The English Bank Account

Now, when the things are beginning to settle down, the lack of English bank account has started to piss me off. In practice it is not a big issue, but for instance in our local food shop has a cash point which doesn't accept my Finnish debit or credit card. On top of that the shop charges 25p from every purchase made with a credit or bank card, so cash is really preferred in many places here. I can easily withdraw cash from the local pub called the Oak though, but the minimum withdraw is £10, and drinking beer is mandatory at the same time hehe.

Another thing that bothers me is Apple's App Store. As a Sky Broadband customer I have an access to free Wifi network called the Cloud in most public places in UK. But you can't use it, if you don't have a specific app, which is only available in UK App Store. In order to switch to that I need again a credit or debit card which is issued in UK.

You can't pay your gas, electricity or water bill without an English bank account. And the other day I tried to make a cheap booking to Travelodge hotel in Stafford, but they charged extra for using international credit card as a payment method.

I honestly thought that it would be easy to go to a bank (like Lloyds for instance), establish an account and transfer enough money from my Finnish bank account to make things happen easier. But no. In order to open an UK bank account you need a) NI (National Insurance number), which is somewhat equivalent to Finnish social security number; and b) Utility bill, which means either electric, gas or water bill addressed to your English address, which actually shows that you have a place to live here. As I explained in my previous blog text, I'm still waiting for my electricity bill to arrive. I already have a water bill in my name, thanks again to my girlfriend who offered again her bank account details for the agreement. Anyway, in order to get the personal NI number, you need to call to National Insurance number application line, online application is not possible. The service number is an automated answering machine, operated by voice. I made my first phone call there at 8am to avoid queues.

The voice machine led me into the officer, who asked my reason for calling them. I said that I want a bank account, and bank said me to contact you. The officer said in bored voice that wanting a bank account is not a proper reason for getting NI-number, and I need to apply as a job seeker. I said okay, because you never know when you need more money with this consumption of unnecessary costs. She told me then to call another service number for an interview appointment, because this number is only for NI applications.

So, I rang to the second service number, which was another voice controlled automat. It asked the reason for my call and I replied "I want an appointment to an interview as a job seeker". The automat confirmed by saying "You said you want to make an appointment as a job seeker. Confirm your reply by saying yes". I said "yes", but the machine didn't understand me, and replied by giving me the number where I should call for the service. That was the same number where I rang in the first place! I made two or three another calls to this second number and finally got answered by an officer. Surprisingly he asked my reason for a call. After explaining what I want he said that this phone number is for reclaiming unemployment benefit and gave me third number to the local job seeker's office for the appointment.

I rang to the local number. After 15 minutes i was answered and told that I was ringing to the wrong number, because NI applications are handled in another number. I told the whole service chain so far. The officer insisted me to keep calm and not giving up in the first number until I get the time for the appointment.

I rang to the National Insurance number application line again. Finally, after 20 minutes of queuing I was answered and got some service. I was asked basic information including my name, age, address in UK, nationality, phone number in UK and my current location (I supposed to be already in England, which I luckily am). After this brief interview I was told that I should physically go to another interview, but because I'm an EU citizen, the closest place is either in Woking or in Southampton as the local office in Basingstoke doesn't handle these cases. I asked when can I go as I have plans to travel abroad soon and that's why I wanted to make the appointment as soon as possible. Woking had a free time on Thursday and Southampton on Monday on next week. Unfortunately both times were not good, because I planned to be away then. I asked if it is possible to make the appointment for the time when I come back to UK again on next week's Thursday. The answer was that I have to ring again when I'm back because only times they have so far are those two options. That's it. I ended the call and said let's keep in touch.

We will see when I get my bank account. I'm not giving up on this. And as a bonus I will also get a status as a job seeker, so this is going to be very interesting to see what happens!

I need a pint. Maybe I can get some cash from the pub too.

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Tässä käytännön hommia järjestellessä alkoi pikku hiljaa harmittamaan, että en omista englantilaista pankkitililä. Käytännössä tämä näkyy pikkujutuissa, kuten siinä että lähikaupassa oleva käteisautomaatti ei hyväksy suomalaista pankkikorttia sen enempää debit- kuin kredit-puolelta. Lisäksi kauppa veloittaa 25 penceä jokaisesta pankkikortilla tehdystä ostoksesta. Käteistä saa kyllä kätevästi vieressä olevasta the Oak -nimisestä pubista, mutta siellä miniminosto on £10. Lisäksi joutuu juomaan kaljaa heh heh.

