week one

via shelf

We left Vancouver one week ago and arrived Wednesday afternoon UK time. We've been busy adjusting, but here are some things that we have noticed during our week one...

1. When crossing the street, lights do not matter. Just start walking / running whenever you see a free moment.
2. When searching for flats, they still use carpet in the bathroom and separate cold / hot water taps (as much as we wanted to avoid this one, we have one in our bathroom)
3. Party walls = a wall that separates two buildings belonging to different owners.
4. If you purchase property in a certain distance of a church of England, you may be responsible for maintanence fees. 
5. Everyone in customer service (e.g. banks, transport) works behind glass and speaks through a microphone. 
6. They sure like sandwiches here!
7. Television shows start at awkward times - e.g. 18:05 to 18:58
8. The UK first floor is what we (Canada) call the second floor
9. Animated, talking animals (think bumble bees for vodafone, meerkats for insurance, etc.) are very popular in Commercials.

#10 is the biggest hurdle that we are overcoming. It seems that everything here is a catch 22 and if you speak to anybody that has relocated here, they completely understand, because they went through the same thing you did. 

Cell phone: We have the phone, but need a new SIM card. We can't get one unless we have bank statement with our UK address listed which means that a) you need to have a UK address b) you need to wait a month or so to receive one in the mail. We ended up getting a cheap (£7 pay as you go phone) as a temporary number.

Banking: We signed up for offshore accounts prior to landing and are hoping to move them to a local branch this week. If you arrive here without a bank account, you can't open one until you have a job no matter how much money you are trying to give them.

Coming up... I will tell you how everything went from "the flat is yours" to "the flat is only yours if you do X and X" to "the flat is yours again" in 24 hours. And yes, I will post pictures as soon as I can!