Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with UK

Cost of living in Leicester, UK?

Anonymous — Tue, 14 May 2013 11:30:21 -0800

I'm a US Federal Employee considering a position I've been offered at a University in Leicester. The salary I've been offered seems reasonable to me (~£42k per annum, I now make about $80k but it's more than we need to live on), but I'd like to hear from people who live in the UK what this really means. I would bring my husband and school-aged child. My husband plans to get a job there, but he's been a stay-at-home dad for a while so it may not be easy. We have about $18k in savings, but I'd rather not dip into this too much. We also have a house here that we will have to sell when we leave. We bought the house for less than it was worth and made substantial improvements, so I don't think it will be too much of a problem, but we may have to cover the mortgage for a few months after we leave.

Looking for a good Leather goods repairers/restorers in the UK

drill_here_fore_seismics — Wed, 08 May 2013 15:11:43 -0800

I am looking for someone in the UK to restore/repair a leather writing case. Any recommendations? It needs relining (and therefore reconstructing essentially). It used to belong to my Grandmother and I would love to get it restored to it's former glory.

Help me conquer my fear of joining a UK dual carriageway or motorway.

pootler — Sat, 04 May 2013 10:31:59 -0800

I'm scared of driving. But I'm determined to get over it and making great progress. There are some great questions and answers on the green about conquering fear of driving and they've helped me a lot. But I have a specific fear that towers over all the others, and I think that if I can just get over this, I will be a shedload more confident in driving in other situations. Here's the problem: joining a dual carriageway from a slip road on UK roads makes me cry. And thereafter my brain turns to blancmange and I screw up everything else I do on the drive, even changing gears. My intelligence seems to completely leave me the second I get onto a slip road. It's weird because in every other scary situation in my life, I am an ocean of calm and rationality.

I'm getting back into driving 20 years after passing my test (first time!) and not really having driven since I passed. I'm driving on easy roads independently, taking lessons with an instructor, I'm reading the books, and watching the videos, and I've read all the tips I can find on this online, but still this manoevre scares the bejeezus out of me more than anything else in the whole wide world. I can overtake, I can manage simple roundabouts, I can do busy junctions. But this? Pants-wettingly scary.

My instructor doesn't seem to be able to give me any magic trick to make this better, so we just go round and round, joining and exiting the dual carriageway until I'm exhausted. (He's actually a great teacher and I'm fully convinced that it's the panicky brain mushiness that's making this seemingly unlearnable.)

I know I'm supposed to build up my speed on the slip road, and just slide into a suitable gap in the traffic on the dual carriageway or motorway, but it seems as sure a thing to me as a game of roulette. What if that gap I've got my eye on isn't there any more at the same time as my car reaches the carriageway, or even worse, before the slip road ends? How do you know it's the right gap? How do you judge how fast and close the cars behind you on the dual carriageway are? What if you've built up your speed and haven't got time to stop if the gap is gone? What if the cars in the left hand lane don't move or slow down for you?

Every book and video I've pored over to learn how to do this makes it look so simple, as though OF COURSE there's always a gap, and OF COURSE we can just fit right into it. Tada! But every time I try it in the real world, I feel like I'm about to launch myself at 60 or 70 miles an hour into a whole row of cars and I have no confidence at all that they won't slam into me and crush my little Aygo like a ball of tin foil.

If you had this fear, how did you get over it? Are there tricks for judging it right?

How should I dress when seeing a musical

A Kingdom for a Donkey — Wed, 01 May 2013 04:37:52 -0800

I'm seeing The Book of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London this week. I've never been to a musical before. How should I dress? I did find this question in the archives, do the same rules apply here in the UK? The current plan is to go with what I typically wear: checked shirt/jeans/chucks.

Please recommend a UK based web hosting company

kenchie — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 02:36:16 -0800

It has been a few years since I last needed to own a website - the need has arisen again and I am looking for recommendations for a decent UK based hosting company. Thanks!

Dorking around in Manchester, UK

carter — Sun, 28 Apr 2013 06:24:47 -0800

Fingers crossed, I'll have a spare (if probably jet-lagged) day in Manchester, UK, soon, and am looking for a thing or two to do. The sort of stuff I go for includes museums (science/technology, art, transport), history, industrial archaeology, cool architecture (Calatrava style), walking about, local cheap/take-out food, that sort of thing. Thanks! Something along the lines of this question from The Whelk from a couple of years ago, I'm assuming there may be new things to do.

