Britain and "Free" Television

Disclaimer: 

We are by no means experts in intricate details of anything said in the below blog post. What we tell in detail is conveyed through American eyes with information drawn from other Americans living in England and bits of research we have conducted through the interwebz. Do not treat this post as your one-stop-shop for details on British television fees.

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Some of you may not know this about the charming country of England. In this land, there is no such thing as free television. In fact, there is no such thing as free anything. I am surprised they don't charge you for listening to the radio (oh wait, they used to do that, too).

Since our arrival, my coworkers have emphasized how you must make sure you pay your TV license if you watch or think about watching broadcast television or the TV license boogey man will get you and eat your TV, steal your firstborn and fine you one thousand pounds which is actually one thousand times 1.6 because the Dollar is so weak to the almighty Pound Sterling.

...ok, I had to rant about that one a little bit because lately I've been thinking they enjoy telling me things like this just to scare me. I will probably do the same thing to other new people when they arrive.

I digress.

In England, everyone must pay the TV license fee of £145 per annum (yearly) if you watch or record broadcast programming on any sort of device that has the capability to do so. If you do not pay this fee you will be fined big time. We actually weren't kidding about the £1,000 above. It might actually be more than that. 

You might be thinking, "how does the Queen know you are watching TV without a license?" The Queen is very clever, that's how! Here, they have vehicles that drive up and down every street to check out who is pulling airwaves into the house and if the household have/not paid their yearly license fee.

The Dittmers have decided to not take any chances on this and the other day we set up a nice monthly payment to cover this little British Fact of Life.

Moving on to "free"...

In the UK there are several options for TV programming.  

There is: 

Freeview (much like Antenna TV), FreeSat, SkyTV, and FreeSat with Sky.

Freeview gives you like 7 channels. [We think it's funny how they call it Freeview when us Americans can see right through their little marketing scheme. We know what the real free feels like and that ain't it.]

FreeSat technically isn't free either [of course not]; it costs £175 to install the dish, get an access card and a receiver. But after that, there is no charge for programming. 

SkyTV is just like DirecTV or Dish Network. You pay monthly for a 24-month contract for way more channels than anyone could ever appreciate. Oh yeah, make sure you pay your TV license or the fine will hit your mailbox much quicker than if the radarmobiles catch you.

FreeSat with Sky uses a SkyTV satellite dish and receiver, only with no SkyTV contract--and WAY more channels than plain old FreeSat. These are the channels we get** with FreeSat with Sky.  

OK... so, no TV is free in the UK. But the Dittmers have probably gotten the best deal out of this crazy system: We were given a SkyHD receiver [FREE] from a coworker who was moving out. Also, we have come to find out that our house has a SkyTV satellite dish already installed on the chimney [FREE]. The house is professionally wired to reach every bedroom, the kitchen and living room with satellite TV. Oh, have we mentioned that our landlord kept her little TV/DVD player combo installed under the cupboard in the kitchen? We think it's already installed for FreeSat or something because we've been watching Judge Judy and Top Gear long before our TV arrived.

The only thing we had to do to get FreeSat with Sky was call SkyTV and order an access card for £25 which will last 3-5 years. For £25 + £145/year for the national TV License we get 240 channels. Not too shabby, but definitely not free!

**Just noticed Wedding Channel--Asia, thirty-some shopping channels, seventeen adult channels and thirty international channels. Hey, we said 240 channels, not 240 totally awesome channels. I think we only get five HD channels, too. So... which one has HouseHunters? :)

A taste of what's to come...

To our faithful readers who have been awaiting the big announcement regarding our new home: we finally found one!

We're so sorry we haven't blogged about it yet, but we have been terribly busy and we want to put the necessary effort into such a lovely topic as this one. We moved in on 18 November and the office has a system to lend out temporary furniture while we wait for our household goods to arrive. We were fortunate to have our first Thanksgiving Dinner in our new home and we were even able to have guests over to share it with.

Because tomorrow is the big day that all of our HHGs arrive, I want to mark today by giving you all a small taste of what we have been living in sans permanent furnishings.