Toinen asia, johon englantilaista pankkikorttia tarvitaan on Applen AppStore. Kotinetin kylkiäsenä tuli ilmainen Wifi-yhteys (the Cloud) julkisissa paikoissa. Jotta sen saa toimimaan pitää kännykässä olla appi, jonka saa vain englantilaisesta AppStoresta. Jotta voi kirjautua englantilaiseen AppStoreen pitää olla luotto- tai pankkikortti joka on myönnetty Englannissa.

Sähkö- ja kaasulaskua ei saa maksettua, jos ei ole englantilaista pankkitiliä. Myös vesilasku tuottaa hankaluuksia. Tässä pari päivää sitten yritin varata halvan Travelodge-majoituksen Staffordista, mutta kansainvälisen luottokortin käytöstä veloitettiin jälleen lisämaksua. 

Kuvittelin, että olisi ihan helppo juttu mennä pankkiin, perustaa pankkitili ja siirtää sinne rahaa suomalaiselta tilitä tarpeeksi, jotta arki alkaa sujumaan. Mutta ei. Pankkitilin avaamiseksi tarvitaan a) NI-tunnus (National Insurance number), joka vastaa suomalaista henkilöturvatunnusta sekä b) utility bill, eli sähkö-, kaasu tai vesilasku englantilaisesta osoitteesta, jolla todistetaan asuinpaikka. Sähkölaskua odottelen vielä, mutta vesilasku minulla jo on, joten se ei olisi ongelma. Sen sijaan NI-tunnuksen saamiseksi tarvitaan hakemus, jota ei voi tehdä netissä, ainut tapa hankkia se on soittamalla puhelimella palvelunumeroon. Palvelunumero on käytännössä puhelinautomaatti, joka kyselee perusteita NI-tunnuksen hakuun. Puhelinpalvelu on auki 8-18, joten aloin soittelemaan sinne heti aamutuimaan välttääkseni ruuhkat.

Automaatti ohjasi minut lopulta asiakaspalvelijalle, joka kysyi syytä NI-tunnuksen hakemiselle. Vastasin rehellisesti, että haluan pankkitilin. Virkailija totesi kuivasti, että NI-tunnusta ei saa pelkästään sitä varten, pitää olla työnhakija. Vastasin, että ok, koska eihän sitä koskaan tiedä, jos vaikka rahat loppuvat tällä menolla kesken. Sen jälkeen virkailija ohjasi minut toiseen palvelunumeroon haastattelua varten, koska täällä käsitellään vain NI-hakemuksia.

Soitin toiseen numeroon, jossa oli vastassa jälleen ääniautomaatti, joka kysyi syytä soittooni. Vastasin, että haen töitä ja haluan varata ajan haastattelua varten. Vastaaja kysyi haluanko varata ajan haastattelua varten, johon vastasin “yes”. Vastaaja ei ymmärtänyt vastaustani ja kysyi uudelleen. Vastasin “yes”, jonka jälkeen vastaaja kertoi, että ei ymmärtänyt vastaustani ja ohjeisti minua soittamaan ensimmäiseen palvelunumeroon. Soitin uudelleen kaksi tai kolme kertaa tähän samaan vastaajaan, joka lopulta ohjasi minut asiakaspalvelijalle n. 15 minuutin jonotuksen jälkeen. Asiakaspalvelija vastasi puheluun ja kysyi miksi soitan. Kerroin, että haluan varata ajan haastatteluun. Asiakaspalvelija sanoi, että tänne soitetaan, jos halutaan työttömyyskorvausta ja antoi uuden puhelinnumeron paikalliseen työvoimatoimistoon ajanvarausta varten.

Soitin paikalliseen työvoimatoimistoon. Puheluuni vastattiin 15 minuutin jonotuksen jälkeen. Sitten minulle kerrottiin, että olin soittanut väärään numeroon, koska NI-hakemuksia käsitellään numerossa se ja se. Kerroin asiakaspalvelijalle, että olin alunperin soittanut tähän numeroon ja mitä oli tapahtunut tämän jälkeen. Asiakaspalvelija kehoitti soittamaan alkuperäiseen numeroon uudelleen ja olemaan luovuttamatta, kunnes he hoitavat hommansa.

