"Proletarier aller Länder vereinigt Euch!"

From Bloody Foreigners by Robert Winder:

"Amelie Struve [...] also tried to raise charitable relief [for poor German workers in Britain], but was turned down by the Mayor of London [...] She was also opposed by Marx and Engels, who wrote a letter to The Times denouncing such charity on the grounds that it would give more useful exiles (such as themselves) a bad name"

If you google that, this book will be the only source, but still the letter itself could be found: http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1850/05/28.htm

Impressive to say the least.

Two more years

It's been a while since I mentioned paperwork here last time, but there is now something deserving a post. Having had applied for visa extension back in February, we didn't expect that nearly 3 months delay (we have only received an approval a week ago). It was all the recently introduced biometric enrollment stage to blame - first there were misspellings in our names and then some IT infrastructure problems in the agency, both resulting in starting from the beginning.

Because of that I had to enroll my details for three times, each time paying for that again (not that much, but every extra bit on top of the handsome fee already paid was slightly disappointing).

It turned out for the better though as we got our new permits later than our previous visas expired, so effectively we enjoyed some "bonus time" by that. I didn't check it for sure yet, but there is a good chance that delay makes it possible for us to apply for ILR in 2 years from now without having to extend the visas once again (that's of course if rules don't change which is hardly guaranteed).

Anyway, that'd be a real shame to leave after 3 years, after having dealt with nasty beginner's difficulties and starting actually enjoying things around. So good news that was.

Nice things

Having to buy my first medicine here today I learned that all the prescription drugs in UK cost the same - regardless of what you've been prescribed, you pay a fixed sum of £7.40 to get it.

You can also buy a "season ticket" which is £29.10 for three months or £104 for a year to get an unlimited allowance, and if you're under 16 (or over 60), pregnant, rely on public funds or fall into any of other special categories, you get your medicines for free.

That sounds absolutely unbelievable to a Russian person, but when I told about my astonishment to others, first people thought that I had it the other way around and was actually appalled by high price - because it used to be cheaper before and also you still have to pay that fixed price even if the drug itself could have costed less if sold over the counter.

I wonder if the government plans to cut that in some way, but at least that's how things are now.

***

While writing that I remembered that I had mentioned I was going to visit a dentist a couple of months ago. Dentistry is also available for fixed prices, as well as the free emergency treatment. However, the queues are significantly longer than for other NHS services (you can easily wait for 4 or 6 months to get a simple filling) so I went for private practice that time. Still it was reasonable - not cheap but also not very different comparing to what you pay for similar treatment in Russia. Of course there are very expensive practices and if you're ready to pay, sky is the limit. But I can't tell that generally it costs much more than I was used to before relocation.

Lessons learned

1. It is quite possible to break a toe simply by striking your foot against the bathroom door.

2. Hospitals (at least those I've seen) are much more impressive than surgeries (at least those I've been in) and provide much quicker turnaround.

3. It is really possible to learn everything you need to get treatment (i.e. where to go and what to expect including ratings and reviews left by other patients) from the NHS official website, all in a matter of seconds.

4. You don't need (and aren't expected to) to have any papers with you to be seen by a doctor - being in need for help is perfectly enough. And you can't be rejected because you live too far away or something.

5. And if you're here for the first time, you get registered in 5 minutes.

6. It doesn't cost you a penny (okay, let's forget about taxes for time being).

That's it.

Maybe I'm rushing to say that before I get any negative experience but speaking of taxes, things like those above are definitely the ones worth spending on them. And speaking of negative experience, I also got my first appointment with the dentist here soon, so that might be a chance to prove the myths wrong... or not.

"I wear a necklace, cause I wanna know when I'm upside down"

I still keep misreading those big white triangles for opposite direction arrows, and sometimes that's very confusing:



To be honest, I don't even know what do they stand for. My only idea is that it's an invitation to look around before moving forward, so the apex is for the eye and so the triangle is the field of view (sounds like a weird explanation, doesn't it?)

