Our Second Day in Bristol

Hi everyone

We feel as though we haven't seen a lot of Bristol yet. This morning we slept in - the first time we have woken up after 6.00 since we arrived. I am back to my usual pattern of 9.00 wake ups and think that I might be converting Harry to later mornings. Anyway, by the time we breakfasted on Special K, fruit and our free cups of tea it was about 11.00 and ready to start job hunting. Harry went on to the internet to find out lots about the vehicle inspection practices here and I went and enrolled with an agency across the road. There seem to be about 6 or so on the same road so it is a job hunters mecca. Anyway, there might be some temporary work with the Royal Bank of Scotland. To get a job, we need a permanent address and to get a permanent address we need a job. There is a ring about that and it reminds me of my favourite song 'All my life in circles' which may not be my favourite song anymore. Anyway, after a number of confused expressions on our faces and 'how can we do that' type questions we managed to get a waiver from that since we have just arrived in the UK.

Tomorrow we are going to a couple more agencies and also to get our National insurance number which you need to apply for before you get a job.

The recruitment agency was impressed that we had a letter from the bank saying we were good savers and spenders, a letter from our employers to say when we worked there, a bank account and a cv. So, all of you who have mentioned you might be coming over to work it was good advice that we got from others about being prepared with all the paper work.

We also started looking for a flat. Most flats seem really expensive to the unemployed and want someone who is employed. However, we rang someone who is interested in renting out a room in her house. She seemed really nice (Jane is her name) but we were a little bit concerned that we needed to go through a few rough areas to get to the house. The house itself is small but has a nice outside area for sunning ourselves and cooking barbeques. We met her Mum also who does not live far away. Anyway, Jane has just rung to say she would be interested in having us and so we will talk about it tonight and get back to her tomorrow. It's quite a big decision but we have no where else to go and flats by ourselves are more expensive by heaps. So, I am not sure if there is much decision at all. Besides the bank recommendation it was helpful to have photos of our house so that she could see that we looked after property o.k. The funny this is that because we are lodging, and won't have any businesses (eg electricity or phone) sending us mail we might not be able to move our cell phone off a prepaid onto a plan which is much cheaper. It also means we won't get a credit rating which means our credit card limit will stay small. (again another hint if you get HSBC account in NZ they automatically set you up with a credit card - otherwise it is impossible to get one in the UK).

We also learn't to navigate the bus system. Not that hard but it was £2.10 each way, double the price of travelling from London for a 30 minute bus trip. We also discovered after much waiting that the bus picked us up on the same side of the road to take us back into town. We were waiting on the other side of the road for a while!!

We had a pub meal - 2 meals for £5.95 at about 3.00 since breakfast was so late. The pub does a Sunday night curry with wine for a similar price so we might give it a go. We could cook here but the kitchen is always so busy and very hot and I think we feel a little bit lazy and on holiday. We are eating lots of fruit - yes there are pineapples and kiwifruit as well as the standard apples and bananas - yeh!!

Haz has a cold and so we are going to have a quick fruit salad for tea and then go to bed. After tomorrow job hunting stops for three days because it is May bank holiday and I think we will become tourists and see some of the sites. You should have seen Harry's eyes light up when he saw there was an aerospace museum and a big air show in July just outside Bristol. I guess I will be able to go just this once as there is a brass band/singing show at the end!!

Love to you all - we miss home already but keeping busy and thinking about jobs and flats helps. Take care and keep those emails coming.

Denise and Harry