Dialect in "The Singing Detective"?

Johnny Assay — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 05:33:43 -0800

What is the regional dialect/accent in the childhood scenes in the British miniseries "The Singing Detective"? Does it have a name? Does it still exist today? I've been watching the 1987 miniseries "The Singing Detective", and have been enjoying it quite a bit. Some of the scenes, such as this one, involve flashbacks to the main character's youth in a small coal-mining community in the early '40s. The dialect of the father and the grandparents in that scene (and in other scenes) is fascinating to me, even if I usually have to put the closed captions on to understand what they're saying. It seems to use "thou" and "thee" (and "hast") quite a bit, as well as "ben't" instead of "isn't".

Were there rural communities that spoke like this in the 1940s? If so, where were they? I don't know enough about UK geography to pick up on other clues that might be in there either, so if you've seen the series and know the answer, feel free to chime in. Finally, if I went to those places today, would I still hear people talking that way?

(Oh, and one last request: I've only seen half of the miniseries so far, so if you're going to reveal any major plot points, please use SPOILER tags.)

How can I interview for the open-term job, not the fixed-term job?

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:59:00 -0800

So I applied for an academic position in the UK and I've been invited to interview (yay!). Only just now I realized that they were advertising for two positions, one of which is fixed-term. The two positions were listed consecutively with the same title, so I applied for the fixed-term position instead of the open-term one. They will be interviewing all of the candidates over a few days, (3 candidates for one position and 3 for the other) and I think they are doing that so they have a bigger pool for both positions. My problem is that I am not at all interested in a fixed term position. I have a permanent US federal job that I enjoy but I would leave to take a teaching job elsewhere.

So my question is when to say that I want to be considered for the open-term position (but not for the fixed term one)? I could say so now and find out that they weren't interested in me for the open-term job and save us all some trouble. (I kind of want to do this to avoid the hassle of international travel during a busy time for me but it seems gauche.) I could just ask whether the candidates for the fixed term position might also be considered for the open term position, without explicitly saying that I would not take the fixed term position. I could say so when I'm there and hope that they'll consider me for the open-term position.

Towns to use as a home base in Scotland?

asnowballschance — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 09:56:18 -0800

My family will be spending 10 days road tripping through Scotland in May. There will be four adults (myself, my husband, and my retired parents), and one 18 month old toddler. What towns will work best as bases for exploring surrounding areas? We'd like to see a bit of everything (castles, highlands, whiskey distilleries, etc). I put together a very ambitious itinerary that has us sleeping in a new town every night. Yikes yikes yikes.

We'd much rather be able to spend a few nights in the same place. We'd like to see Edinburgh, the Highlands, the Isle of Syke, and the Glencoe area. We'd planned on spending our last two nights at a resort on the Isle of Arran, but we're flexible if someone has a better idea (seriously? a resort? someone has *got* to have a better idea).

Will Inverness make an OK base for all of the highlands and the Isle of Skye? Or is it too far away from some points? Is there a smaller or more central town that would be better? Should we consider splitting up that part of the trip? Fort William seems to be very central as well, but everyone I've spoken with has been "meh" about the food and surrounding area. Does it make an OK base, while we explore other areas? Do you have suggestions for B&Bs in those areas?

We are SO excited about this trip, but I'd really like to find a way to slow the pace down a little bit.

Tag along questions: What are your favorite parks and picnic spots? Outdoor markets? Tourist-y type things that won't require my toddler being quiet for longer than a few minutes at a time?

Should I attempt legal action to get this invoice paid?

little cow make small moo — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:05:21 -0800

A collection agency in the UK is trying to collect an unpaid invoice for me. Their initial efforts have failed; should I authorize them to go ahead with legal action? (Details and earlier question inside.) This is (regrettably) a follow-up to my earlier question regarding debt collection: http://ask.metafilter.com/237633/Help-with-debt-collection

I followed some of the advice there (thank you!) and sent a registered letter of demand to the company, but did not hear back, unsurprisingly. Once the date I mentioned in the letter passed I got in touch with another translator who said he had gotten payment from the same company but only after using a debt collection agency in the UK. I sent my unpaid invoice to the agency, and they began collection activities. (I think this just means calling and sounding serious and official at them.) So far I haven't paid them anything -- the deal was 5% of amount recovered, which was fine by me.