Back in the days when I was still struggling with the left-hand traffic mistaking with the direction when triangles were the only indicators happened more often to me than I'd rather like.

Be careful if you have the same problems.

"One nation under CCTV"

It was to my great surprise to learn that rules of the census in UK are much more strict than in Russia. In fact, I pretty much expected the opposite.

To start with, one have no right to refuse the participation (and if they do, £1000 fine applies along with a criminal record). Also, the only question which is allowed to skip is about religion (and numerous other ones are mandatory). On the bright side, there is at last an option for atheists ("No religion") while the closest match in similar questionnaires (e.g. in NHS survey) is "None of the stated".

Another difference from the Russian version is that the information needs to be provided not only on people themselves but also on their guests stayed in their house on the particular date (actually, the census results are supposed to be a snapshot of country's life for a certain day catching internal migration details as well).

However, we can't yet fill in our forms. Of course, the whole thing could be done online but still is it necessary to get a personal code first by traditional mail to verify the physical address - and for some reasons our address is not in the list. Just as on many other government and corporate UK sites, it is impossible to enter any address you want - instead, you are given a list of available options upon entering your postcode. This is great for preventing the duplicated and misspelled inputs but when you're not in the database, you're in trouble. Issues like that are usually resolved over the phone, but we haven't managed to get thought the busy helpline yet.

There is a good chance, I suppose, that if the household is not in the database, it is impossible to verify the fact of participation. However, we're still going to act as the law expect us to, though that requirement was, as I already said, a surprise.

This week summary

Theatre

This week I've been to a fringe theatre for the first time thanks to my brother visiting London who dragged me out. Actually, I've watched even two shows, The Showstopper at King's Head and The Coalition at 503 theatre.

Both performances were as unusual as the venues are (full-functional pubs with a small stage behind the ordinary door) - an improvised musical and a political satire (too straightforward here and there, but for that shotgun episode anything could be forgiven). As a completely amateur spectator I am likely very easy to impress but even on that assumption I was utterly delighted in either case.

By the way this is a bad picture of Sean McCann taken outside the pub (just wanted to use it in the post but didn't know how to drive to it). He is a great MC:



So I realised that I was missing much (surprise!) and will try to get more of London culture in future. Speaking of which:

Perspectives

This week Home office has announced that the visa type we are living here with is due to be closed in April. It became a tradition that the initial press release doesn't reveal some important details which I hope will follow soon enough but the main thing perfectly clear: the last so-called "high skilled" visa granting the right to be hired as easy as locals will be issued in March 2011 (and before that no more than 600 visas will be issued every month which, if you considered that opportunity, makes applying even right now almost pointless).

It is not clear yet if those with already issued visas of that type will be allowed to extend their existing status or they'll have to switch to other types of clearance or leave the country. Sadly, judging on the previous HO decisions the latter is much more probable.

The new visa type accessible to most of the current holders allows employment only in case if no locals were hired in several months before for some serious reason. Also, not every company is allowed to hire staff this way and even if it is (which costs extra money to the company, of course) there is a very limited number of "slots" per employer.

One can say it looks exactly like American H-1B visa found good enough by many people all over the world but to me it looks more like slavery especially considering the intention to break the link between working and settling declared by the new government.

Some people are rushing to extend their status while the type is not yet closed (which is possible for no monthly cap is applied to extensions), but it makes little sense to me - I've got time with my current document till April 2012 and if I extend it now it will only provide me an additional year (two years is the term of extension compared to the one I've already got). It won't be enough for settling anyway so it makes almost no difference to me when to switch or to leave, in a year or in two.

So I'll just enjoy what I have and wait for more information to come (and sign a petition, okay). Even in the worst case scenario, it has been (as still is!) a fantastic experience.

