Living

So, the last post was made from the furnished security of my temporary flat in Kissing. I have been occupying my present flat for just over a month now and it has worked out wonderfully.

Many painful trips to IKEA have provided a reasonable amount of furniture at a bargain (although not insubstantial) price. Assembling it was painful and time consuming, putting in light fittings doubly so. A surfeit of boxes and a hastily shut boot managed to crack my front windscreen through the wonder of direct cardboard contact front to back.

The position of the flat could not be better, the journey to work is but a short 20 minutes by bicycle, the kitchen works, the washing machine is bearable. Things are comfortable, it is a place to which I look forward to returning after work.

My landlord/lady are both absolutely lovely and were it not for them I would not have got an affordable garage space in which to leave the car. Needless to say, getting a residents' permit for an English car involves changing the number-plates. This needs German insurance, which needs TÜV for English cars, as well as new headlamps and description documents. No thanks. The car gets plastered by Umweltzonebußgeldverwarnungszetteln with high regularity. As I don't use it in town (the irony...) I am anticipating vast fines in the near future.

Ummeldung was as painless as these things can be. 2 hours waiting is manageable... A letter arrives in the post warning me I need to send an Arbeitsbestätigung for the "Vollzug des Freizügigkeitsgesetzes der EU". Irritation ensues, HR departments are pestered for documentation. A few days pass. Another letter arrives telling me that actually I don't need to send anything, because the appropriate material has been obtained from my previous Behörden. AAAAAA!!!