An American in Britain

I noticed something this weekend that finally had me thinking about this whole devolution thing in the UK.  It’s been all around me, I’ve read blogs and comments from the English who are decidedly against devolution (or want it to be a complete detachment), but it never really struck me.

Just a brief geography and history lesson.  Great Britain is the big island comprising England, Scotland and Wales; whereas, the UK is Great Britain, Northern Ireland and all the other islands.  Now, Jersey and Guernsey have their own “government”, but it wasn’t until 10 years ago that NI, Scotland and Wales had their own separate government (devolution).  This happened after my husband left the UK, so even he has been unable to fully comprehend the implications.

Well, we were at a gymnastics meet, and they were selling the usual: leos and athletic gear.  One of the items was a gym bag with the English Gymnastics logo.  English Gymnastics?  I had not heard that term before.  As far as we know, our daughter belongs to British Gymnastics.

But, it did make me wonder why there was no English Gymnastics?  I had never really questioned it before.  Never mind that when I tried to find a club in Wales or Scotland (when we had considered moving to either of those countries) under British Gymnastics, I couldn’t find any.  At first, I thought that neither country cared for the sport.  I later read in a magazine (at the gym) about Scottish Gymnastics and how some British members competed there.  That made me search for clubs under the Scottish Gymnastics and Welsh Gymnastics and I found them.  Still it never made me question English Gymnastics.

There is no English Gymnastics.  It’s British Gymnastics.  Why is that?  Is England not important enough to have its own?  But, British Gymnastics does not incorporate Scottish or Welsh Gymnastics.  Or, perhaps it once did, but devolution has now affected sports as well.  (I know there was a big row about having a national team for the Olympics and World Cup, etc., because each country wants its own team, but I believe there’s some ruling about having a single British team.)  So, if Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own clubs, will British Gymnastics change its name to English Gymnastics, or does England no longer exist except as part of the entity of Great Britain?

I’ve been here for a year now, so I should know better, right?  Of course not.  I don’t use the mail very often.  There has never been the need.  Also, when I do mail anything, it’s usually not of the “return” variety.

So, when I returned the CRB forms back to my prospective employers, I did not expect that it was already postage paid.  You see, in the US, these return envelopes usually have a note at the top corner where stamps are placed, stating that postage has been paid.  Easy to understand.  How was I to know that “Freepost” meant that postage has already been paid?  Not only that, it was placed right in the middle of the address label.  How was I to know that it was not part of an address?  I wasted two days, or one mailing day.  And with the postal strikes affecting delivery down here, it could mean even more days than that.

They recently published data showing that new homes in Britain were smaller than those in France, Australia and the US.  Now, it’s not difficult to imagine that houses would be much larger in Australia and the US (room dimensions almost equal), but I was surprised to find that the British homes were smaller than the French ones as well.

I know that immigration and the populaton explosion has led to a housing shortage, so they have to put up a lot of homes quickly and squeeze them all in.  But, it’s a disservice to people when they have such cramped spaces.  And, they do away with unnecessary space.  A typical home has a lounge (sometimes referred to as the living room or the front room), kitchen, bathroom, and the bedrooms.  It’s no wonder they have that phrase “two up, two down”.

Not all homes are that cramped, I’m just referring to a lot of new builds.  Some may be lucky enough to have a dining room, and if they’re really lucky, they might have another cloakroom (toilet).  Most homes we’ve looked at have a small space in the kitchen for a dining table, or if the lounge is big enough, they will put the table there.  That’s what we’ve had to do for the past year, even though there’s barely enough room.  It’s also one reason why we’ve adopted the minimalist look.  We only have the ripped up sofa that was left behind, the piano and the dining table in that room.

We live in a bungalow but it feels like a flat (apartment).  It’s as big as the apartments we’ve lived in.  Our houses had living rooms, dining rooms, and most also had a family room.  Not only that, they all had basements.  Not all US homes have basements (some areas are just not good enough for a basement because of drainage issues).  However, for the most part, it’s taken for granted that they do.

Here, you will only find basements in older homes and there are not too many of those around.  Many of them have been converted, so that a mansion is split into four apartments, with the basement being one of them.  I remember reading an article some months ago about rich people renovating their homes rather than buying or building a new one.  Because of the lack of space, these people were moving downwards, building multiple underground levels.  So, why don’t they do that for new builds?  It would make sense that if you don’t have the space above ground, you would try to use the space underground.  And I don’t mean for them to use the basement to put the necessary rooms, just as additional space for whatever they might like.

It appears that there are loads of storage facilities that have cropped up.  These people must be making a killing because people lack space to store their stuff.  There are no attics and no basements.  Very few homes even have closets of any kind.  You have to buy wardrobes and cabinets.