"INTERNETS / SERIOUS BUSINESS"

When renting a flat in London for the first time, don't repeat our mistake and make sure that phone line or other broadband source (like Virgin Media optic fibre) is already installed in the property. We thought that it surely wouldn't be a problem to get connected as everything else in the flat is okay. We were wrong.

The problem is that the broadband connection is subject to a contract, and contract means that you must have a local bank account - which is very likely unavailable to you if you're unemployed. Even when you open an account you can't apply immediately - at least one provider rejected my inquiry on wording that the account was created less than a month ago (actually, not rejected completely, raised the price twice - but that was even more humiliating).

All that means that even in the best case it can take a month or two before you even can try to apply. And don't believe those terms in the ads, like "only 3 working days" or something - in reality, it took 35 days for our current provider to go a way from the first inquiry to actual connection.

There is no WiMAX in London and if you're not in Wi-Fi hotspot zone and you have no cable, the only solution is 3G network. Again, not all the operators offer pay as you go (prepaid) broadband - for example, last year Vodafone did contracts only with all the consequences explained above. That's not the only problem - the speed is poor, VoIP is fought etc.

By the way the best choice for visitors and people as short-sighted as me is T-Mobile broadband. They offer only 2 Gb of traffic for £15, but doesn't cut you off when you're out of this amount - and that makes the deal unique. After the limit reached, you still can browse and IM (which is most probable enough for mobile usage). In other words, for £15 you receive unlimited browsing for a month, though with some restrictions applied after your first 2 Gb.

After you finally get a cable don't expect surprises to cease. Many providers don't offer unlimited plans which are default option in Moscow - instead, traffic is capped at 60-80 Gb per month and is paid for additionally if exceeded (one of the reasons is that people are supposed to use special "video on demand" services with dedicated hardware and connection).

Also, the traffic is not always but often "analysed" and "prioritized" - which basically means that your different connections face different speed restrictions depending on their type and time of the day. That means that you receive your line speed at any time only for certain types of traffic (like browsing, VoIP) and for other types ("fishy" ones like P2P and FTP) speed is handicapped at the most convenient hours.

Nevertheless, this post is written via our new home broadband. Better late than never.

Press

My latest obsession are local newspapers. Every time I find myself in a new area of London, I seek for a gazette of that borough or district, grab it and read on my way back.

As I had written already, plenty of events happen in a walking distance from almost any place here - from boxing matches for the local garland to dog shows and charity parties - and those events are announced before and criticized/praised after. Local crimes are described. Local restaurants, all on the same street, place advertisements claiming that they are the best on it.

But what really does fascinate me is the fact that some local newspapers even have separate culture supplements.



For example, in the two weeks old issue pictured above, one can read about:

• An artist who's creating 2012 Olympics stamps for Royal Mail


• The Pitman Painter - a coal miner who became famous for his autobiographic drawings and paintings


• A historic excursus to 1984-85 explaining miners' tragedy and providing background for better understanding of Cornish's works from the previous piece


• Film reviews (The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Green Zone)


• Play reviews (of two local theatres)


• An interview with one of the authors of South African constitution


• A number of smaller articles, promotions and ads

Now let me remind you that this is not even a London newspaper - it is distributed in one particular borough of London only.

Before, I used to say that there is no journalism in Russia as a joke. Now, unfortunately, I am sure. There must be another word for that.

Neighbourhood

A local event has gathered different performers last night, but all of them living nearby in a walking distance from the club:







That's what I really love here - nothing is heavily centralized. You can always find something interesting literally just round the corner.

Comfortably numbered

Only two numbers are required to make a payment to somebodys bank account in UK: payee's account number (8 digits) and their sort code (6 digits). That's all you need to know, and it's barely longer than a phone number in international format.

For international transfers, IBAN code is generated from these two parameters.

A grammar lesson from 007

MI6 seeking for "relationship-building skilled" people:



This is not a rare occasion - you can easily find similar ads in newspapers and surely you'll find them surfing popular job boards.