The dining room with our temporary furniture.

Our favorite aspects of the house that we are so excited to tell you all about are:
- the roof
- the AGA
- the floors
- the lane it's on / our neighbors
- our posh landlord
- how charming it will be at Christmas

The living room fireplace

What's the green thing hiding behind the island? Our new friend, the AGA

London!

First of all -- Happy Veteran's Day to all who are serving or have served in the US Military. We are proud to call the United States of America "Home" because of your service! Thank you!

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The Dittmers have officially made a trip to The Smoke! Last weekend our friend Cassie joined us on our adventure and we had a blast! Today we went again and we already have another new friend who came with named Steve! There is so much to do and see there, I know that over the next three years it will still be a treat to go into town.

So far, the top five highlights of our two trips are:

1. The Underground (the "Tube" as the locals call it here). 

Ok, ok, it's just public transportation... but it really is fun! Today when we got on a train on the Central Line around 6:30PM we were packed in there like sardines. We love getting off the tube one stop over, walking around the area for a long time and then realizing you walked all the way back to the original stop you had just left. This happens most frequently around Picadilly Square. Mind the Gap!!

2. Seeing the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace.

Nice digs, Your Majesty!

This happened by pure accident, guys! We were just walking along toward the palace and then we saw it (yay, exciting, how cool!). We saw a couple guys with tall bearskin hats walking around and we thought they were just on patrol or whatever... turns out they were doing the rigmarole called "the changing of the guard" or at least, I think that's what they were doing. You be the judge:

3. Enjoying a really nice Autumn day in Westminster:

'Nuff said.

The only sad bit is that it's always so damp so none of the leaves crunch when you walk on them.

4. Portobello Market!

I don't have any photos of this place, but I am in love with it. It's a 2-mile stretch of vendors and adorable shops that I wish I could bring every girlfriend with me to see. I am sure I will be finding sweet additions to our home decor at this marketplace.

5. We were the very first customers at a late-serving dim sum diner called Dim Sum Diner...

So much food!

Our Asian friends, Steve & Cassie, showing us the joys of dim sum.

This was a cute little asian restaurant which apparently is an American-style restaurant. Could have fooled us! Dim Sum is like bite-sized asian food (or, finger food...?). The Spanish version would be Tapas, and these are very popular in England as well. Anyway, I guess it's pretty rare to have a Dim Sum restaurant open in the evening so the owner decided to do something different and open one for people like us! (On another note--the English eat dinner really late. Many times they serve early-bird menu deals for customers who dine before 7pm. WIN!)

Other fun sights:

Pay Toilets -- £.50, please

The London Eye (we will go ON it soon!)

 BIG BEN

Others are growing a mustache during the month of Movember!

 Sherlock Holmes' home! 221b Baker Street

IN OTHER NEWS

We found a house! Stay tuned for a special blog post introducing our new home to you (it will be in stages because our household goods are still on a boat). However, our move-in date is 21 November if all goes well. Keep praying!!

Trying to find a rhythm

While we have picked up a sort of routine with our day since coming to England, neither of us have really been very happy with how it looks. On a week day, we get up, eat breakfast, Hannah goes to work, Bryant looks for a job & gets important stuff done while out and about, Hannah comes home from work, we sit in the executive lounge at the hotel and eat hors d'ouvres until dinner time late evening and then we go to bed. It's not that we necessarily have things we have to get completed in our off-time, like homework or anything, but it's just sad that we don't really have time to sit and blog, exercise, relax, tour little villages or other fun exploring things after work.

We changed our clocks back an hour in Europe on Saturday night and now it gets dark around 5 PM. It is sad to say, but it looks like we are going to have to do most of our England exploring over the weekends and almost none of it after the work day. This past weekend we had to drive up north a couple hours to help a friend take care of some business with her rental car. While we were up there we thought it might be a good idea to skip on over to Cambridge for the day.