Soitin ensimmäiseen numeroon uudelleen. Lopulta noin 20 minuutin jonotuksen jälkeen puheluuni vastattiin ja homma alkoi sujumaan. Minulta kysyttiin perustietoja, kuten nimeä, ikää, osoitetta Englannissa, kansalaisuutta, puhelinnumeroa ja sitä, olinko tällä hetkellä Englannissa vai jossain muualla. Virkailija kertoi, että minun pitää mennä haastatteluun, mutta koska olen EU-kansalainen, lähin paikka on joko Wokingissa tai Southamptonissa, koska paikallinen toimisto Basingstokessa ei käsittele näitä. Kysyin, milloin voisin mennä, koska olin lähdössä ulkomaille ja halusin hoitaa asian mahdollisimman pian. Wokingissa olisi vapaa aika torstaina ja Southamptonissa seuraavan viikon maanantaina. Kerroin, että kumpikaan aika ei nyt valitettavasti sovi, koska olen juuri nyt lähdössä käymään ulkomailla ja palaan takaisin seuraavan viikon torstaina. Kysyin saisinko varattua ajan paluuni jälkeiseen aikaan, jolloin vastaus oli, että minun tulee soittaa uudelleen sitten kun palaan, koska aikoja ei voi varata kuin yhdelle päivälle kerrallaan per haastattelupaikka. Ja Wokingiin se päivä on tämän viikon torstai ja Southamptoniin ensi viikon maanantai. Joten se siitä. Lopetin puhelun ja sanoin palaavani asiaan.

Saa nähdä milloin minulla on pankkitili. En aio luovuttaa näin vähällä. Pakollisen työnhakijastatuksen vuoksi kylkiäisenä saattaa tulla myös tarjouksia työpaikoista, joten mielenkiintoiseksi menee.

Tarvitsen oluen. Menen nostamaan rahaa pubiin.

First Experiences about Living in an English Flat

First things first: A gas barbecue

First test of a new barbecue. German sausages: Lidl.

All is well so far, the new home feels comfortable, and I've already been chatting briefly with the first neighbours as well. We got the keys to the house exactly one month ago, that happened during my last trip to England. On that time I was still working in Finland and waiting for my year off to start. The first thing that I did after checking the house, was to go to B&Q store and buy a barbecue grill to our backyard! Surprisingly it was actually a lot cheaper than the ones they sell in Finland: Surnaco 3 burner gas barbecue with side burner cost only £87 (excluding gas). The price for the gas and the bottle was around the same as in Finland, but in order to get the gas bottle a specific 3 page long agreement with the gas company was needed. In the agreement they asked my address in UK, so this is a rule for the random travellers from abroad: if you don't have an address in UK, you don't get gas to your barbecue, even if it is mobile.

By the way, weather for having barbecue has been reasonable. Maximum temperature so far is around +23C, which has been 10 degrees more than average in Finland at the moment (according to the friends' postings in Facebook haha). There hasn't been much rain in here, so complaining about English weather seems to be an urban legend. The flat where we moved in was fully furnished, so there are also chairs and table on the backyard for chilling and observing the growth of the grass. The lawnmower is electric and also provided by the house.

Talking about Celsius degrees was one of surprises for me, I thought this country is still using Fahrenheit system.  Distances are still measured in miles, and the beer glass is a real pint (0,568L). And when you go to a food shop, everything seems to be showed in grams, but people still use stones and pounds in normal talks. Of course, how else?

Internet, postcodes and phone

Internet access came to the house last week, so there's no need for expensive mobile roaming anymore. I was really delighted when I found out, that there are several service providers available. The selection of your provider is really easy by using web pages like this. All you need is to just enter your postcode (RG21 5RH in our case), and the web page tells you the options you have. Speaking about the postcodes, this whole country has been divided into hundreds of thousands of different areas, where one tiny postcode covers only very small area. Like for instance in our postcode in Basingstoke has only few houses in the same street, whereas in Finland there were 10000 people living inside the postcode I had there. Therefore postcodes have important purpose here for locating places and services. For example in GPS car navigators you just have to enter the postcode to get yourself exactly where you want to.