Don’t you just love it?  I do.  Fall is my favourite season.  In hotter climes, I usually welcome autumn with relief.  With my sun allergies, being in dry, hot weather can be a real nuisance.  Not that I don’t enjoy nice weather, I just can’t enjoy like most people can.

Of course, there are other reasons for loving fall.  One is the change in colour.  Some places are more dramatic than others, but I’m seeing the changes all around right now.  I always get nostalgic for the times when we’d run and jump on a pile of leaves, or even looking for the multi-coloured leaves that have fallen.  The spicy scent in the air and the crackling sound of dry leaves always take me back to those days.  The sight, sounds, and scent is not the same over here, but there are other things to take its place.

Halloween would be a big commercial event at this time in the US.  Stores would have everything set for trick-or-treating or a spooky party or decorating your yard.  I think I’ve seen one effigy here, and a small selection of costumes at a local shop.  However, Bonfire Night is a totally different affair, and I can’t wait for that.  I don’t know if we’ll go to Devil’s Dyke again for Halloween or try to find something spookier.

One of the things I miss is the smell of pumpkin pie and spiced apple cider.  Luckily, I waxed some bears in that cinnamon scent, so it helps bring back some of those memories.  I also mixed it with a woodlands Christmas scent, giving it that wonderful Christmasy-fall-winter smell.

I wish I had more time to just sit, relax and enjoy the season.  Unfortunately, we’ll have to get busy packing up and trying to move.

Finally, we managed to get money from our US account into our UK account.  The best advice our US bank gave us was to use our Visa card to get a cash advance against our US account.  It worked, although the manager seemed a bit skeptical.  Was she suspicious that we were trying to run off with someone else’s money?  It’s our money, in our account, and we have ID to prove who we are.  Granted, the initial advice to initiate an international wire transfer from the receiving end was dud advice, but that wasn’t our fault.

One of the reasons that we had such difficulty is that we are transferring money internationally, which meant dealing with the currency exchange.  Another reason, and probably the bigger reason, is that the US cards do not contain a special chip that the UK ones do.  We can use it to draw money from ATMs, but there are daily limits and you need to know the exchange rate, etc.  However, you may not use it as a debit card at any place here.  That’s because they have a special card reader that reads the chip.  At some places, they may be able to swipe it and use it as a Visa.  There’s no guarantee that it will work.  Our card has been rejected at several places.  Some places cannot even manually input the card numbers.

My question is, is this chip technology required in the EU?  Do all European countries implement it?  Will the US follow suit?  How much revenue is or will be lost if the UK shops cannot accept US cards?

I never intended for this blog to be a rant.  But, sometimes, circumstances beyond my control have me going out of my mind, and if I can’t vent it, I take out the stress on my family.  And right now, I’m in panic mode.

I have two weeks until I start work.  I have not actually received the contract to sign (may be a result of the postal strikes), but the verbal agreement is still binding.  (Just received it by post after I wrote this.)

We have not yet moved to a new house.  Our lease expires the first week of October.  I told the agent that it was highly unlikely that we would be renewing.  At the time, I had just received my registration and started applying for jobs.  Of course, that was in an email.  No response.  This was at a time when the agent was trying to renegotiate the terms of the lease to decrease the amount we were paying for electricity.  We had complained that our electric bill was too high.  In all that mess, we finally got the landlord to admit that the meter at his house measured not only our house, but several other buildings.  And it was that meter that was read by the electric company.  We have not paid our last bill because there is a dispute about how much we are responsible.  Obviously, he owes us some money and the electric company is siding with us on this.  Given his record on promises, we are not about to turn over money, waiting forever to be reimbursed.  Besides this, the house is in disrepair and he has done nothing.  I thought, they really believed we would renew?  The agent said they would discuss issues with the landlord and come up with some solution.  After not hearing from them for a month, I emailed them to find out what was going on, only to be told that the agent we have been dealing with was leaving (fired? quit? who knows.).  She forwarded everything to two colleagues.

Next thing we hear is that we have to give 30-days written notice.  So, I responded with the above.  Seeing that my language might not have been strong enough, I said we were not renewing (not “highly unlikely”, but “no, we are not renewing”).  I asked if they wanted an actual written letter rather than an email.  Still no response.  Emailed again yesterday.  Still no response.  Are they dragging it out to force us to stay an extra month?

