As expected, I have a lot to do in my new office, already after 2 weeks. (I don't mind, it's better than just sitting there, but... Well, uh-huh...) It also takes me almost an hour to get home from the office in the afternoon/evening, because around Salford Central, there is always a magnificent, monumental traffic jam. (It's supposed to be only 6 miles, and it takes almost 1 hr! O_o) Therefore the frequency of my posts is lower now, and probably this will continue for some time.

But, ok, to give at least some 'useful' info: brief summary of new things!

I have received my NIN today! This means that I exist, or at least that UK authorities sort of recognize my existence. But of course, the letter says that getting NIN does not entitle me to work in the UK, or be here, or whatever. It's just a number. and that's that. Funny. But it's fine as long as I have one.

I have received my smart card. The Smart Card! It's not operational yet, I am waiting for PIN (our admins expect that to arrive Monday or Tuesday), but still. My first card! Yaaaay!

My entry on The List has been changed, so that my address is the one in Manchester. Now I am very officially here!

My situation in the office is getting a bit better. Now I recognize maybe 1/3 of all the faces (success!), And I do not forget my access card all the time, only ca 30% of cases, which definitely is an improvement.

My stuff arrived today. The driver of the van came with funny stories about serious trouble in Calais (8 hrs waiting!), and some people trying to get into the van (even cutting the tarpaulin!). But fortunately everything's OK now, my boxes are here, which means that all my clothes are here (yay, I missed you so much, my dear little things). The boxes are now occupying 3/4 of my room, and I just hope that my landlady is not going to be pissed off too much... I may try to corrupt her with some Czech beer when she returns from her weekend trip. :-)

As I still haven't come to terms with ale (and English beer in general), I am celebrating the second week as well as arrival of my stuff with a rump steak (British breed, aged 21 days, incredibly good) a bottle of Tsing Tao. Who would've guessed...
Btw: one of my bosses is brewing his own beer. He's promised me one bottle, but so far nothing appeared. I think he's just afraid, because we Czech people are known for a) having good beer, b) knowing the stuff, c) fiercely criticizing everything that does not quite match the 'standard' which is very high for us. :-) I may be mistaken though.

There is also a quick list of interesting things I wanted to share.

Local men are obviously not afraid of wearing pink. Today, there was some breast cancer thing in our office, and everyone was asked to wear something pink. Girls have no problem with this, and obviously guys have no problem either. Good! In Czech Republic, men would absolutely refuse to participate in something like this, because in their opinion, wearing anything pink would make them look 100% gay. Men in Czech Republic are very afraid of being seen as gay. (I personally have no idea why.) Local men obviously do not care, because many guys from our office wore something pink (or at least pinkish). And I have seen at least two guys who have put a pink nail polish on theit little fingers! A Czech man would never, ever wear a nail polish, let alone pink one.

In our office, there's a kitchen, and almost every day someone brings some sweets there. Birthday, return from holiday, engagement, whatever it is, people just eat sweets all the time. And they of course complain a lot how bad this is for their slender fingure... :-)

Everyone drinks coffee or tea... with milk! In the office, milk is obviously delivered to our door, every day. Then, someone (usually the reception people) transfers it into the fridge, and there it is, everyone is pouring it into his/her tea. English people are very... English.

'Wrong' is obviously a very bad word. I was told today never to say that someone is wrong, especially not to that person, even if that person is so mistaken that being mistaken more is just not possible. Saying 'you are wrong' is a big no-no obviously. I was told that instead of telling people 'nasty things which would offend them very much' (?!), it is necessary to do it nicely and politely: 'Have you considered also this?' or 'Could you clarify that?' or 'I don't understand, can you explain a bit more?' would work here much better than saying 'This is wrong!' or 'That is not true.' (In this context, I guess that using the words 'bullshit' or 'crap' is also not possible.) Well... This is going to be difficult for me.

In the biggest Tesco market I've seen here so far, there is a 'Polish' food section. O_o There's also a good selection of beer, luckily also other stuff than ale. However, 'normal' beer (10°) is nowhere, all they have is lager (so 12°). Too bad, but at least they have Pilsener Urquell, Budweiser (the real one), Staropramen, and then a weird brand called Vratislav. (Never actually heard of it, but will try one day to see what it is; maybe this is some UK-specific brand? According to The Internet, it's made by Staropramen, but this is mentioned nowhere on the bottle.)

And a funny story to conclude. Today, I was not particularly impressed by the bus service. I entered a specific bus operated by First (the worst bus company ever, according to many; well...). I did so because it was the first bus to arrive to the station close to a hypermarket I wanted to visit. Well, just few seconds after arrival of this bus, two buses of another line (operated by Stagecoach and also calling at my station) arrived. I have already entered the First bus, so I obviously did not go to the other ones (why should I do that after all?). Then, the other two buses departed, while we stayed in the station. Well, nothing to worry about, this happens quite often here (the first bus to arrive gets most of the people waiting there on the station, and it takes a lot of time for them to enter the bus, so the second bus leaves first, only to become the first bus on the next station and to actually take all the load and depart later than the other one from that next station, and so on; it just keeps switching). But: my f. bus just did not do nothing. The two Stagecoach buses were gone, and the First bus was still just standing there. Then, the driver switched off the engine, left the bus - and lit a cigarette! What! O_o Outrageous, we've spent some 10 min there, waiting for the guy to finish his cigarette! Like, seriously? Ok, maybe there was some timetable issue, the guy might've been too early... but he could've said something to all the people in the bus, instead to just going, without a word, to smoke!
Well, as mentioned already: I am less than impressed.