I got an email from the debt collection agency today saying that their initial efforts had not been successful, that the company director claimed he was unable to pay and was attempting to sell the business (good luck?!), and do I want them to move to the next step: legal proceedings? (Apparently they are doing so on behalf of another client with the same company already.)

I haven't written back yet, since this seems like the point at which I should consider whether it's worth getting in deeper or not.

According to the contract I was sent, the amount of the debt (a little under $9K) is more than the Small Claims limit in the UK, but I think that might have changed at the beginning of this month? In which case maybe it would be worthwhile to pursue. I'm afraid of actually having to go to court and racking up fees and still not getting any of the payment, but I also don't want to just let this amount of money go without putting up a fight. As far as I can tell the company is still contracting with translators and occasionally -- but mostly not -- paying them. There are also different fees depending on whether it is defended or undefended -- I have no idea whether the translation company is likely to send someone to court to dispute this or what.

So, should I move forward with legal action or is this a waste of time and money? Right now I'm composing a response to the guy at the collection agency to ask how likely it is that they'll be able to get any payment through legal action if the business is in fact failing, what category my debt would fall into, and exactly what legal steps they would take. Are there other questions I should ask to help decide whether to do this or to give up?

Man, I'd really just like to get paid for this work I did almost a year ago. Ugh.

Can you recommend companies for travel insurance? (For UK resident)

philipy — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:32:09 -0800

Can you recommend companies for travel insurance? (For UK resident) A quick look via comparison sites and media articles suggests that there are companies that appear to provide adequate cover for a lot less than the big brand names that I'm familiar with. Is that really the case, or is there some downside?

E.g. I got single-trip quotes for an upcoming short European trip, and HolidaySafe has reasonable cover for £7-8, while the First Direct quote was close to £25.

Anyone have experiences dealing with the likes of holidaysafe.co.uk, coverforyou.com?

Any recommendations for companies that you have had good experiences with, which also provide good value for money?

Advice on planning a solo UK trip

ilicet — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 07:16:48 -0800

I'll be traveling around the UK for the last two weeks of June (Oxford, Bath, Edinburgh, York, London). I've never traveled abroad solo and would appreciate some tips/advice! I plan to visit Oxford (+Blenheim Palace), Bath (+Glastonbury Tor, Salisbury/Stonehenge), Edinburgh, York, and London. I might make day trips from London to other towns but that's up in the air for now.

- Found places to stay in Oxford and London via friends, but no idea about Bath, Edinburgh, and York. I've been looking up hostels/B&Bs (TripAdvisor, hostelbookers), but the few places my friends recommended are booked at that time already--and frankly, I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the options. Any recommendations for places to stay?

- Tips for efficient travel and cheaper costs. I'm a student, and while I've been saving quite a bit so I'm not restricted by a shoestring budget, any such info would still be helpful to know.

- Would you recommend squeezing in time for the Lake District? I prefer leisurely rather than fast-paced travel, but have heard so many positive comments about the Lake District and its natural beauty that I wonder if I should add another destination to the itinerary.

- What to do! I like: tasty food, museums, historical sites, lovely natural sights, cozy pubs, bookstores, and random unusual shops. I am not curious about: nightclubs, sports. I've already read through these AskMes re: London and Edinburgh but know much less about York and Bath other than the major tourist places. Local food specialty/restaurant recommendations would be fantastic! And regardless, I'd appreciate any suggestions for less-well-known sights that I shouldn't miss, based on people's personal experiences.

Lastly, if you have any tips on traveling solo (re: security; I'm not worried about loneliness), that'd be wonderful. Thank you!

House for sale

nicolin — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 08:11:24 -0800

How to advertise a small French property in the classifieds ? As a follow-up to some of my previous questions, I'd like to ask where to advertise a house for sale in the UK / Irish / any English-speaking place media and Internet. I'm looking for cheap classifieds, of course, but would consider other options, if not too expensive.

The background : my mother has inherited from her father, she has done some refurbishing and now she's just crushed under her loans and debts. So, we want to sell my late grandfather's house. It's now completely refurbished and I think it might appeal to someone who wants to retire in a real quiet and rural place, or someone who wants to live in a very quiet, nice, pretty and secure neighbourhood.

The state of the economy here (south of France) doesn't leave much hope to find investors soon. So I want to broaden our prospects by reaching UK, Ireland and maybe people who want to change gears, wherever they are.

So, in a nutshell : could you give us the right place to put our ads, on the Internet or the press ?

