Chocolate and mail

When the package says "Drinking chocolate, mix in with warm milk" they really mean it. It won't dissolve in cold milk.

And mail arrives on Saturday mornings. Imagine that...

Electricity plugs

I really like the electric outlets and plugs here. No more frustration being unable to plug something in, screaming and stomping on the damn thing. And every outlet has a power switch.

And no more "don't pull out the cable by yanking the cord' warnings, because you can't.

Nice.

Post codes

I think I understand post codes now.

Don't think of an address as a street and street number. Think of an address as a post code.

The post code narrows your location down to just a few doors on a street. Think 5 doors (it'll probably be closer to 5 than 20). So which door is it exactly? Just provide a house name or a house number.

So a complete address can be something like "SW1V 3LX, 27", which would mean "Foostreet 27, SW1V 3LX, London". The 27 is just there to make it unique.

New country, new hypocracies

The nanny state in the form of Vodaphone feels that grown-up content, which I assume includes porn but also 2600.com, is something I must be protected against. So that's blocked. They require a fee of one pound to unlock it.

Hello tiered interwebs.


While going home on the train today the guy next to me was reading some news paper. On one page there was a topless woman covering the page from top to bottom. Where's Vodaphone when I need them? I will be damaged for life...

Expired food

It seems it's not uncommon for stores to have food on the shelves that's past its display date.

So... watch out for that.

Passport copies

Everyone wants to copy my passport. What's with that?

The employer, the bank, the hotel, the landlord, ...

Identity

I can still not understand that the way to prove that I am real, that I exist and that I didn't just make up my name on the spot is to provide a "proof of address" such as a utility bill.

I couldn't top-up my prepaid SIM because I couldn't enter my cards address. I hope that the deposit for the place we're going to rent is going to go through.

Fortunately the name of my employer has opened doors, but how it this supposed to work?

* You can't get money until you get a bank account
* You can't get a bank account until you have proof of address (bills)
* You can't get bills until you have somewhere where you live
* You can't get a place to live before you have a job and proof of your *previous* address!
* You need a NI number for your employer, but your also need an employer AND home address on your NI number application form.

It's a catch 22. Where are you supposed to start? It seems the only way to bootstrap the process is to "tweak the truth". I have a home address that is the hotel, and a mailing address at the office. I probably can't prove my "home address" since it would be strange if the hotel vouched for me.

I don't understand how my identity is somehow attached to where I live. If someone wants to confirm who I am and who my parents are, do they have to go back step-by-step every place I have lived until they get to "live with parents" and then go "Aha! That's who your parents are!"?

I'm hopefully more than halfway through the process now though.