The UK and Halloween

(our apartment is in the middle white building) :)
We finally made it to the UK a few days ago and have been getting settled. We have a super cute apartment right near the beach. There is also a really sweet little village where we walk to get groceries and whatnot. The place is fantastic.

Positive things about the UK:
a) They LOVE dogs. The pups are everywhere and allowed to go everywhere
b) the villages are wonderful and I love walking around them
c) I like shopping at the butcher, baker, farmer's market etc rather than a big grocer
d) We are staying at the most wonderful little spot on the beach and even though it is cool and cloudy it is SO nice to walk along.
e) They allow dogs on the beach and I can't wait to bring Daisy and Cash to run and play and swim!
f) The history! We went up to the town up north and there were ROMAN ruins still intact. We live on the river Ex which William the Conquerer used to bring Exeter to its knees. That is AWESOME.
g) There are swans everywhere. They are considered to be the Queens so no one can hurt/kill/eat them. They walk right up to you and expect you to feed them bread.

Negative things about the UK:
a) the weather sucks
b) they won't accept my amex card because I didn't sign the back of it even though I have about a zillion forms of photo id to prove I am the person whose name is on the card. Is verifying the signature on the back of the card more reliable than looking at my PHOTO AND MY FACE and verifying the fact that I am the card holder!?!?! Really?
c) It is expensive and the exchange rate isn't exactly working in our favor
d) see the story below.

(The positives definately out weigh the negatives. There are always little difficulties upon arrival in any country as the little things are worked out.)

There have been some frustrations in our operation. My main goal is to get cell phones and internet access. In the UK, one must have a British bank account and a credit or debit card with a microchip in it in order to get a contract for a cell phone or internet. One must also have the same bank account and whatnot in order to rent a house long term. So.....we went to the bank to set up an account. We took a million documents to include passports, driver's license, printed out bank statements, orders, etc. They were UNABLE to open the account because we didn't have proof of our address. We are currently renting an apartment for the month through a hotel. The bank wanted something like an electric bill with our name and the address printed on it. The receipt for payment of the rent was not enough. (the funny thing is that you can't get power, water, gas, etc turned on without a BANK ACCOUNT!) Then the rude banker guy said that if we got a letter from the commandant of the base where the husband will work verifying his assignment then it would be sufficient. Our official US government orders were not enough.
We collected our things and left the bank.

On our walk back to the apartment we saw another bank and tried there. These people were much more polite and found our documentation sufficient to open the account. So we made it happen.

I WAS SO EXCITED because that meant we could get cell phones and internet and actually have communication that does not require a trip up the hill to the pub to use the wi-fi. So we headed to the phone place. I had spent the last five days pouring over the different offers and deciding which would be the best fit for us. I knew exactly what we wanted and couldn't wait to get it all taken care of. I practically skipped to the phone place. (they have one single phone place that combines the offers and phones from all the companies that provide service in the country - convinient)

We got to the phone store, I told them what we wanted, we spent about a MILLION years doing the paperwork and providing all the details. The clerk put it all into the computer and we waited for another million years for the system to do our credit check, confirm our bank account ect. We waited and waited and the kids got antsy which translates to naughty. Finally we were called up to the desk, I was ready to get my phone and call my mama, but then we were told that because we hadn't been in the UK long enough the system was unable to determine our UK credit rating and we had ben DENIED the phones and the internet service. The lady told me that we should use the UK bank account for a month or more and then come back and try again. It was possible that the UK credit rating would be developed enough by then. If not, we should wait another month or so. WTF!

Upset isn't even the word I would use to describe how I felt upon leaving the phone place.
SO....for now we are still without comm but are traveling to one of the US bases tomorrow. We hope there will be some sort of service for personnel on base that understands our situation as there are many more people in a similar position on the bases.

Keep your fingers crossed.

On a happier note, I have attached a could of Halloween photos. The Baby Bean dressed as a sweet little moo cow. The Little Bean wanted to be a princess but after we got her costume together she FREAKED out and refused to wear it. There is only one photo where she is wearing the dress, not the crown, not the shoes, not the gloves, not the necklace, earings, etc. The Big Bean briefly dressed as a beautiful fairy/butterfly/goofball.