Thanks !

What's broken: shower, tank, pump, thermostat, boiler, or all??

ajp — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 02:34:03 -0800

I live in rented accommodation in the UK. The hot water is scaldingly hot. The radiators burn to touch. The shower temperature is hugely unreliable -- scalding or freezing. The landlord is worried that a plumber will rip him off, based on bad experiences in the past, and unwilling to pay to investigate. Can you help me understand what's going on? I'd like to put my landlord's mind at rest regarding plumbers, and set his expectations regarding likely diagnoses and solutions -- and hence cost. I also suspect this situation is wasting energy and hence driving up the cost of heating bills. I'd like to persuade the landlord that fixing it might be a good idea. Hi all.

First, I fully appreciate that I should most definitely get a plumber. However I'd like to fully understand the situation so I can ensure that appropriate work is carried out. I'd also like to convince the landlord that the situation can be rectified (he prefers to ignore it) and that fixing it may save him money in heating bills.

I'd also like to be able to diagnose what's going on, so if anyone has any debugging tips, that would be greatly appreciated.

Plumbing and heating are typical UK: hot and cold water tanks; mixer tap in the non-electric shower; gas central heating. More details below.

The irritating symptoms of this situation are:

# Hot water that is scaldingly hot -- certainly you can't hold a hand under a running hot water tap. To me, this means that the water is being heated to an unnecessarily high temperature. The temperature seems constant, and unrelated to thermostat settings.

# The central heating radiators are very hot to touch.

# The hot water and central heating only work if *both* are turned on. Neither works in isolation. This doesn't seem right.

# Very unreliable shower temperature. Either scalding or freezing. The mixer tap is certainly touchy, but the water flow is odd. It starts off powerful, then after a minute slows to a trickle of piping hot water. Turning it off then on again restarts this cycle.

# Mixer taps in the ground floor kitchen seem to produce reliable temperature water. The hot is still far, far too hot, but the cold is reliable and so an acceptable temperature mix can be produced. The same cannot be said of bathroom mixer taps upstairs -- the cold water seems to be far too low in pressure.

The hardware:

# Shower upstairs (2nd storey). This is a simple mixer unit with hot and cold pipes. It's not electric. I've noticed that if I take the shower head off the holder and lower it into the bath, the water pressure increases a little.

# Thermostat in the lounge. The plastic dial is broken, but I can get hold of the pin at the centre of the dial and turn it. I can hear it go "click" as I turn it to and fro, which I'd assumed meant it was functional, and detecting temperature accurately. However considering the problems I'm describing, I'm not so sure. It's an old Honeywell, like this.

# Control panel for hot water and central heating timers. This seems to work fine -- if the timers are off, no more hot water is produced. It's an ACL Drayton panel a bit like this, but an older model.

# Boiler? I've no idea where this is. However the gas fire in the lounge makes a dull wooshing noise while the heating is on, so I suspect it's behind there.

# Hot water tank, plus possible thermostat (2nd storey). This is a typical metal cylinder clad with foam insulation. It has some sort of thermostat strapped to it. This was on the outside of the foam cladding, next to a gap in the cladding. I've moved it into that gap, so it's touching the metal surface of the cylinder. This has made no difference to the situation. There's an electric switch next to it, presumably for the immersion heater. I turned this off a few months ago, but it's made no difference.

# Hot water pump for the shower. This is small, noisy unit that takes hot water from the hot water tank, and pumps it into the shower. The pump is above the hot water tank, and the shower is in the room next door. This pump is new -- the previous pump developed a split, probably due to a kink in the piping causing a build-up of back-pressure.

# Cold water tank in the attic (3rd storey).

I think that's everything!

Any thoughts??

:)

Owning a car in Ireland as a Dual Citizen (USA and IRELAND) living in US

aelish — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 13:55:31 -0800

Is it possible for a person with dual citizenship (USA and Ireland; residing in the USA) to register and get insurance for an automobile in Ireland (the north of Ireland to be specific) if the person does not reside in Ireland? And if so, how? Family members and I travel to Ireland quite frequently and are finding it very expensive to rent cars while there (public transportation is not really an option). One member of the family has dual citizenship (USA and Republic of Ireland). We have the means to purchase a used car, but are wondering what documentation is necessary to register that car and get proper insurance.

