While still hot, the ends of the pod were cut off and the resultant cylinder cut lengthways and laid horizontal. The panes thus created would then be joined with lead strips and pieced together to create windows. Glazing remained, however, a great luxury up to the late Middle Ages, with royal palaces and churches the most likely buildings to have glass windows. Stained glass windows reached their height as the Middle Ages drew to a close.

In 1688, in France, a new method was developed for the production of plate glass, principally for use in mirrors, whose optical merits had, until then, left much to be desired. The molten glass was poured onto a special table and rolled out flat. After cooling, the plate glass was ground on large round tables by means of rotating cast iron discs and increasingly fine abrasive sands, and then polished using felt disks. The result of this plate pouring process was flat glass with good optical transmission qualities. When coated on one side with a reflective metal high-quality mirrors could be produced.

It was not until the later stages of the Industrial Revolution that mechanical technology for mass production and in-depth scientific research into the relationship between the composition of glass and its physical qualities began to appear in the industry.

A key figure and one of the forefathers of contemporary glass research was the German scientist Otto Schott, who used scientific methods to study the effects of various chemical elements on the optical and thermal properties of glass. In the field of optical glass, Schott teamed up with Ernst Abbe, to make important technological advances.

In the production of flat glass the first real innovation came in 1905 when a Belgian, (Fourcault), managed to vertically draw a continuous sheet of glass of a consistent width from the tank. Commercial production of sheet glass using the Fourcault process eventually got under way in 1914. An off-shoot of evolution in flat glass production was the strengthening of glass by means of lamination.

The float process developed after 1945 by Pilkington combined the brilliant finish of sheet glass with the optical qualities of plate glass.

Now glass production has taken another great leap forward, privacy glass is the newest and currently most upmarket glass available. With only a touch of a remote control or the turn of a dial the glass can be made to change opacity. New glass windows on office blocks can be set to let in less light as the sun becomes stronger saving on air-conditioning costs.

During the last 5500 years glass has come a long way and we just take it for granted now.

SmartGlass International are manufactors and suppliers of privacy glass and architectural glass. they have office in the UK and Ireland.

I love smoothie recipes, but I don’t seem to drink many of them during the winter, at a time when I wold be best to drink more of them than normal, so here is one of my favorite.

This healthy fruit smoothie recipe is chopped full of wholesome fruit pieces and the sweet taste of honey. Blend one up today.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain flavored fat free yogurt
• ½ cup crushed ice
• 1 cup unsweetened apple juice
• ½ cup watermelon, cut into small cubes
• ½ cup strawberries cut into halves
• ½ cup mango, cut into small cubes
• ½ cup peaches, cut into small cubes
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup almonds, crushed

Toppings:

• Fat free cool whip
• Couple sprigs fresh mint

To Make:

Frozen fruit may be substituted for this recipe, however fresh fruit will provide the best taste for these smoothies.

Before making your smoothie, cut up the watermelon, strawberries, mango, and peaches according to the directions listed above. Then, in a small bowl, combine all the fruit pieces and the honey together.

Make sure all the pieces are covered by the honey. Let fruit mixture chill in refrigerator for at least half an hour. Remove the fruit bowl from the refrigerator and let it stand for 10 minutes. Combine the fat free yogurt, apple juice, and crushed ice into a blender.

Blend this mixture for less than one minute before adding the fruit. Add the fruit and honey mixture to the liquid in the blender. Add vanilla and blend on high until all the fruit is mixed well.

Remove blender from the base and pour smoothie mixture into tall milkshake glasses. Top off each of the smoothies with a dollop of fat free cool whip. Then sprinkle crushed almonds on top of the cool whip.

A sprig of mint on the side of the glass completes this refreshing, healthy smoothie. This recipe is for two servings. Enjoy.

Now the process can be long and tedious - perhaps that is why not many companies do the paper work themselves - and perhaps why many do bother claiming at all.  I am writing this as a friend of mine runs a VAT reclaim service.  They work on a no refund, no fee basis.  So it is great for companies looking to control costs in these times of the credit crunch.

Call Val at Global Tax Reclaim and let him do the rest, it really is that easy.

