The Empire Weblog

I just have a short visit in the Apple Store here in Regent Street. Have to get an UK Adapter for my Powerbook's power pack. Then I remembered that the entire shop is wireless equipped. So I have a short break in the nice Apple Store Theatre listening a presentation about Apple's .Mac. During that I can check my mails here for free. Why haven't I remembered that earlier? I could have saved the five pounds I spent in Starbucks for T-Mobile Wireless Internet Access for one hour only. *brrr*

Well, anyway for the next time I know it! :-)

Today in the morning I have been in the German Embassy to change my residence from Dresden to London. First I had to pass a security control: no bags, no mobile phones are allowed. You have to leave your backpack on some steel shelves which are installed at the wall outside the embassy. If you have some gadgets in your bag, you have to leave it with the security man. And today I had my Powerbook with me since the internet cable modem at home broke down and I want to check my mails what I just have finished sitting in a Starbucks Coffee on Oxford Street.

Anyway, when you are in the passport/visa office of the German embassy, you have to fill out a form and then you get a number. After you've been called, it works like in Germany: some additional forms, photo copies of your proof of address (in my case an electricity bill LOL) and of your passport. Then you have to take a seat again while they check the details and change the residence. During waiting for that I have seen that there are five pictures of German cities in the waiting room: Munich, Berlin, Bonn and Dresden. Well, that are only four cities. What is on the fifth picture? Surprisingly, it's Dresden again! ;-) Very nice and amazing at the same time. One picture shows Dresden's famous view from the Carola Bridge to the Semperoper and the Brühlsche Terrasse. And the second one shows Dresden's Striezelmarkt (Dresden's Christmas market) in the evening hours!

So, if I should get homesick, I can go to the German Embassy and see the pictures LOL.

So, I am just on my move from Germany to the UK. Took the 9.40 am Ryanair FR 8543 flight from where I am writing this post. Ok, I actually cannot post it directly from here to my blog since there is no internet access on board here. :-) So I have to post it as soon as I will have arrived at my new home in London.

In this place, also my many thanks to Ryanair which has always taken care on my about 25 return flights (Germany - London) within the last two years. I really like Ryanair because they offer a good service for really low fares. Their flights are also nearly always on time or even ahead of scheduled time what is very distinctive for Ryanair. This have given me quite often the opportunity to take one or sometimes even two trains earlier either from Stansted Airport to London Liverpool Street or from Berlin or Erfurt to Dresden respectively.

I do really hope, Ryanair is going to continue this successful business and even to extend it to new routes, maybe also to Dresden one day. However, this is another story as I already described in a post almost one year ago.

To be fair, I also have to thank Stansted Express and Deutsche Bahn (German Railway) which both have brought me to and from the Airports to my destination either Erfurt, Berlin, Dresden, Stansted Airport or London Liverpool Street. However, I also have to mention that these trips have not been as same smooth as the flights with Ryanair. There were some bad delays or even cancellations of train services quite a few times which can make you very angry! Anyway, I always reached my destinations what is most important! That's why: Thank you Deutsche Bahn AG and Stansted Express.

P.S. I will miss the ICE trains, the white high speed trains with the red banner along thier both sides! Hopefully the application of Deutsche Bahn AG and Stagecoach for the East Coast Line from London to Edinburgh via Newcastle-upon-Tyne will succeed so that their might be a tiny chance that ICE trains will be put into service in the UK one day, too! Fingers crossed!

Landed at 10:15 am (GMT) at London Stansted and again 15 minutes ahead of scheduled time. Now going by the Stansted Express Service to London Liverpool Street and after arrived there buying my first one month travelcard. And of course, it will go on my Oyster Card.

I will call the German Embassy early this afternoon. Maybe I can let change my residence from Dresden to London in my passport already this afternoon.

Today, I received the permission to leave Germany until 31.12.2006!
Well, the authority says that I have to re-new the application if I want to stay longer than 31.12.2006. Ok, let's see what happens ;-)

Today, I dealing with the first companies and authorities regarding my new address since I am going to move to the UK. When I called the authority which is responsible for organizing all the compulsory military service stuff, they told me that I have to file an application to leave Germany for longer than three years.

This is the German military service law which demands everybody aged between 18 and 45 to file such an application. If you don't do so, you trespass against the law! To me, it sounds unbelievable.

It's like being a prisoner of Germany and you only may leave it for longer after you have filed an appropriate application. Especially in my case, it's even more unbelievable since I have already done my compulsory military service, even four months longer.

FOUND: On stanstedexpress.com What does it mean: Timeout expired? Is it something like "Being a bit pregnant?"

Some of you may have realized the astonishing number of business as well as private banks here in the UK. For someone like me coming from Germany, it's really amazing how all these banks can survive. In Germany, e.g., the only things you could see done by banks were: cost reduction, firing employees, closing down branches and some of them did even turn back their engagement for good customer service.

Not so here in the UK. The customer is the king or the queen. The entire country is service oriented and tries to give you the best you can get. So the banks do too. The first thing you may need if you're going to relocate to the UK is a bank account. Without a bank account no UK mobile phone, no energy, no gas, no water - almost nothing.

But be aware of customer pickers! However, if one got you into a bank branch anyway, here are a few tips how you can avoid to get a bank account:

• The easiest thing is: just say you don't have a proof of your UK address. Since banks mostly (only) accept utility bills (gas, energy, water, telephone) as proof of an address, it will be quite evident to them that you don't have such a bill. Or how do you want to get a utility bill if you need a bank account first to apply for gas or energy or water supply?

The next tips are a bit tricky but I am sure you're able to manage these too:

• Mention, that you are an EU citizen.
• Mention, that you will earn a competitive annual salary but you do not plan to spend more than appr. 50% of your monthly salary payment each month.
• Mention, that you have so far only 2 or even less credit cards.
• Mention, that your credit cards are mostly paid off by the end of each month.
• Mention, that you will rarely need an overdraft.

If you're fine with all this, you have the best chances that they do not want to have you as their customer. Should they're going to offer you a bank account anyway, which possibly will be a basic account, then they will give you about six month time to get rid off most of the facts mentioned above. Since you might not be able to change your nationality at once, try to fix the other problems. Once you will have done this, you will be a very warm welcomed customer for them.

You always wondered what you could do with potatoes, aka taters? Today, I found a good flash about it. Just check it out here and enjoy it.

BOIL-EM

MASH-EM

STICK-EM IN A STEW