Rainy Days

Hello Folks,

It's been a while since I posted. The reason for that is simply because I haven't been up to much of note. I'm still on the job hunt, and approaching the decision to go to a temp agency as, despite applying for appx. 12-15 jobs, I have yet to receive ANY call-backs or emails. As a result, I've just been puttering around the house trying to make myself useful (I'm the ironing and dishwasher-emptying girl), reading (Game of Thrones, which is fantastic by the way, and Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which is not as fantastic), and baking! Well, actually, the baking is only a recent thing that was a response to an irresistible urge to make something delicious. Anyway, I found a really lovely recipe for vanilla-almond scones, and I made some lemon curd to go with. I absolutely love lemon curd, and it was pretty exciting to feel it thicken up as I was stirring it (I need to get out more). Here's a photo of my treats:



In other news, Tom's decided to paint his room, so we've been looking at paint chips, and got some sample pots. After applying BRIGHT green AND blue to the wall, I think I've managed to talk him out of using two ridiculously rich colours. The green will be remaining, but will be paired with a nice taupe instead. Picture upside-down Super Mario World, and you'll get what his room would have looked like.... oh dear.
Until I have some more exciting info to share, ta ta!

Fun Fact

I forgot to mention in my last posts that I was recently informed of an interesting development that may interest my fellow Canadians.

While discussing the standard of TV programming in Canada with Tom's Uncle Phil, and trying to come up with uniquely Canadian shows (Pingu and Due South were front-runners), Uncle Phil mentioned "Little Mosque on the Prairie." I was astounded that he had ever even heard of this (in my opinion, sub-par and typically Can-con CTV) show, but apparently it's a massive hit in The Netherlands. They love it there. Who knew?

Graduation Sucks

Just a quick update to let you know how I'm doing on the employment and productive-member-of-society front...

So I've found a few good job options, the front runner being a 25 hour per week position as a library advisor in Mansfield. I've filled out the lengthy application form (you generally don't get to just submit a resume for jobs here: everything has an application form with the same information you would find on a resume, in addition to "equality forms" that ask for gender, religion, sexual preference, race, etc. to ensure that no one is discriminated against, and jobs are given to all kinds of people equally), and am almost ready to send it away.

The only thing I'm waiting on now is a UK National Insurance Number. It's like our SIN, but a little more complicated to apply for. While I just took Tom in to a Service Canada office and had him a SIN within 15 minutes, I had to call and request an application form, which arrived in the mail today, then fill that out and send it back with a photocopy of my passport and visa. I may also have to have an interview if they have any additional questions, or want to verify my identity. Anyway, that'll be sent off in Monday's mail, but until I receive my number, I'll have to use a temporary one on this job application. Bah!

The only real issue I've had, has been with opening a bank account. I know that everyone says opening one in the UK can be a hassle, but I didn't anticipate this much trouble. Tom and I went into town earlier this week to try our luck. First we went to the bank Tom's a customer of, Santander, and asked if it was possible for us to open a joint account like I did for him at home. We were told that it was impossible for me to open an account there, as they don't offer anything to people who aren't permanent residents of the UK. I was a little disappointed about this, but the teller recommended that we try HSBC, as they're usually more lenient (Let me mention here that Santander is a Spanish banking company, but they have no international services.... bizarre). I knew that HSBC considers itself a global bank, because they have branches all over the world, including in Canada, so I was fairly hopeful about it. We went in, and sat down with an account manager right away. He looked at my passport, and listened to my explanation of the situation ("I'm Canadian, but I'm here with a work visa, need a bank account to begin working" etc.). He then spent some time looking up the rules, and left for a few minutes to consult someone about it. The main problem was my lack of any proof of address in the UK, if I'd had this, I would have been able to open a basic account. When he came back, he gave me a pamphlet of their "Passport Account," and showed me the features. I was entitled to get this account, which is aimed at non-residents, but the catch was that it had a fee of £8 per month, and you are tied in to a 12 month contract. Obviously this was not the best option, even though I was inclined to take it just for the sake of having an account, but Tom talked me out of it.