This money is all pure profit for you and your business.  So give him a call today on 00353 1458 7460

European Union VAT

Invoicing to other EU customers is fairly simple; however there are items that must be put on European invoices.  If this is done correctly it will save time and money trying to reclaim VAT from other European authorities.  Firstly an overview of how VAT works intra-community - i.e. between European Union member states:

When one company in one member state provides goods or services to another company in a different member state, the seller does not add VAT to the invoice but instead zero rates it and registers £0.00 for VAT.  It is the job of the buyer to pay the correct local VAT rate for the purchase directly to the authority which handles VAT in their country and this is done through their VAT declaration.  For example:

You sell something to someone in Germany for €1,000. On the invoice, the figures would be as follows:

• Sub total: €1,000.0
• VAT (at 0%): €0.00
• Total: €1,000.00

The client declares this to their local VAT authority and, in Germany for example, they would pay the local rate of VAT to them.  They would then pay the VAT €160.  At the end of the quarter or year, this figure is balanced against a credit for the same amount (and their other inputs and outputs) and they would receive it back, essentially meaning that they never paid it.  The way this is done is probably different in each member state, but this does not affect the seller.  Buying is another matter.

You need to do the following:

*       Make the invoice from Your Company Ltd at the company’s registered address (in the country of origin).

*       Below the address, include your company’s registration number and prefix it with a two digit country code (for the UK, this is ‘GB’, i.e. For a company with a UK company number of 01234567 this would be GB-01234567).  In Germany these numbers are known as CIF (Company Fiscal Identity) numbers.

*       Put the client’s address in and also include their CIF number (this could be the buyer’s national insurance / social security number if they’re an individual or their company’s registration or fiscal number, if they represent a company).

*       Itemise the invoice in pounds or Euro, whatever is agreed.  It is easier to use Euro for all countries that use this currency and pounds or Euro for any others.

*       Include sub-total, then VAT at 0.00 Euro/pounds and the total.

*       Your bank details for making the payment (try to avoid cheques if possible as they are often extremely slow to process; and rules on a cheque’s acceptability can vary between countries greatly).  For the bank details you should include at least the account name, the name of the bank and an IBAN (International Bank Account Number); see below for bank details. If the client does pay by cheque, make sure it’s in either pounds or Euro and also sign the back of the cheque before sending it to the bank to be paid in.  Cheques can take a long time (around 4 weeks) to clear between two EU states.

Bank details for receipt of payments

Theoretically, to make life easier, it is a good idea to have a current accounts in both pounds and Euro.  Give the euro account details if the billing and payment is in Euro and the sterling ones if it is in pounds.  That way all the figures correspond and accounting is made easier.  There are, however, drawbacks of so-called currency accounts, such as not having on-line or telephone banking facilities with them.

To receive the payment you need give your customer your IBAN (International Bank Account Number).  The IBAN number is formed by prefixing a international code to your bank sort code and account number. The format is CC-NN-BBBB-XXXXXX-YYYYYYYY, where CC is a country code (in this case GB), NN  is a number identifying the bank, BBBB also identifies the bank, XXXXXX is your sort code and YYYYYYYY is your bank account number.  Here’s an example:

We phone our bank, Big Banking Corporation, and they give us the IBAN prefix of GB-31-BIGC, meaning.

• Our sort code: 12-34-56
• Our account #: 12345678
• Our IBAN: GR-31-BIGC-123456-12345678

You are obliged to declare to HM Revenue & Customs any monies you receive for payment against EU invoices.  This is added to the VAT Return in box 8 - purchases made from other states go in box 9.  If you complete this box, HM Revenue & Customs will then send us an EU Sales List, which you will need to complete and send back to them.

Purchases

You should be eligible to pay no VAT in member states, giving your VAT number, but only if the final destination of the goods is the UK. In this case, we would then let HMRC know.

However, the final destination means that if I buy myself a new computer while living in Germany, where it will be used, I cannot claim a zero VAT rating as the final point of sale is Germany and German VAT applies, even though my company is a UK company.  I then have no way of getting this money back unless I become self-employed in Germany, in which instance I have to pay social security and even then, it won’t be my company that pays for it, but myself, or rather me as fiscal entity in Germany.  To get the money out of my company, I’d have to invoice them for it, which means I’d have to charge German VAT.

For more information on European VAT and how to make a VAT Reclaim of European VAT contact Global Tax Reclaim.

This as we know is becoming ever more popular. While it gets very expensive in Ireland for dental treatment – people have been travelling to Northern Ireland for a long time to get the expensive procedures. Well this has now expanded, and it seems like we have all become potential medical tourists.

Just book a holiday, catch a plane, lie on the beach and get your teeth done, or a face lift, or whatever you want – really.