I've looked at the DVLNI and think it's possible to register the vehicle with the information we currently have, but cannot be 100% sure. (I have an address that I can use in the north of Ireland which is where the vehicle would be kept - it would also be typically driven the local area.)

Unfortunately, I don't have anyone there who can put the vehicle in their name and get insurance (to which me or my family could then be added).

Any help is appreciated!

Appropriate corporate travel policy for cost conscious SME in the UK?

BOfH — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 09:26:38 -0800

You run a growing private limited company in the UK. Turnover between 2 and 5M with a close eye on costs. Your employees sometimes need to travel at weekends or in their own time in evenings. You keep them happy, and remain profitable. How? I am wrestling with what is fair and reasonable, and affordable, for a company of this size.

Assuming a standard 9-5 day, what extra travel is reasonable to expect if an employee is visiting a customer site for the day (or two)? At what point should we be giving time off in lieu or compensating for lost hours? Instinct says that any weekend travel should be given back, but I'm less clear on boundaries for daily travel.

If you've made this work at a similar sized organisation, what policy did you end up with?

Especially interested in data from surveys of similar sized organisations, or actual data points from people currently in this size, or have been through it.

Visiting the Forest of Dean

Put the kettle on — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 06:50:17 -0800

Looking for travel advice on going to the Forest of Dean. Complication: no car. My father and I would like to visit the Forest of Dean in May. (We're both American, but I live in London and he's flying over.) I'm starting to do some research, but I'd really appreciate any advice from people who have been there. We don't have any experience driving stick or driving on the left side of the road, so we're not going to rent a car. I realize this may cause difficulties, but I'm hoping we can work around it. We'll be taking the train and are open to other trains, buses, walking, or maybe bikes. We are both pretty active and mainly just enjoy walking for hours, with bonus points for beautiful settings.

We mainly just want to explore the forest, so any suggestions for that or for other activities nearby would be great. I would like to see Puzzlewood if that's possible. Anything interesting and historical would also be good.

Where would be a good place to stay for our trip? Ideally, we'd like a B&B that we can walk to the forest from.

Any other information about the area will be gratefully received!

Investing while in the US on a fixed term contract

caek — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 08:28:52 -0800

I know I should be talking to an financial planner/adviser about this, and I will do, but... I am British. I'm going to be living and working in the U.S. for somewhere between one and three years. I will probably return to the UK afterwards, but there is a chance I will stay in the U.S. forever. I would rate that chance at about 50/50. I would like to save a fraction of my income while in the U.S., and I would like those savings to grow. I would like to retain at least the possibility of suddenly withdrawing them if and when I leave the U.S. I understand there will be fees and taxes involved in such a withdrawal, but I would of course like to minimize them. And I would like to balance this possibility against the possibility that I will be staying forever, and should make a start on saving for retirement. My salary will be mid-five figures. Over three years I will probably be able to save around $10,000, so this is not a huge amount of money, but it's enough money to matter to me! As far as I can tell, my options are:

Make voluntary contributions to the 401(k) offered by my employer.

Invest post-tax income in a Roth IRA

Invest post-tax income in a regular investment account, e.g. a cash savings account (do these have a name?) or just a regular purchase of a Vanguard-type index tracker (I can do that, right? I don't have to invest via an IRA or 401(k), right? What should I be Googling for this option?)

Presumably, if I knew I were staying in the U.S., this is easy: the 401(k) is the best option. But am I right in thinking that, if I leave the U.S., with these options:

I can withdraw the entire 401(k) immediately, but I will have to pay income tax on the entire amount of the withdrawal + a 10% penalty

I can withdraw the Roth IRA after a waiting ("seasoning"?) period of five years after the last contribution. I don't pay income tax on the principal, but I pay income tax on the growth, and I have to pay the 10% penalty.
I can withdraw the regular savings/investments whenever I like. There are no penalties. Presumably I will pay income tax on the growth ("capital gains"?) at some point (annually, or at withdrawal?)

Have I got that right? And if so, how do I choose between these options? It seems like over a three year term the Roth IRA and and the 401(k) will work out about the same because the difference between compounding pre- and post-tax principal over such a short time will be small. But the 401(k) is easier/quicker to withdraw when my employment ends? Does the private, non-tax-sheltered savings/investment account even exist? Presumably that's the simplest of all?

(My employer will make contributions to a 401(k) after my second anniversary of employment (i.e. for the last year), but, unless I'm totally misreading the papework, the existence/size of those contributions in independent of the size of mine, so their contributions are not relevant. For the purposes of this decision, it's just free money that I can't do anything about.)

