One of the first things I realised about British bureaucracy is that it’s needlessly complicated. When I applied for my NIN (National Insurance Number, apologies to any confused Trent Reznor fans), it required me to call up a number, register, await an application form to be sent to me and then once that was returned [...]
How the Bloody Hell Did You Get Here part 1: Visa Advice for Aussies from Allan Houston on Vimeo. Online Visa Application: www.visa4uk.fco.gov.uk Get yer Birth Certificates!: http://www.gro.gov.uk/ For more sage advice see my post about NINs and such: HOW BLOODY HELL DID YOU GET HERE PART 2: NIN, BANK ACCOUNTS AND SIM CARDS So, you’ve [...]
An antidote to my London Lame series. A more positive view of London. Part 1: Parks! For what is considered by many to be the urban epicenter of the world, London has a remarkable amount of green space. Squares, fields, heaths, greens, commons all abound even in the busiest areas of town. So many in [...]
I have this strange love-hate relationship with my local cafe. It’s one of two that are quite close to home but after flirting with the other a few times, I’ve decided this one has a couple of extra things going for it. It has power and wifi so I’m able to do my jobs searches, [...]
Forgive me Father for I have sinned. I shopped at Tesco because I didn’t know any better. I suppose it’s the brand’s omnipresence, unlike your own, that lead me to, nay, forced me to cross its threshold and indulge in the prepackaged goods inside. In my embryonic expat state I was huddled to the bosom [...]
It’s nigh on the 1st month anniversary of my arrival in the mother country and far be it from me to spit in the face of my adopted parent – unwilling foster mother though she may be – however I feel enough of a local now to start throwing tantrums and accusing her of dodgy [...]
This review is from some time ago but was languishing unpublished. Here it is for DVD hunters. Approximately half an hour into Terrence Mallick’s latest opus to nature and red-headed women, I began to wonder if the entire film would be a strange yet beautiful montage of grassy fields, children playing, Sean Penn looking sullen, [...]
That’s what the headline may be if my diabolical experience with Jesus Christ Superstar, currently running in the Playhouse at QPAC, had been as newsworthy as I expected. At least my befuddlement with what I witnessed did seem to send out ripples of disdain that I’m sure would be felt across the mass media universe. [...]
There was a lot of crowd participation going on, you know, speaker throws out a question that becomes increasingly louder, and the assembled instinctively know to respond in a simultaneous and emphatic voice in support of whatever the current proclamation or question is. In this case it was Greenpeace CEO Lynda Selvey at the “Say [...]
She waved us over, smiling. “Primero”, she said before pointing at dishes in the display cabinet and pronouncing their names in Spanish. Primero means the first, so we understood she was listing the first courses of the lunch deal. “Segundo?” we enquired. Then she indicated the main courses. It was, as Ben calls it, a [...]
