Glasgow, Leeds, Huddersfield
Late September 2018
Settling in to Glasgow turned out to be a rather frustrating time for us – which is pretty much what we expected. As a foreign national, getting the basics of life (bank account, social security number, lease agreement, etc.) can be fiddly at best – British bureaucracy is a terrible thing.
You take it for granted how many things are required for you to live in today's society - effectively we were uncredentialled, unemployed, unknown persons. It's rather strange to feel so seperated from modernity.
Even though Amy and I were very well prepared and brought with us all the necessary documents, we were required to jump through hoop after hoop after hoop to get ourselves sorted. One example of this is the requirement for anyone to have a proof of address when applying for a bank account, which seems fair, until you come to the realisation that having a bank account is a requirement to lease an address – my blood still boils thinking about it.
Fortunately, our Airbnb hostess liked us enough that she offered for use to stay on, providing us with a private contract to live in Partick, in Glasgow’s West End – my next post will walk you through the neighbourhood. Now having a proof of address, the dominoes were set. After several trips to banks, meetings, online applications, many phone calls, and about 12 weeks of waiting, we both became official people in the eyes of the British government. We had an address, National Insurance Numbers, a bank account, and we were registered with a GP. We now had the right to earn money, access healthcare, work, etc. – exist, really.
Since the process was so frustrating, I will surely write a post in the future to my allied health colleagues, describing the process, in an attempt to make someone else's life easier. Oh, and also because I want anyone who's sitting on the fence to just do it and move here - once you're set up its the best. Europe at your doorstep, exciting nightlife, a thriving music scene, and ~$5-8 pints.
To prepare for work and to get ourselves up to date with British health requirements, we were required to re-sit our first aid equivalency. This gave us the chance to go see Amy’s brother, Sam, who lived in a small(ish) university town called Huddersfield, in England. You may recognise them as the second division minnow team that managed to get promoted to the premier league this year.
Huddersfield is a fairly quiet, unassuming town. It has the curious honour of being the birthplace of rugby league, but seemed to have few other significant sights or attractions. It is a pretty standard British town. Regardless, Sam did a lovely job of showing us around. We walked through the university grounds, along the boat canals, to the botanic gardens, and stopped in a few pubs for a couple of cask ales - I've really come around on them. We also had a surprisingly good Caribbean meal – goat curry, callaloo, plantains, spiced rice, and jerked chicken.
The following day we made our way to Leeds and to our course. It was as boring as any of these courses are, but we ticked the box – job done. Unfortunately, we didn’t have much time outside of this, so we weren’t able to really see Leeds, which was a shame.
That evening, we met with a few of Sam’s friends, hit a few pubs and got some fairly good Indian food at Lala’s in the town centre.
With a few more boxes ticked, we caught the train back to Glasgow next day.
JC
"I believe the British government forms the best model the world ever produced... This government has for its object public strength and individual security"
Alexander Hamilton
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