But is it that simple? For most the answer appears to be yes, however, how do you arrange who to see? How do you know if they are any good? Who checks this for me?

Well now there are companies filling this need in the market. They act as a third party and arrange everything for you, giving you more security and peace of mind when it is needed. So you can have them book your dentist in Prague, or your laser eye surgery in India, or Poland or almost where-ever you want.

Credit controllers can do some or all of the following:

Send out invoices - most companies now have this as an automated function however the credit controller is often still responsible for ensuring the whole process. They though send out copy invoice on a requested basis, this is often one of the tactic used by companies not to pay their invoices on time - by calling or waiting to be called and saying at that point they have not received any invoices, it is a common practice in UK businesses. Credit controllers are often the first point of contact when something goes wrong and consequently they deal with the credit notes, also getting legitimate credits done quickly helps to get the rest of the invoice paid as companies will refuse sometimes to an invoice if there is an out standing credit due.

Send out proof of delivery. POD’s as they are commonly referred to are another delaying tactic used by companies not to pay their invoice on time. Many companies routinely ask for POD’s for all their invoices, and they will do this just as the invoice is due for payment and it is then used as a reason not to pay due invoices.

Send out letters. Collection letters are one of the most common and cheapest form of debt collection. As well as being cheap there are also quite ineffective as most will put them directly into to bin. However this is part of the collection process that have to be run through if an account is going to end up going to the legal department or before it is outsourced to a debt collection agency. Copies of these letters have to be kept to prove in court the company has tried to collect and used all reasonable attempts.

Make telephone calls. Making credit control calls is one of the largest part of the job in credit control. Using the telephone to contact customers is expensive, not for the cost of the call, but for the time used. Telephone collection is best used at large problem accounts and main accounts. Often companies will have many telephone collectors, for example credit card companies who have bank of telephone operators calling customers to collect on unpaid debt.

Reconcile accounts. This often happens when a credit controller joins a company, they find that the accounts have not been allocated correctly and they have to reconcile whole accounts often going back a year or more - this finds invoice that have not been paid and discovers mis-allocations, which are common within the industry.

The above is just a sample of credit control duties, see the main site for a breakdown of the whole credit control function.

Now the painstaking detective work to identity the remains has begun. They are said to be so badly decomposed it is not known whether the person is male or female.

A human body takes about a year to become a skeleton but this is dependent on a variety of factors including soil conditions. A forensic examination was carried out at the scene before the skeleton was removed for further tests.

Detectives are also scouring missing persons reports for any clue to the identity of the dead camper. Strathclyde Police said there did not appear to be any suspicious circumstances and they were examining missing persons reports “as a matter of routine”.

The skeleton was found by forestry workers clearing the forest to create a scenic path at around 1:15pm on Friday

The Black Mount estate on which the forest is located belongs to the family of Ian Fleming, the creator of the James Bond novels.

A force spokeswoman said: “The remains would appear to have been there for some time.

“Inquiries will be carried out to establish the identity of the deceased and a post-mortem examination will be arranged to establish the cause of death.” It will take place in Glasgow on Tuesday.

Staff, volunteers and young people from Hamilton Information Project for Youth are organising a sponsored walk of the West Highland Way in April.

And adventurous trio Jim Dunn, Hazel Morrison and Ewan Hamilton are planning to walk the full 95-mile route in five days.

Around 40 people will walk a 15-mile stretch of the Way on Saturday, April 5.

This will include young people, parents and adult volunteers with an interest in HIPY.

Volunteers will be sponsored and all of the money raised will be used to fund activities for young people through HIPY.

It will also support young people who will be undertaking their Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition in the French Alps during the summer.

Hamilton Information project for Youth is a registered youth charity working in the Hamilton area to provide young people with access to free confidential information, advice and support on all youth related issues including work, money, education, housing and health.

The project is managed by a youth committee and involves young people in all aspects of the service.

HIPY also provide a range of youth-related activity programmes including: The Duke of Edinburgh Award, youth clubs, school holiday programmes, youth literacy activities and youth information awareness raising events.

Hazel Morrison, youth development officer at HIPY said: “We are hoping businesses will get behind us and show their support by helping with our fund-raising efforts. Any donations or sponsorship of the team would be gratefully received.”

Donations and sponsorship can be sent to HIPY, 16 Townhead Street, Hamilton, ML3 7BE. Contact: Hazel Morrison, HIPY or tel: 01698 891687 or email: hipy@btopenworld.com

Info from the Hamilton Advertiser.