Hello everyone. I have decided to start this blog so that you don't have to ask me how is it going, how's life, etc. You will find all the info here, on this neat website. :-)

I arrived only yesterday; after some delay in Brussels (a guy sitting next to me said 'this is Brussels airlines, this is normal'), I finally landed on Manchester Airport, went through a passport check, and entered the UK. I had a funny day indeed, whatever I touched was not working, first the automated passport check booth did not want to let me out, then the train ticket vending machine was insisting that there are no fares available between the airport and the city centre. (Like, really?)

Surprisingly, there was no rain the whole day.

Not surprisingly at all, I understand only about a half of what the people are telling me. The accent here is very funny, and terrible, and not understandable at all. My English usually is sufficient for all purposes (even for understanding jokes, as one very kind person pointed out today), so this is awkward for me not to be able to understand the people. I am not used to this! Well, I will just keep asking the people what they just said, and hope that after sixth 'excuse me', they would start speaking little more understandable, and in the meantime try to adjust to this.

For yesteday, I had a checklist of what to do (get a SIM card, make a call for NIN application, set a bank account, start looking for a permanent (or quasi-permanent) place to stay, get an adaptor for my laptop, etc.). My experience and successes are summarized below.

Getting a UK SIM card was relatively easy. I asked someone to tell me where to get one, and I was sent to a wrong shop (I cannot get a contract etc. because of non-existing credit check, and the shop was not selling pre-paid/pay-as-you-go cards). Luckily, there was an EE shop just next door, so I was sent there and sold a SIM card by a friendly guy who insisted that EE is the best provider worldwide and that I can make calls even in remote places.
(I asked him about Orkney Islands, and he showed me map; there was coverage. However, there was no coverage in certain parts of Scotland ('but that's on hills, and you never gonna go there') and Wales ('that's deep valleys, very remote places, you never gonna go there').)
Anyway, success, I have a UK phone no. now. I don't understand very well how to recharge my pre-paid card (I got a special card for that, to sweep (where? how?)), but I am postponing this problems to the time when I actually need the money.

Application for a NIN was also not that bad. I braced myself and made the call; I answered many questions about my birthday, nationality, and work; I understood nearly everything the guy on the other end of line was asking and telling me. (Yay!) I got an appointment for interview; I did not understand properly the place I was supposed to go, but luckily the guy gave me a postal code, so I could google that place. Neat! We'll see tomorrow whether I get this settled all right.
(Funny is that I have to go somewhere by bus. The buses here seem like one big chaos to me now, so I hope that tomorrow I won't get lost...)

Europe-to-UK adaptor was not easy at all. I already have one adaptor, but this is not quite compatible with my laptop plug, which requires grounding (I need standard G or F (aka Schuko)), I went to several shops which sell appliances and DIY stuff, and the assistants were looking at me like I were either crazy, or a complete idiot. (These people - who sell electro stuff and should know! - did not even understand what grounded meant! I tried to explain: ground, earth, appliances that have plug with two pins and a hole for another pin which is ground, not power, etc. etc., but I only received blank stares. Well, srsly?)
Anyway, I have finally brought the cord with me to the shop, and asked them for an adaptor for this. They told me they'd never seen something like that, and that they did not even know it existed, but they were finally able to sell another cord to me, with the right UK plug. So now I am able to charge my laptop and do things! Yay!

Getting a bank account is not going to be easy either. My company kindly provided me with proof of employment, and proof of address (...I can use the office address for any correspondence), but the banks here obviously are not happy with this. Well, I find this absurd, especially in a country where there is no concept of permanent address (and no ID card!), but ok, fine, if this is the law, we have to obey.
(I find it absurd though; the office address is going to be the place where I will for sure get my mail, and it will be actually possible to find me there - much more than some quasi-permanent flat I would probably find and from where I would move in few weeks/months. But ok, the law is not always very logical, is it.)
Regarding this, I was quite angry at HSBC this morning: these people first have a look on your passport & proof of address, then they tell you that you have to wait 15 minutes to be able to set an interview (an interview to set a bank account? Srsly? Why this cannot be done immediately, on the spot?), and only then, when you've wasted, like, 30 minutes waiting for them, they tell you they cannot set an account for you with just an office address. They could've told me earlier... I am not very happy with their services so far.

At this moment I am afraid that renting a flat is going to be difficult. I have made, like, million phone calls today, and I have written about the same number of emails and inquiries, but it seems very pessimistic. Everything is either too expensive, or too far from everywhere (incl. any transport to 'civilization'). If it's neither, then it's let far quicker than I can dial the number of the responsible person.
This is very funny; many people told me about many flats available in the city centre, for a reasonable price, but where exactly are these flats located, or where are they advertised, I don't know.
Also, it seems to me that these letting agencies people are not very active about the offers. You ask them about a property, they tell you it's no longer available, and that's that, no further offer, nothing. O_o

Understanding public transport at this moment seems impossible. There are trams. There are buses, but you cannot use the same ticket as with the trams, except for some terribly complicated monthly cards. There are trains which go... somewhere. There is a complex system of tickets which I don't get at all. There are several bus operators, and you either use the same or not every time, and who operates each line varies in time. O_o

All right, that's it for now. I feel a bit better after putting everything on 'paper' (blog).