“Boxes within boxes.” That’s how the guy at the cell phone store described “official” life in England, and right now, I would have to agree. More on that in a bit, but first: Christmas!

Sunday was a church day, of course. Again, the people of London Street URC have embraced us in a way that reminds me of my last church, only here we’re just average parishioners, not the pastor. We received a few Christmas presents from members, including one book on the history of the URC that I’m looking forward to diving into. Rev. Kay preached a sermon that finished with the giving of Christingles (click here for some of the history of them). After a long winter nap, Kyla and the girls made Christmas cookies from scratch. They weren’t attractive, but they turned out pretty good.

Christmas Day (Tuesday) was the big day of the week. The girls opened presents, then we walked up to top of town for church. It was a wonderful service, but the real fun was afterward. The church hosts a Christmas Dinner for anyone in the community without a place to be. Everyone from the homeless to the mayor was there. The mayor was actually the host of our table. We have a lot in common politically, so we got on extremely well. So much so that he gave us a ride home after the meal. And we really needed it. It was two plus hours of solid eating.

It began with some crackers and pâté. Didn’t tell Kyla and the girls that means it had “liver” until later. Then they brought some crisps (potato chips) and other snacks. Then they served the meal. Turkey, dressing, gravy, peas and carrots, Brussel sprouts, bread sauce (no idea), chips (fries) and fried potatoes. Dessert included a traditional English pudding. We opened Christmas crackers, wore the silly hats, sang hymns, the pastor gave us presents, and we went home just in time to see the Queen’s Christmas speech.

On Wednesday, I went for a little walk by myself. Just south of Basingstoke is a little village called Cliddesden and I decided to explore. I had to cross the M3 motorway by footbridge to get there. I’ve included a picture below. About 50 miles in that direction lies downtown London. I also included a picture of a nice little thatch-roofed house I found. I had no idea that was still a thing.

Thursday was a mix of fun and “boxes within boxes” frustration. In the morning we had an appointment at the bank to FINALLY get our bank account. Opening an account is such a chore, especially for foreigners, that you can’t just walk in and do it, an appointment has to be made. It took close to an hour and a half and it’s applying for an account. They very much have the option of refusing, so it’s a bit nerve-wracking to go through the process. On the other hand, you can open an account without putting any actual money in it, which seems weird to me. Having a U.K. bank account is absolutely critical. I couldn’t get a job without one. Kyla can’t get paid without one. No car insurance without one. Not even a cell phone contract. We’ve had to be on a Pay As You Go plan. Maybe it’s as complicated for an immigrant in America, but man, it’s something you take for granted growing up in your home country.

After that bit of officialdom, we had been invited for lunch by a couple at church. They live just north of town in a small village. They’re a wonderful couple, both retired schoolteachers, both extremely gracious to the girls. After a meal that began with a cup of tea and ended with trifle, the couple played board games with the girls before giving us a ride back to Basingstoke.

On Friday, now that we have a bank account, I could finally get us set up with the utility companies. They’d turned everything on, of course, but they had this thing about getting paid, so I spent the morning calling and logging onto web sites getting Direct Debits set up. In the afternoon, I went to look at a car in a neighborhood east of town called Old Basing. It’s old, but for $800, what do you expect? It’s got an automatic transmission and no mechanical problems, so that’s all I’m really looking for right now. Which leads to the next frustrating moment: the purchasing of auto insurance.

The fact that I’ve been driving for 21 years with no accidents and only one ticket means absolutely nothing over here. From their point of view, I’m a new driver. So, the first step was establishing that I’m not. Thankfully our insurance agent, Laura Sanders from Allstate, was able to send me a letter establishing our clean record. BUT, even then, part of what they look at is credit score, which again, doesn’t exist over here. Despite our good to great score in the States, here I’m a bum. So, the first quote we got, through a recommended agency, was $1200/year. Not unaffordable, but considering it’s for one car worth $800, that’s kind of insane. I was paying not much more than that for 2 cars, both newer, one significantly so, back home. Our bank offers auto insurance and they quote us $850, which still seems high, but at least not ridiculously so. I’ve also got a quote request in with Geico, who provides insurance to expats through partners in the U.K. The upshot is that they supposedly take your US record/credit into account, so we’ll see how that goes.

Today we decided to have some fun. We went into town center and had lunch at a little cafe. I had a Full English breakfast, which was fantastic. Then we let the girls spend a bit of their Christmas money. (We’re spreading it out so they get to enjoy it for longer). Lizzy got a GIANT unicorn, which she had to carry back on the bus. Molly got a smaller unicorn and then a stuffed fox.

I know these posts are rather infrequent right now, but again this is due to a lack of internet access at home. The hub arrived in the post yesterday, and it’s supposed to go live on January 2nd. After that, I won’t have the excuse, er, the inconvenience of coming to the pub for wi-fi. Check back late next week for another update.