Handy app for my giffgaff account.

Last week I got English phone number from the virtual operator called 'giffgaff'. Making an order is pretty easy, you just have to fill an online form and the sim card will be delivered to your home address in few days. Well, in theory it is really simple, but in practice the only trick in this procedure was the part of the form where they asked your billing information: unfortunately only British bank or credit card number was accepted in the form. So, if you don't have a bank account here, you can't get your own phone number. Luckily my girlfriend helped me on this and solved the problem by providing her bank details to the agreement with the phone company. 

Actually having an UK phone number is quite essential. During my previous trip in UK (when I rented a car from the company called Enterprise), they didn't accept my Finnish phone number as a contact number by saying, that they are not allowed to make phone calls to international numbers.

About international telephone calls and network access: calling to Finland costs 7p (10 cents) per minute by using giffgaff. I find it really cheap and reliable comparing to other options I have. For instance if you call to Finland by using Sonera (or any other Finnish mobile number), the operator charges you 23 cents per minute, that's what I call robbing! Someone might say now that it's stupid to pay phone calls at all, because you can use FaceTime, Skype or other Internet based services for free. Yes that's true, but apart from your home Wifi, using mobile access for those services just doesn't work properly. All you get is frustration for unreliable connections and poor voice quality. I can tell you this, just go outside from the city centre and the data signal is easily lost. Or, if you want to stay in the city, which is most of the time full of people, you can't access data due to heavy load. And everybody knows how bad the network coverage is on trains... Haven't seen EDGE or GPRS signal in my iPhone for a long time until I moved in here.


Electricity, gas and water

Reading of electricity meter.

I've learned many things so far related to electricity, gas and water. Electricity and gas will be ordered online and therefore you have to read meters regularly to the company. And you need again British bank account for that. First problem came when I found out, that the company has been recording our electricity starting meter wrongly. The second reading showed lower value than the first one, so the online service didn't accept that. Few explanatory emails to the British Gas company solved this issue, they asked me to do extra readings in 7 days period in order to estimate the correct starting point for the billing. So after this episode it's quite interesting to see how much the electricity bill will actually be.

If you're wondering where gas is needed, the water in radiators heats with gas heater in this house. There's a standard electric oven in the kitchen, although I would have been happy to try using even the gas one, because it's very fast and always ready for quick heating and cooking.

Maximum flow of hot water.

Water bill comes in every four months and as a former house owner I was really surprised how cheap that actually was. Water consumption is quite low anyway. Shower is okay, but hot water flow in other taps is really weak. You have to wait a minute to get hot water at all. Luckily I'm on a year off, so I'm not in a hurry haha.

Council tax, TV licence and rent

There is a thing called 'Council Tax', which I haven't heard before. It is mandatory tax for all households in UK and covers police, fireworks, trash collection, road construction etc. in your local area. We pay council tax £102 a month for our flat on top of rent and other expenses. 

TV licence is also mandatory here, and it costs £145.50 a year. The subscription can be done online, and in fact this was the one of the first services which accepted my Finnish credit card number as a payment method. So now I have a legal right to watch BBC programs both from TV and online services.

Speaking about the rent level in this area, I think it's very reasonable here. It takes only 45 minutes to go to the centre of London, and towards that direction the prices get extremely high. We pay currently £750 (1050€) a month for one bedroom, living room, kitchen and bathroom flat. And as a bonus there's also own backyard, not very big, but convenient enough for barbecue, garden stuff and chilling. If you wanted to live closer to London (for example in Woking or Surbiton), you can only get studio flat with that sum (plus probably higher Council Tax as a bonus too). How big is an average studio flat then? Generally it means that the bed, living room (and sometimes even kitchen facilities) are all located in big one room. I don't wonder why shared houses seem to be very common in here.


Funny things

Electric pre-heating system for the shower.

Shower: There's a bath tube in the bathroom and on top of that electrically pre-heated shower. The shower device is quite funny, you turn it on by turning upper switch counter clockwise, which adjusts the power. Lower switch is for temperature. Just set temperature into level 2 and turn power to its maximum, and that's it. It's really easy to have a nice warm shower when you learn to do it after few burns and freezings hehe.