In the meantime, we do have to move.  Not just because the house is falling apart around us, but because I need to be closer to work.  We have been duped into paying out more than we needed to in this past year, so we have run down our savings to almost nothing.  We have not resorted to government benefits.  Yet because we have not worked in the past 6 months, some of these letting agents refused to rent to us unless we put up 6-months rent as a deposit.  What?!!  If someone was coming off unemployment and they didn’t have that amount saved up, how can they ever get a leg up?  Luckily, not all agents are like that, but you do have to be very careful.  One agent actually took the deposit off someone, ran a check, then declined them because they didn’t make enough money.  They use some formula, like you have to make three times the rent to qualify.  Why weren’t they upfront with the person to begin with?  And, of course, there is no appeal with these guys, and the money is nonrefundable.

My situation is that I can’t sign any leases until I get my contract all sorted out.  Also, I do not want to be paying rent on two properties at the same time.  Lastly, we will need to transfer money from our US account into our UK account in order to make all this happen.  Our US bank said we could initiate the transfer from this end, but the banks on this end said that was impossible.  It seems like we keep hitting one brick wall after another.  I will be so relieved when all this is settled, if ever.

Britain was once branded as “a nation of shopkeepers”.  Unfortunately, that image has slowly disintegrated, and very recently, the destruction of the small shop has become so commonplace.

As an American, I do find it convenient to shop for everything in one place. But the quaintness of the small family-owned shops is so essentially British that I hate to see that institution dying.

When we made up our minds to move here, we thought we’d like to support these small shops. Unfortunately, with the recession, it has been difficult.  We live in an out-of-the-way spot, where there are no small shops, so it’s easiest to go to the nearest grocery store for everything.  Also, it’s the big shops that can offer special deals, and when money is tight, it’s the driving force.

But, there are other shops that are closing down due to competition, not from major retail chains, but from charity shops.  And this makes it even sadder.  I have seen four small bookshops close recently in towns nearby.  I love books, but I especially love the old, used ones.  And two of those bookshops sold used books.  Unfortunately, the charity shops have taken business away from these stores, making it harder for them to compete against the big names, like WH Smith or Waterstone’s.

Though I shouldn’t rant on charity shops, I can’t help it.  These charity stores are unlike the thrift stores in the US.  Of course, they do whatever it takes to make money for their charities, but I can’t help wondering how much of their money actually goes to benefit the charity, and how much goes to pay the executives, etc.  In addition, some of their pricing is more like a discount boutique.  They even strive to look like one.

There is a charity bookshop that we shop at.  We support it because the pricing is very good – not inflated like the charity boutiques.  Also, they don’t appear to trash anything.  The boutiques only like to display books that look new.  Then there are charity stores that aim to look like antique stores, so their pricing also reflects that.

So, yes, I bemoan the fate of the family-run bookshops that face competition from two sides.  I have noticed also that some of the clothing shops are ready to go the same route.  It won’t be long before the little baker’s and butcher’s will face that fate (though they can’t blame charity stores for their demise).

Several times now, we have pulled up to hotels looking for a room (because we don’t book ahead when our plans are flexible) only to be told that they were full, or did not have the rooms we were looking for.  As a family of four, we need a family room.  Health and Safety would not allow them to permit kids to stay with their parents unless adequate beds are available.  Furthermore, most places in the UK still charge per person, even children (sometimes with discounts).  However, the chain hotels (mostly US-owned) will charge per room.

I have been pleased, though, that when these hotels are full, they are extremely helpful to the stranded motorists.  The desk clerk will usually do one of two things: refer you to a local B&B that may have vacancies, or more often, they will actually get on the phone and call around for you.  I cannot tell how many times we’ve travelled overnight in the US and stopped at every exit to check the hotels.  So, I am very grateful when these clerks take the hassle out of driving needlessly in search of a bed.

Unlike in the US, you do not have large billboards advertising hotels/motels/B&Bs all over the place.  You have to look out for the brown signs with the beds on them, not knowing what you might get (reminds me of Vermont).  And you might not have these at every exit, so there is a lot of guesswork involved if you do not have your travel plans all worked out.

When we went to Holyhead this weekend, we ran into a wedding party that had booked up several hotels within a five mile radius.  We had set a time limit on driving, so we didn’t want to keep moving.  The hotel receptionist was extremely helpful, calling several places up and even calling back with questions, etc.  Her supervisor even printed up directions to one of the places.  Unfortunately, our daughters came in to use the toilets and wanted to stay.  So, after all that help, which I really appreciated, we ended up taking two rooms at the hotel to comply with Health and Safety regulations.  Unfortunately, it cost more than we wanted to spend.

One of the difficulties of living in a country where they drive on the other side of the road is remembering which way to look for oncoming traffic.  Of course, you look both ways, but when you cross into the middle, you need to know which side to watch.  I am starting to adjust.  However, my problem now is always remembering “the other side of the road”.