Also, note the pronoun "they" used with a "person", a legal method to avoid the problem of choosing between "he" or "she" when gender is unknown.

It is also okay to use "she" in that case (at least I've met that in literature and press), for the male gender is understood by default, so it's less impolite. And I've encountered clumsy "he or she" turn many times before. Apparently, the only way to make a mistake here is to use male chauvinistic "he".

Matter of trust

ATM in London support cash withdrawal only with no way of replenishment, and you have to visit bank's branch for cashiers. Another way available is to use so-called "quick deposit envelopes":



Having an envelope, you can write your account or card number on the flap, put your cash in and drop it to a special box in the branch. Sometimes holes of those boxes are placed even outside, on a bank's building wall, so you can do that when the branch is closed.

All you need is love, and condoms are provided for free

Speaking of stereotypes, another one debunked: finally, a proof that British people do really have sex.

Also note the outstanding number of serious and useful comments. That's amazing indeed.

A proper way to answer a recruiter

Guilty pleasure:

Emerging to face a weekend

With days divided into working ones and weekends again, the ability to either enjoy free time you've got and use it effectively returns.



Cheers!

Little things

Few days ago, this poster caught my sight:



I mean, that thickening can be seen on the key above its tooth is very typical here. Every skeleton key I had seen, was peculiar in the same way. To give you an idea of that prevalence, here are my keys below:



I'm not sure if this is indeed an English tradition (I didn't manage to find an unequivocal proof), but all my keys in Russia had been shaped ordinary.

As far as I understand, this thickening prevents a key from warping in a keyhole.

"Mind the gap"

On New Year's Eve, journeys on Tube and buses will be free. But on Christmas, there was no service, all stations closed.

Hardly one can find a more concise explanation of the difference in celebrations customs.

How to dump properly

Depending on your local infrastructure, being greener and cleaner can be easier or harder.



If you have a special waste container near your house to dump recycled rubbish like paper, tin, glass, foil etc. you have nothing to worry about. Even special collectors for textile and shoes may present, though they look more like pillboxes or air raid shelters:



Usually those containers are for all types of litter to be recycled and you can just dump it making no distinction. But sometimes your nearest collectors are separated to accumulate different types of rubbish. In that case, they are usually numerous and look like train - even coloured and transparent glass don't share common "glass" container:


* clickable

So, you are to sort your litter either on your kitchen in real time (which requires space) or when you come to containers (which is not very pleasant). On the other hand, acting this way makes you even greener than you expected.

In our case, we had no recycled point like above in a walking distance. Well, actually, we had two of them nearby in a distance that is absolute okay to walk but only when you do not carry rubbish bags (the distance you are ready to travel with such a load is significantly shorter).

So, we used special litter boxes like that:


* Near that green one, a smaller standard litter box can be seen. Rubbish in those standard boxes is not recycled

The green litter box above is for all types of rubbish, but sometimes you can spot boxes designed specially for newspapers and paper cups:



Anyway, neither of those are convenient to use on a regular basis, when you're not a walking-by pedestrian who has just finished drinking his take-away coffee, but when you arrived with a whole bag to be dumped. The openings, as you can see, are not big so some bottles and non-standard cans can't be squeezed through easily. Still, while the only alternative available was to walk about 10 minutes to nearest containers, we were accepting the inevitable.

But recently, our council supplied us with special transparent bags bearing recycle marks for dustmen to treat them properly:



Now all we need is to fill those bags and then just left them on the pavement to be collected by rubbish tracks running regularly through the street - the same way we deal with usual rubbish. Many of you can consider this a bit weird - for us, it was also a bit awkward to leave trash bags on the pavement the beginning. I even wrote an email to council if it was really right way - but bags dumped that way are really collected on time (if there is no any strike in progress, of course).

Left is obsolete, new zig-zag platform introduced

Daniel Hannan was right this spring - it seems that Labours are brokenly trying to catch their supporters leaving for radical candidates.