Power outlet with EU adaptor.

Power: There's an extra on/off switch in every power outlet, even for the kitchen oven. In the beginning I always forgot that switch and wondered why the device I want to use is not working. On the other hand, both dishwasher and washing machine have no visible valve for water inlet. So if there's a leak in pipes, let the water spill and nobody notices that. And what's more interesting is that there are no power outlets in bathroom at all, so if you need electricity for instance shaving your beard, you need to find a power from the corridor (and remember the additional on/off switch again!). Even if it's good safety that there are no sockets in bathroom, there is still electric device heating your water in a shower just few inches away from your head, how exciting! I reckon there would be a great business opportunity for Finnish HVAC engineers here.

Finnish fire extinguisher.

Fire extinguisher: One thing was also quite surprising: even there are lots of precautions everywhere and risk assessments are made for every type of safety issues here in UK, the fire extinguisher is not mandatory safety instrument in houses. Fire or smoke detector exist though. Luckily I brought my 6 kg extinguisher from Finland, so this home here is now partly followed by Finnish home safety regulations.

Floors: This is quite modern type of a flat, and only in bedroom has a carpet. Other rooms have either laminate or quarry tile. Therefore the house is easy to keep clean and also a hoover is provided by the landlord. I miss floor heating as the floors are really cold, even if the weather outside is +23 C. Traditional English solution for the cold floors has been using carpet everywhere and also wear shoes inside the houses. As shoes and carpet are not really a good combination, we don't use shoes here in this home. And because there are no vestibules, shoes are kept either in the corridor or in the closet. Therefore you need warm socks to feel comfortable. 

Tiled floor in kitchen with all white goods included.

Even if it may sound that I'm moaning about this and that, it's been really nice and very interesting to experience different things here so far. The infrastructure things don't bother me at all. All these little differences between England and Finland are just amusing and don't mean anything serious to me. There's no right or wrong way to do things, there are just different ways. And I'm really looking forward to see and experience more!

Cheers, Kimmo

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Yleisön pyynnöstä, tässä hieman tiivistettynä samaa tekstiä myös suomeksi: Hyvin on alku lähtenyt pyörimään, uusi asunto vaikuttaa mukavalta ja ensimmäisen naapurinkin kanssa on jo vaihdettu muutama sana. Silloin ensimmäisenä viikonloppuna, kun saatiin talon avaimet, hankin ensi töikseni pihalle kaasugrillin. Sitä varten piti tehdä oikein erillinen kaasuntoimitussopimus. Kelit ovat olleet ihan siedettäviä grillin käyttöön, päivisin on päästy n. 23 asteeseen. Juurikaan ei ole satanut näiden päivien aikana, jolloin täällä ollaan oltu, joten ainakin ensivaikutelman perusteella puheet englantilaisen sään heikkouksista on hölynpölyä. Talon puolesta löytyi myös puutarhakalusteet, joten ajan kuluksi on mukava katsella vaikkapa nurmikon kasvamista. Sitä pääseekin ajelemaan sähköllä toimivalla ruohonleikkurilla noin kerran viikossa.

Langaton nettiyhteys tuli maanantaina taloon ja nyt on hyvä surffailla netissä, kun ei tarvitse olla kännykkäyhteyksien varassa. Soittaminen täältä päin Suomeen englantilaisesta puhelinliittymästäni maksaa muuten vain 10 senttiä minuutti, joten aion jatkossa käyttää sitä silloin, kun Facetime-puhelut tökkivät. Hintaero on melkoinen: jos soitan vaikkapa Soneran liittymästä täältä Suomeen, niin siitä rokotetaan 23 senttiä minuutilta!

Tässä on ollut näiden uusien systeemien kanssa opettelemista. Sähkö ja kaasu tilataan British Gas -nimiseltä yhtiöltä netistä ja sitä varten heille pitää ilmoittaa sähkö- ja kaasumittarin lukemat säännöllisesti, jotta osaavat laskuttaa oikein. Sähköliittymän kanssa tuli vähän sämplinkiä, kun olivat kirjanneet aloituslukeman päin mäntyä. Ensimmäinen tarkistuslukema oli lähtölukemaa pienempi. Sitä sitten selvittelemään sähköpostitse. Sovittiin, että ilmoitan heille mittarin lukeman kaksi kertaa: tämän viikon tiiistaina ensimmäinen ja ensi viikon tiistaina toinen, josta sitten päättelevät kokonaiskulutuksen ja laskutus määräytyy sen mukaisesti.