We had a really great time! We parked at a Park & Ride and took the bus into the city centre on Sunday afternoon. They had a little market going on in the center and we had fun roaming around looking at all the vendors and crafty things they were selling. We saw a street performer do some stunts on the street with flaming juggling batons and a unicycle:

And we got to tour King's College! It was so beautiful in there! Because it was Sunday they had a service inside the chapel at 3:30 so we were able to hear the world famous King's College Choir. Unfortunately our camera battery died while we were touring the college grounds and I didn't get many photos of other things we saw, but King's is gorgeous--King Henry VIII made sure of that!

We got a short video of the interior of the chapel without getting caught. Sorry there isn't any music playing from the organ... we promise it's absolutely beautiful.

The closer we get to Winter and with each visit to a new charming English town, we find ourselves picking out cute little gift ideas for Christmas...England is chock-full of cute stuff!!

We know that the more we buy before we find a house, the more we have to keep in limbo at our hotel. Needless to say, we are really getting antsy to find a place, but we have yet to find one. Please be praying for us while we search. We don't don't want to settle but we are getting a little weary of tours and phone calls to letting agents.

Hopefully we can pick up a good rhythm soon before the Holidays are upon us! We want a house to decorate!!

The grounds at King's College on a crisp Fall day. See the cows across the river? :)

Long Crendon Manor

At the end of last week we were able to break free from the boring old Premier Inn hotel and stay at a bed and breakfast. We had never been to a B&B before so we didn't have any expectations. After four nights at this place I know that if we had any, the Long Crendon Manor would have exceeded them considerably! Several TV shows and movies have been filmed at this place! We have since added Little Dorrit to our iTunes wish list but do not wish to see The Woman in Black any time soon. EEP!

A manor is more than just a house--we learned that this one has stables, barns, a main [large] house, a gatehouse, and acres of land. Sue told us the story of how her family acquired it in 1974 when she was 15 years old... she and her dad were house hunting while her mum was at work. The manor was the first one they looked at and decided they wanted it, so that's what they bought! It was in sad shape and only cost them £143,000 at the time, but Sue admitted that it is still a work in progress. I'd say they've done a very good job so far! :)

For more interesting reading on what a Manor did back in the day ("the day" = 12th Century) wikipedia is great. Learn about lords, serfs, cottars, etc. :)

Anyway, enough talk... you gotta see this place!

Breakfast was served in the Dining Room

These lovely animals made breakfast possible. :)

The St. Bernard named Coco "like Chanel, not The Clown".

The back gardens

The back patio was covered in grape vines full of plump and read-to-eat grapes. I didn't even think to try one. The were so beautiful!

I took so many photos with the SLR camera my sister sold us before we moved. This was the first excursion we were able to take with it in tow. You can see many more of them here with a bit of extra annotation. :)

Sue and Tim, the lovely people who run the whole place.  Also, the girls.

Sue and Tim got to meet Daniel Radcliffe while they shot The Woman in Black and apparently he is a really nice guy (although quite short--only 5'5"!). If you ever find yourself in Long Crendon in Buckinghamshire (which, according to Sue, is the center of the universe), you must stay at the Manor. Sue has one of the best senses of humor you'll ever encounter and she and her husband keep such a lovely and well-kept property that you would not regret one single pound spent to stay there.

Expensive errand-running

It's our second weekend here in the great county of Buckinghamshire (also known as Bucks) and we are starting to have experiences worth blogging about! I was beginning to get worried about this for a while, guys. I mean, who lives in England for over a week and doesn't have any good stories to share in a blog for pete's sake?? Well, we do, and part of it is because I don't like to live out of a suitcase in a boring hotel and wake up to walk down a busy and smelly street to work every day.

Well, despite my tendencies of crabbiness we have been pushing forward and chiseling away at our big To-Do list:
- Find a place to live
- Buy a car
- Experience the Rail
- Experience the Tube
- Get to London, already!

I am pleased to inform you all that we can cross off two things off that list! Yesterday we bought a car and today we took the Chiltern Rail into Marylebone Station in London*.