We came home after being unsuccessful at finding a bank, and I did some research. I had read while doing visa research that some people on the Youth Mobility Scheme have just walked into a bank with their passport, and walked out with a fully-functioning account, so I tried to find out which bank that had been. I eventually found that Lloyd's TSB, which is one of the largest banks anyway, did offer a basic current account (chequing without any features) only requiring a passport as documentation to holders of certain countries, Canada included. Long story short, we went back into town this afternoon, walked into Lloyd's, where I was treated very well, sat down with an account manager who asked to see my passport and didn't need anything else, and had an account opened for me in about 10 minutes. The whole thing was quick and easy with no hassles or reasons why it was impossible to have me as a customer. Some banks require you to deposit a large amount of money upon opening your account, have salary requirements, or other restrictions, but this wasn't the case at all. Hooray!

I know where I'll be banking from now on!

Brand New Year!

Hello! And if I haven't told you yet, Happy New Year!

I must say that New Year's here was very different than any I've had at home. We had a bit of a family situation here on New Year's Eve, and ended up taking care of Nat and Ian's three kidlets for the day. We spent the afternoon playing Jenga, word games and Uncle Tom's new Mario Kart on the Wii. Tom made us all chilli (we didn't eat enough of it this summer, apparently) for supper, and then the kids went round to the shop with Grandma and Granddad for ice-creams. After tea-time, we all went outside to shoot off some fireworks Rob had set up (fireman safety) in the neighbour's garden. I love the fact that fireworks are legal year round here; it makes New Year's seem more special, especially when everyone has them. We also had some paper lanterns to launch, which are really fun. They're basically a small wire frame with a square piece of waxed card that you light underneath. If you do it right, when the square is lit, it'll fill the paper lantern above with air, and it goes up like a mini-hot air balloon. They actually go quite high and far before going out, or they're supposed to anyway. The wind caused us quite a few problems during the process, as Tom had a very difficult time getting the lighter to stay lit, let alone the wax. We got a candle, and finally managed to fill the balloon a bit, but when it was released, it promptly blew into the neighbour's tree. We watched it for a few anxious seconds to make sure it didn't set the tree on fire, which understandably would be quite embarrassing for fire safety reasons. After that excitement, Nat and Ian arrived back in time to put everyone to bed, and then it was grown-up New Year's time!

We attempted to find something good to watch on TV, but the only decent program was Jools Holland's NYE music thing. There aren't any shows like New Year's Rockin' Eve with Dick Clark (Ryan Seacrest I guess), and no balls to drop, so we just enjoyed the music and waited for midnight. There was a bit of a discussion over whether we should continue watching Jools Holland at midnight, which would ensure the playing of Auld Lang Syne, or tune into the broadcast of the fireworks in London. In the end, we decided on the fireworks, which were absolutely spectacular even on TV. They went on for a full 10 minutes, in sync with music, and using both the clocktower of the Houses of Parliament (Big Ben) and the London Eye as launch sites in addition to the barges on the river. While we watched them, everyone had the obligatory glass of champagne, hugs and kisses, but then what was happening outside became more exciting.



It seemed like everyone in the neighbourhood was setting off fireworks and lanterns, which really looked quite lovely in the night sky. Everyone was out on the street to watch, and then to our surprise, massive fireworks started exploding behind us, being lit at the pub (coincidentally called The Ashley) down the road. These ones were so big and loud that they set off in what I would estimate as about a 6 block radius. We got the rest of the paper lanterns out (pack of 5), and set off three of them rather unsuccessfully, hoping they would join all the others floating away in the sky. They burned well for a while, but then tended to blow sideways slightly, and either go out, or set the paper part on fire and fall out of view like comets. I'm sure quite a few people had charred lantern remains in their gardens in the morning!

After all the hubbub had died down, I called home to say Happy New Year to everyone, and we continued to spend time with Tom's parents and Nat and Ian until about 2am, and then it was hockey time! Tom and I stayed up til 4:30 watching the Canada-US game, and after being rewarded with the patriotic satisfaction of a win, went to sleep!

New Year's Day saw another massive and delicious Sunday dinner, complete with another massive and delicious load of my mom's stuffing, on request from Thomas. Food comas ensued, and not much else happened for the rest of the day due to our slug-like behaviour. Holidays: complete!