Yes, it has been a while I know and those who have more perseverance than I would have probably had the extra energy to find an internet connected PC and slog away at the words of my blog. I did not have that energy, what with the trans- continental move and as my luck would have it to a home in an English village without, currently a telephone connection (although BT was here today to do a site survey – yes a site survey in a village that has existed for a millennia) and even worse right now to a place without mobile phone signal.
I have whined before in this forum about mobile phones but hell, without it it’s a problem. OK I’m lying. In the kitchen of this flat above a pub I can occasionally get a bar of signal, in the function room if you sit fairly low by the second window the signal can be up to two bars, at the top of the car park, sometimes, you can also get one bar of signal. How can this be? In this day and age? So I went into the Vodafone shop and asked. Using my postcode they identified that this village has very poor signal. Really? Is it going to change I hastened to ask? Unlikely sir was the answer. Great. Next thing I’m going to have to give it a whir and ask the operator to connect me. Long distance sir, they will ask? Fucking right it is without phone signal.
So what can I tell you about the green countryside of England? Our experiences in the past two weeks have varied. Obviously, and even though we lived here before, everything is new. Things that would be taken for granted by others and no doubt by us in a few months’ time are jumping at us as we experience the difference between here and South Africa. The memories of the mundane stuff in SA will fade in time but right now we can compare because everything is still fresh. We have found overall that service levels here, in banks, in supermarkets, garden centres, the local council etc. is much better (maybe because English is their first language?) and its better I think because people seem to go out of their way to tell you the whole story in detail. It’s almost as if they’ve been trained to put themselves into their customer’s shoes when explaining something. They also seem to be more trusting of people’s intentions. And maybe that’s a cultural thing – in SA we have lived in an untrusting environment behind fences and bars for at least all my lifetime.
The other thing that we have found is that supermarkets seem to be substantially cheaper here than there. That opinion, once we are earning pounds, may also change in time. Granted it is very much a consumer society but when things are less than half of what we were paying only a few weeks ago – and this at R11 / £1 – you have to ask the question about whether or not SA is being ripped by the big chains. Staying with supermarkets, we are also finding the available variety of stuff quite interesting. Again this stuff we probably won’t even notice in a few months’ time but right now it’s an adventure as we discover new stuff for the first time. And the specials are incredible…and take it from me I’m not a shopper!
Petrol is expensive but I think affordable? The drive between London and here is about 230km and there is not one toll road. Yes the traffic volume is intense but I didn’t see a single accident or signs of an accident and oddly I have only seen one police vehicle. One of the memories I had of Britain before was that was bit of a police state where everybody nodded their heads and obeyed. My view of that is changing. Speaking to a range of people I am reaching the view that there is an under the surface rebelliousness in the English about all the rules they have to live to. I wonder if this society sub consciously knows that it has survived thousands of years and will survive thousands more after the current century or so of do gooders have ruled them. That’s quite deep so let move on.
Their newspapers just about all earn gold stars for bashing Britain, even though it seems to be a society that generally works. Yes it appears that they have an immigration problem, hey they let me in! Seriously, in this village, the pizza place across the road seems to owned and run by Turks, John the Greek owns the fish n chip shop and the pub down the high street is run by a South African, from Durban nogal! I’m sure there are other foreigners like yours truly but I am yet to discover them. The upside of this place? They have public transport, and it works. The roads that I have been on so far are pot hole free. The driving is polite but probably a bit boring; the choice of deli’s and coffee shops leaves you confused and seriously over coffee’ed.
And then you have the schools. As you know, my offspring are of school going age and so one of the things we have done this week is to go and try find them schools to go to. Once again we have astounded by how hospitable everyone has been. The two schools have welcomed us in with open arms. Hastily arranged we have gone on tours of these institutions. They are not necessarily better than at least Toti primary but wow, the facilities and resource is world class. Contrary to what the movies show the kids are uniformed and so far it seems reasonably respectful. The sports facilities are very advanced and just about every sport you can think of is offered. And – this is the best bit - there are no school fees. None at all. Nada. Gratis.
So far so good anyway. We are here to hopefully make some money and get our lives back on track and so to that end we will try and integrate with our local village community as much as they will accept us. We have decided this time to stay as much below the radar as possible. Time will of course tell how that turns out because as you know I’m not very good at following.
Until tomorrow then. It’s good to be back. Hopefully for good.
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