Jos kummastelette mihin kaasua tarvitaan, niin tämä kaksikerroksinen rivitalo lämpiää kaasulla ja huoneista löytyy vesikiertoiset patterit. Keittiössä on tavallinen sähköliesi, vaikka olisin mielelläni opetellut kaasulieden käyttöä, koska se on niin nopea ja heti valmis kaikkeen kokkaukseen.

Vesilasku tulee neljän kuukauden välein ja ihan alkuun hämmästelin entisenä omakotitaloasukkaana, että onpa halpaa. Vettä ei tosin hirveästi kulukaan, suihkuvesi ei ole kovin runsasta ja esim. keittiön hanasta lämmin vesi tulee suorastaan naurettavan hitaasti minuutin odottelun jälkeen.

Council tax (=asumisvero) on uusi tuttavuus. Se on pakollinen maksu kaikkiin talouksiin ja sillä kustannetaan poliisi, palokunta, jätehuolto ja teiden kunnossapito sekä muut kunnalliset palvelut alueella. Kaksiossamme sen hinta on noin 140 euroa kuukaudessa, joka tulee siis vuokran päälle. Onneksi se on talouskohtainen maksu, joten sitä ei tässä tapauksessa tarvitse maksaa yksin.

Vuokrataso tällä alueella on kohtuullinen, paikka sijaitsee n. 45 minuutin junamatkan päässä Lontoosta, jonne päin mentäessä asuntojen hinnat kohoavat tähtitieteellisiksi. Maksamme 2H+K -tyyppisestä asunnostamme vuokraa 1050 euroa kuukaudessa, joka on suomalaisttainkin ihan kohtuullinen. Heti seuraavasta kylästä Lontooseen päin samalla rahalla ei saisi enää kuin studion, eli yhden huoneen keittokomerolla. Kimppa-asuminen onkin todella yleistä.

Kylppärissä on amme (tietenkin!), ja sen yläpuolella sähköllä esilämmitettävä suihku, joka lähtee päälle napista kääntämällä. Suihkussa on kaksi säätönappia, joista toinen säätää lämpöä ja toinen suihkun tehoa. Lämpö kakkoselle ja teho täysille, niin sillä homma hoituu muutaman kiljahdukseen päättyneen kokeilun jälkeen.

Sähköistä ja vedestä: joka ikisessä pistorasiassa on erillinen päälle/pois -kytkin, sellainen kytkin löytyy seinästä myös sähköliettä varten. Aluksi tietenkin unohtui napin painelu sähkön saamiseksi ja virta laitteisiin jäi tulematta. Toisaalta pyykin- ja astianpesukoneessa ei ole lainkaan tuloventtiiliä vedelle, joten jos jotain putkivuotoja tms. sattuu, niin vesi virtaa hienosti lattialle. Lisäksi kylpyhuoneesta ei sähköturvallisuussyistä löydy ensimmäistäkään pistorasiaa, joten vaikkapa parran ajamista varten pitää ottaa virta eteisestä (muista kytkin!). Tästä sähköturvallisuustekijästä huolimatta kuitenkin noin 15 cm päässä virtaavasta suihkuvedestä hyrrää sähköinen veden esilämmitin, jännittävää! Täällä olisi suomalaisille LVIS-asiantuntijoille bisneksen teon paikka.

Yksi asia ihmetytti myös alkuun: täällä tunnutaan olevan erittäin tarkkoja kaikkeen turvallisuuteen liittyvistä asioista, mutta silti esim. käsisammutin ei ole asunnoissa pakollinen turvavaruste (palovaroitin sentään löytyy). Muuttokuormasta autostani löytyi 6 kg käsisammutin, joten jotain suomalaista taloturvallisuustekniikkaa on nyt siis saatu tänne jalkautettua.

