All Posts in "European Countries"

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.[ad#ad-1]

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?

Yank by — September 21, 2009 in Money 4

I’ve already mentioned the helpful motorists in times of need. Now, I’m moving on to the opposite end of the spectrum.  The rude, obnoxious drivers who inspire road rage in the best of us.[ad#ad-1]

We all know Britain has narrow roads, at least, much narrower than in the US.  I cannot compare it to any other European countries.  We understand that in order to get around as safely and effectively as possible, we all need to give and take, respect other drivers, and share the road.  For the most part, it works.  But, all too frequently, we run into a road hogger.  Yes, you know the ones I mean.  The ones who think they own the road and that everyone needs to bow to their needs.  They’re willing to risk crashing into you, though they drive like speed demons that they manage to get out of your way in that last split second.

Yesterday, we drove through a small town with said narrow road.  The street was made even narrower by cars parked on the right hand side.  Sometimes, we find that even with parked cars, there is sufficient room for two cars to move through, as long as you’re careful.  I say this because there have been times when people have not been careful and being too cautious, they give too much room to the parked cars and force us to scratch our wheels on the opposite kerb.  But, yesterday’s experience was beyond belief.

We were driving down the road with the parked cars on our right.  The street was too narrow for another vehicle to pass through (unless it was an obnoxious motorcycle, but that’s beside the point).  Up ahead, we see a lorry truck coming on.  But, instead of waiting behind the parked cars until we get through (which is the rule under the Highway Code) because we had right of way, he decides to come head-on against us.  Of course, we were forced to stop, and he knew it.  Our only other choice was to climb the pavement, but we wouldn’t have gotten very far, because there was a bus shelter where the truck stopped.  He refused to budge and we had to back up 200 ft. for his convenience.  After backing up a little way, there was sufficient room on the right between parked cars for the truck to move into, but he refused to move until we had backed completely up the road.  As we were backing up and he was standing there, several other cars moved behind him.  What were THEY thinking?  Of course, they couldn’t see us, but when the road is that narrow and you see a vehicle stopped in front on the opposite side, wouldn’t you pull off to your side to let things resolve themselves?  After all, you’re driving in contraflow traffic.

It would have been brilliantly clever if we could have somehow made our car break down at that particular moment.  What sweet revenge.  He would have been cursing high and low and we would have had to make all of them back up (which was a shorter distance than what we did). But, alas, cars have a mind of their own.  That truck driver was lucky we weren’t the type of people who would have given in to road rage to commit GBH.  Our rage merely consists of declaring how stupid some people can be.

Yank by — June 3, 2009 in My Journey 1