*Does not count as "going to London" because we didn't even walk 30 yards past the rail station. We have to do more than that in order to cross it off the list!

Anyway... the car! Bryant test drove a Honda Accord yesterday and we bought it! It has British specs! This is the first thing we have done since arriving that actually feels like we are here to stay and we aren't just visiting.

So weird being on the right side!

The guy who sold it to us called it a "boring, reliable car." Perfect! :)

We are so excited about this little car. Unfortunately, in GB you absolutely must have car insurance in order for it to be driven on the road. We are geting insurance through GEICO international sales, and wouldn't you know it, they close at 5PM on Fridays. I got my quote request in to their office at 4:30 to the agent and even though she stayed late to get my quote to me (5:30), we had left the office by then and didn't get the payment information processed. We will have to wait through the weekend and, did I mention that Monday is a US Holiday? It's Columbus day. So now the poor little Honda has been quarantined to the hotel parking lot until Tuesday. :(

Once we get everything taken care of with the insurance it will be really nice to be able to drive around and tour the neighbourhoods. That will help with the house hunting, too! Bryant has toured 3 homes and on Monday I will be able to join him on a tour of a different place. Even though we couldn't go for a joy ride today we took the bus to the city centre in High Wycombe for lunch at Zizzi's Italian and thought we could bum around on public transit. After lunch we walked to the rail station and bought a ticket to and from the Marylebone station. I don't know if you knew this, but in Minneapolis, a light rail ticket costs $2.25 for two hours, you can use it on any bus and take it to any stop you like (and it's only $1.75 for non peak hours). Here, even on non-peak hours it cost us £16,50 for just one person on one train, so £33 = $51.33. AH!

It was unfortunate because we just wanted to experience the rail and didn't have any plans to go anywhere except pick up an Oyster Card at the Tube station at Marylebone. An Oyster Card is the pay-as-you-go card for the Tube so it was just a fun errand to pick up for a future trip to London.

Just outside the Marylebone (pronounced MAR-la-bone) station

The story of our rail experience continues as we got back on the train and headed to High Wycombe ... We are on the 17:33 train and it was to arrive at Wycombe at 18:19; we were going to walk to the bus station, take the bus to our neighbourhood and walk to the hotel, arriving back home no later than 19:30 (7:30PM). The English pride themselves on having very punctual trains so this really should have happened. While on our train around 17:45 we unexpectedly stopped at a station we were supposed to bypass and the driver made an announcement to that there was a fatality reported at one of the stops along the way. We were told to sit tight while they found out if the fatality was true and it was likely that we would continue as planned, just delayed a bit. We stayed on the train and hung out while we waited; by 18:40 we were told that the train we were on was going to go in reverse back to Marylebone and we should all get out and wait for the next train that was going to High Wycombe. This next train was due to arrive at 19:25 and the status board said it was running on time. By 19:10, however, the status board changed. It said that the next train was on time, but it was now the 20:00 train to arrive next. I mentioned something out loud and all of the other passengers looked up at the board in disbelief... only to see it be updated again and the next train that would be "on time" was the 21:28 (that's 9:28PM)! We were beginning to panic because buses don't just run all night around here on the weekends. It was now dark and we had no idea how to call a cab (missing the iPhone right about now), or how much it would cost for a 14 mile fare. We called a coworker and asked him to come pick us up, and fortunately he agreed to drive out our way to help us out.

It all worked out in the end, and I am sure we would still be at the train station if it wasn't for my coworker's generosity. The super sweet thing is, we spent all evening with them yesterday. He and his wife invited us over for tea after work, bought us dinner and offered to bring us to church with them on Sunday. We owe them big time!!

Our poor, unused return fare card from the rail.

busy!

(I meant to post this yesterday but just as I was wrapping up he internet ran out of time in our room!)

We are here, going day by day with limited internet access. Yes, we are surviving, and no, it's not easy. Boy, were we spoiled with our iPhones back home. Buying wifi access in the room costs £12 ($18) for a day.