When I first came here, I used to remind myself that I have to look the opposite way that I was used to.  I have become adjusted to being a passenger on the left side and seeing cars going down the left side of the road.  However, that reminder still pops into my head, and now it’s gotten to the point where I am looking to the opposite of the opposite and I have to stop and really think it through.  It becomes very frustrating, especially because sometimes you have a very narrow opportunity for crossing the road.  (Though most places have crosswalks, sometimes it’s too far out of your way to cross there.)

I don’t know when I’ll have adjusted enough to just take it for granted that I am looking in the right direction.  Sometimes, I see people, whom I consider natives, who make the same mistakes.  Of course, they might also be foreigners, or they might just be careless/forgetful.

It’s taken almost a year for me to get to this point.  And I’m not even driving.  It’s so appropriate that I bring up this topic today because the people of Samoa are about to experience what I’ve experienced this past year.  Only, they will all experience it collectively and will have to adjust in a shorter time period.

The people in Samoa have to make the switch from right-hand driving to left-hand driving in one day – today.  They will have a two-day holiday to get people adjusted.  Some critics are complaining about the lack of preparation, with the roads (not to mention the people) not being ready for the change, and the resultant increase in car crashes.  I really feel for them.  I can’t imagine what would happen if the UK were to ever decide to switch like that.  Since Samoa is many hours ahead of us, I wonder how things went over there today.

It’s a good feeling to know that I have a job.  Or, will have, very soon.  After my second interview, I feel somewhat drained.  Not that it was particularly gruelling, but the anxiety associated with interviews and the tremendous relief afterwards can leave you feeling like you’ve been hit by a truck.  Then, I get excited knowing that we can stay in England, we can move house, etc.  Then, I get anxious again because we have to move house, etc.

Anyhow, my two interviews have renewed my confidence.  It’s not a good feeling when you’ve sent out two dozen CVs and not get word for a long time.  But, being offered a job on the spot is a big booster.  I went ahead and did the second interview just to see how I would do (besides the fact that it was a little late to cancel on them).  Though I wasn’t formally offered a job, I was asked if I would accept if it was offered and when I could start.  They implied I was overqualified, and seeing that the only other interviewer at the time spent only 5 minutes with them, it was enough to convince me they were trying to see which way the wind was blowing.  I had to admit that I couldn’t accept, but I wanted to know how I did.  The main interviewer told me he could not see how I could not be successful in whatever I decided to pursue.

Of course, as soon as I received my first offer, I got called for two other interviews.  One was very tempting.  I have to make a lateral career change and I have chosen two areas of expertise.  The job I chose is in the field of my first choice.  But, the job is a temporary one, and I will be starting out part-time, moving to full-time in a few months’ time.  However, it’s a step towards my goal, and it gets me a foot in the door.  My second job would be doing what I had done years ago, so a definite step down.  The third interview, which I turned down, is similar to the second.  All three are temporary.  But, the fourth one would have been permanent and would lead me down a path towards my second choice of a career change.  It’s tempting to go for it and see how I do, but I think it’s probably best to concentrate on finding another house and a new school, etc.  There’s still that slight twinge of regret, but I know that the position would be a lot more competitive.

It’s not that I regret my decision.  But, the cost of living is a lot higher at my chosen job than if I chose any one of the other positions. On the other hand, there would be fewer transitions.  For example, our daughter will still be able to go to the same gym and have the same piano teacher.  They’ll stay in their school until mid-term at least. 

But, we’re moving because our lease will be up soon and we’ve had enough of all the problems in this house.  I’m not sure how much longer before the rest of the floor in the kitchen will cave in.  We have enough trouble walking around the areas that have already broken through.  There’s also a hole in the bathroom.  All the work that the landlord was supposed to take care of since we moved in has not been touched.  In addition, they (agent and landlord) have not resolved this issue with the electric meter.  As it turns out, we were right when we complained that we must’ve been paying for more than our fair share of electricity.  So, until October, when I start my job, we will need to take a good look at our housing and schooling options.

I was also very excited about my pay.  I had been informed by several institutions that because I am new to this country, I would start at the lowest pay level.  However, this place argued that with my experience, I should be offered something closer to the top (not the very top due to my inexperience in this country, but close).  It means we will be able to maintain our current standard of living, which is by no means extravagant in any sense.  But, to find a house in our price range will be very difficult down in that area.  We will have to live a little ways out.

My excitement has been tempered by the fact that next year, when I have actually worked a full year, my salary would be at a level such that I might have to pay double taxes – UK and US!  I’ll have to look into this. To have to pay taxes to two different countries means that the take-home would be even less.  And what makes it even more unfair is that the US uses an exchange rate of 2.1 (based on the currency exchange from several years ago), and not the current rate, which is closer to 1.6.