Asunnosta: Asuntomme on moderni, ainoastaan makuuhuoneesta löytyy kokolattiamatto, muissa huoneissa on joko klinkkeri tai laminaatti. Asunto on helppo pitää siistinä ja talon puolesta löytyy mm. pölynimuri. Kaipaan lattialämmitystä, sillä lattiat ovat todella kylmiä vaikka ulkona olisi 23 astetta lämmintä. Englantilainen ratkaisu tähän on tietenkin kaiken kattava kokolattiamatto, mutta sitä olisi käytännössä todella vaikea pitää puhtaana, koska sisään saapastellaan tyypillisesti kengät jalassa suoraan kadulta. Tuulikaapia ei ole, joten kengät jätetään tässä taloudessa käytävälle tai vaatekaappiin. Kannattaa kyläillessä varata tossut tai lämpimät sukat, jotta ei tarvitse palella.

Mukavaa ja mielenkiintoista on ollut tähän saakka, nämä pienet eroavaisuudet Suomeen verrattuna ovat oikeastaan asioita, joilla ei ole laajemmassa mittakaavassa mitään merkitystä. Odotan silti innolla kaikkea uutta ja erilaista, mitä eteen tulee.

T: Kimmo

A Finnish Man Moving to England

Hei!

Welcome to my new blog! I'm a Finnish man who took a year off from work and moved to England to live with my English girlfriend, Kayleigh. Some people asked me to write about experiences about living in England and how it differs from the way I've used to live in my past life in Finland. So this blog will be about my findings and experiences from moving in, living and travelling around the country, which is completely new to me. Well, not completely, as I've visited London maybe ten to twelve times during four decades ('80s, '90s, '00s and finally '10s). Anyway, when I travelled outside of London last Summer for the first time, I finally realised that the part of the capital area I've experienced so far, is completely different from the rest of the England. Therefore I recommend everybody coming to England to travel outside of London to get a real touch and feeling of the country. So far I've noticed few things which are different between London and rest of the England: the dialect and amount of tourists. Here's an example of one of the strangest dialects outside of London, it's called Black Country dialect and they even have an own vocabulary! Imagine what that accent sounds like to a person like me, who's basically learnt the way of speaking English in American films shown subtitled on Finnish TV. And I haven't even met any Finnish people outside of London yet, which seems to be quite surprising. While I was visiting Black Country area last summer, I bet I was the only Finnish person in the whole area.

I want to explore the real English way of living. Therefore it was actually really nice, that the town I moved wasn't London. My current home town is now Basingstoke, which is in Hampshire county. Basingstoke is a large town (108.000 inhabitants) quite close to London, it takes only 45 minutes to travel to the capital by train. I have no expectations of what is it like to live in Basingstoke (or any other English town or city either), so I believe everything will be new and exciting for me. There's so much to see and explore in the country which is totally different comparing to Finland: starting from the amount of people living here: in Finland we have 6 million inhabitants whereas in UK has 10 times more people in the area of half size of Finland. That makes the greatest difference which I already noticed during my previous trips in here. Every place is rammed with people including shops, train stations, roads, motorways... There's no silence in this country. That's fully okay with me, because I like crowded places, and if I get too stressed I can always take a hike and go to Finland for few days or a week.

About myself: I was born in Finland and been living there permanently until now. Moving from place to place inside the country is familiar to me though. Moving has happened to me approximately every 9th year and each time I've at least doubled the distance from the previous location. Last movement (10 years ago) before moving in England was from Helsinki to Oulu, and the distance was 600 km. However, now this leap is a lot bigger: the trip from Helsinki to Basingstoke by car took 2800 km through 6 countries. The trip lasted 7 days through interesting route, which included three ferries, unlimited speed motorways, bridges, toll roads, petrol stations, different kind of accommodations (hotels, motels, home stay, bed & breakfast) etc. I'm gonna tell more about that trip later in my blog, if you're interested.

I decided to write this blog in English even it is my second language, and therefore I sometimes struggle with expressions and nuances, sorry about that. However, writing in English gives me a great opportunity to practice essential language skills, which I will definitely need in here. On top of that English speaking reader potential is "a bit" bigger than Finnish speaking; and as a bonus my girlfriend promised to help me on writing and correcting the texts, thanks for that. I think it is also good to make sure that I don't unintentionally insult anyone with my straightforward and sometimes rough way (= Finnish way) to tell things. Anyway, all kind of feedback is always good, so let the word spread!

Cheers! Kimmo