We were thinking about going to London yesterday and Hillsong Church today but that didn't work out. We slept in until 10:30 yesterday and took the bus into High Wycombe and today we went to church with a coworker. I am really glad we didn't overdo it and eased into our public transit experience. It's a lot more complicated than we thought! There isn't just one public bus service, there is a rail and the Tube is separate as well. We are just learning how they work so I wouldn't be surprised if we got lost on the way to London (even though my coworkers say its easy). The Underground tends to go under construction on the weekends and a lot of stops are out of service.

After church today, my coworker took us around the neighborhoods of High Wycombe to give us an idea of where we might want to live. We have been house hunting on rightmove.co.uk and for the first time we were able to weed out some of the areas. Mainly, the city centres. We feel like even the small towns are too busy with cars and motorbikes zooming around. I know it will just take some getting used to, but that mixed in with closeness and crammed style (my midwestern American roots showing there) is not comfortable to me. Do we want to be close to a rail station in town or in a more secluded country location?? It has been really hard to narrow down anything and we know the sooner we get into a place, the better.

Today we sent messages to the letting agents to begin going deeper into the process and hopefully we can start touring places this week! :)

Getting over the jet lag

Hello folks! We are really here! It was a good and safe journey via plane and now Bryant and I are living out of suitcases in a British hotel. The accents here are going to take a LOT of getting used to. Sometimes Bryant and I have no clue they're speaking English sometimes. For instance, we are staying at a "Premier Inn Hotel" and the hotel clerk calls it the "PREM-yoo-EN." If we didn't know the name of the hotel and were talking to the lady on the phone I am 100% positive I would have no idea what she was talking about. We've already had our share of "I beg your pardon?" "What was that?" "Could you repeat?"

It is going to take a good level of patience for the next three years. :)

I was supposed to start working today but I couldn't sleep in the middle of the night for a few hours and when I woke up this morning at 0710 I was ill. I didn't go to work because of it, so slept some more and Bryant and I are trying so hard to get into the swing of things on England time. I never thought that working to get on a 6-hour time difference would be so painful!

Right now we found a good spot in the local pub where we can plug in our computer and lasso some free WiFi. We sit directly under the big screen TV and we have a sizable crowd watching the "football" game over our head. 

I keep hearing something about Valencia. Apparently it's not Danny Valencia.

I am sure soccer is a very captivating sport, but I cannot get out of my head the fact that the Milwaukee Brewers are the National League Central Division Champions! It is unfortunate that we moved to England right when they are at the top of their game. I love baseball!

Go Brewers!

On Our Way!

The day has arrived! Our bags our packed, our stuff is en route on either a plane or a cargo ship, we've checked out of our hotel, and checked into our flights. We are actually moving to England today.

Bags.

Boarding pass.

Passports.

Ok, so the photos were taken yesterday because we have no phones to connect so instantly to our blog! We sold my iPhone to my dad and sold Bryant's on eBay for a nice chunk of change. We are so glad to have made enough money on them to cover our contract cancellation fee. AT&T really gets ya on that contract!

This is seriously unreal that we are flying to England today... it has not sunk in at all. Even all the emotional good-byes haven't allowed the concept to get its grip into my brain. Maybe once we are there, bleary-eyed and greeted by a vehicle driving on the wrong side of the road, we will feel it. It has to happen sooner or later!

Cheerio and Farewell, America!

Hannah and Bryant

Katherine Joy & Eleanor Jane Walker

They are here! My little nieces have arrived. My sister was induced on Friday evening and at 8:43 & 8:45 PM (CDT) on 24 September 2011 babies Katherine and Eleanor were welcomed into the world. Aren't they just adorable?

I am so glad they were born before we leave! I got to Skype with the whole gang and even my mother who was fortunate to be there during the delivery. I love those little ones so much and I haven't even met them in person. We love you and are so proud of you, Rachel!

Today I had to buy a watch because I canceled my cell phone plan. Why are those two things related? Well, when you're constantly using a phone that tells you what time it is, what's the use in owning a wrist watch? I don't have a phone anymore and to make sure we don't miss our flight I thought maybe I should experience a blast from the past and buy a clunky bracelet that tells time.  :)

It's not even digital.

In other news.... We fly to England tomorrow! AH!

move week.

Wow! I am not sure if it's because we are married now and have a house worth of stuff for two instead of one, but I am not sure I expected this whole operation.

SUNDAY
We have moved into a hotel! We actually packed up our suitcases and left the apartment (we had to wash the sheets before packing them!). For some reason I was expecting the hotel clerk to ask my why I was checking into a hotel when I had a perfectly good apartment in Saint Paul and then proceed to refuse us a room. Fortunately that didn't happen.

MONDAY
The household goods move. We expected the movers to arrive between 8-9AM and in our anxiousness we called inquiring about their ETA at 9:15 (er, 0915 for you Europeans). Did they not realize that we were a couple of excited kids trying to prepare themselves to have ev.er.y.thing they own packed up and shipped over the ocean?! Apparently not. Well, timeliness would have been appreciated. Besides, Bryant got coffee for them and it was getting cold (he didn't want it to go to waste!) :)

0925: Joe and Dana arrive. Two 20-somethings who are here to touch all our stuff and box it all up while they're at it.
"Hi, I'm Hannah, this is Bryant."
"Hi. Joe, Dana. What do you not want packed?"
"Uh, just this here."
"Ok, thanks. We'll pack everything but that."
"Uh, ok. We'll just... I guess... stay out of the way as best as we can. Here is some coffee. And doughnuts."
"Sweet! Thanks!"

0927: It begins.

More than anything, it was harder to sit there and watch them do all of the work while we just stayed out of their way.

Two guys worked 2-3 rooms each and they packed and listened to their iPod or, like Joe here, talked to us about his European travels and how he was supposed to be in England right now playing Rugby. Lots of cardboard made its way into every open space and nine hours later everything that wasn't furniture was boxed up.

1200: Papa John's Pizza for everyone: brought to you by the ones who want to make sure their stuff is being treated well.

1600: A realization pops into Bryant's head.
"Oh, did you know we have a storage unit downstairs, too?"
"No. No, we didn't."
"Oh, yeah, that's down there."
"Oh, I guess we'll have to do that tomorrow."

1645: Dana and Joe leave.

TUESDAY


0830: Dana, Joe and Kevin arrive in a big truck.

0831: Kevin and Joe pack up the storage unit downstairs and Dana begins wrapping up all the furniture.

Storage Room Stuff

1000: The truck starts getting loaded. We are thanking God that it isn't raining!

1230: Lunch again, this time Jimmy John's. Seems to hit the spot for everyone. (success!)

1330: It's beginning to feel like we're watching a human-sized Tetris game without Korobeiniki playing in the background. 

1630: All done! The truck drives away... I had to get a video.

1845: Twins Game! Our final one for a while. It's depressing, but we prepared for cold weather and for a Twin's loss... which happened. It's ok, though, because we had fun and great seats! Bryant won these tickets, too. :)

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I got my hair cut! Maybe I'll post about that later...

WEDNESDAY

I went to work in the morning and the ladies from work took us out to a farewell lunch. After saying some sad goodbyes :( we had to go back to the apartment and wait for a new set of guys to come and pack up our second shipment (yes, there were two of them). This one is called "unaccompanied baggage" because it will go on a plane to England instead of a ship. We sent our clothes, bicycles and computer because it should get there next month.

1400: They're here!

1500: They're done!

That was easy.

THURSDAY
Bryant cleaned the apartment and checked out of the apartment while I was at work... and we sold our car.

So Empty.

Bye, car! 

FRIDAY (today)
I went to work and we realize that we are homeless, car-less, and stuff-less. Strange...

We said a lot of goodbyes at my office today and this weekend it's the family's turn for farewells.

My sister is giving birth to her twins as I type (she is in Washington) and my mom is flying out to see her tomorrow morning. I am SO jealous!!

Three more days before liftoff!

Sincerely,
the nomads