What UK Legal Implications are there with documenting bad service online

dougrayrankin — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 05:00:41 -0800

What are the legal implications if I start a blog documenting the poor service my property manager provides, and asking others to share their opinions of this firm? I can speak for the factual accuracy of my own experiences (I have their letters and invoices etc, as well as my responses), but what about others? This question seems a bit above my level, but basically I am having a nightmare with my property managment firm who are (amongst other things) invoicing me for periods when I didn't own the property, agreeing to waive a fee and then issuing another invoice in which said fee has reappeared, failing to respond to direct queries of mine (I email a direct question, they write back as though they didn't even see that part of the email), failing (despite me now having asked four times) to send out a direct debit mandate, attempting to force membership of a communal buildings insurance policy for considerably more per month than my current buildings AND contents policy costs... the list goes on. Already this firm sees their name appended in Google's autocomplete with words like "suck", "rubbish", "complaints" and "terrible". I'd like to provide a focal point for those with a frustration to state their case, and then to make sure that anyone searching for the firm sees all of these just as prominently as the firm itself. It is an attempt to shame the firm into improving its service.

Easter Weekend, starting in London, going where?

psycheslamp — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:24:09 -0800

Due to a last-minute work trip and a big difference in plane ticket prices, I have from Thursday evening through to a 2 PM Heathrow departure Monday free to go exploring. Where should I go and what should I do? Generally speaking, I like good food, local color, places of historical interest, and pretty scenery. I've done most of the major London tourist destinations, so my preference would be to go explore somewhere new. I'll be alone, but I've travelled solo before and enjoyed it, so that's unlikely to be a concern. Planes, trains and busses are all options, though renting a car and trying to drive on the wrong side of the road is something I'd like to avoid. Time is much more a limiting factor on this trip than money, but I'd rather stay in a quirky local bed and breakfast than a bland luxury hotel. There's no reason I have to stay in the UK, though I'd like to be efficient about my travel time.

My one concern is that since it's Easter weekend, will all of the places I want to see either be closed, or booked up weeks in advance? Where would I be most likely to find open restaurants and attractions or, even better, special celebratory activities like festivals, concerts, etc? Anything else I should plan in advance around the holiday?

I'm counting on your suggestions for an awesome, impromptu holiday!

Applying for a civil ceremony in the UK

prune — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 13:55:59 -0800

We're getting married in a civil ceremony in London, UK this autumn and I have a couple of questions about dealing with the registrar. We're not getting married at a registry office but at another venue. The venue and date are pencilled in but before we go ahead with the booking, the venue has suggested that we make sure a registrar will be available for the date/time we would prefer. Apparently the registrars get booked up really quickly.

I've looked at the website for the registrar in question and it advises that it will be necessary to visit in person to 'give notice'. My question is, will it be possible to book a registrar for the wedding, even provisionally, and then visit later to give notice and do the rest of the checks/paperwork? Or is it impossible to line up a registrar until all these formalities have been completed? Visiting in person will be difficult for a couple of weeks, and I don't want to lose our venue slot (or be too late to book a registrar for the time we want).

Also, we are getting married in Islington, London, but live elsewhere (and not in the same area as each other). The website seems to suggest that giving notice has to be done in the area you live in, not the area you're getting married in. So do we give notice in each of our home districts, and then just book the registrar with Islington? It's very confusing!

I'll be calling the registrar tomorrow but just wondered if someone out there could advise on how this works, so that I'm better prepared for the call. Thanks.

The Transatlantic Librarian

Isingthebodyelectric — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 09:37:37 -0800

Give me insight, tips, and strategies for transitioning from American to British librarianship. My husband (British citizen) and I (American) currently live in the US, but are considering moving to England. We're not yet sure where we'll be located.

I have an MLIS and nearly 4 years of professional experience as a librarian. I've worked in a research library/archive, a small business school library, and am now employed as a reference/electronic resource librarian at a community college.

Right now my job includes instruction, reference, web development, electronic resource management, library media, programming, and publicity. I do not currently perform cataloging or collection development, but have done so in past positions. Areas of expertise include Humanities (Language, Literature, History, Art), Social Sciences (Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, Business), and Culinary Science.

I'm hoping to find employment in an academic library in England. I will not begin applying for jobs until I have a visa (through my husband) and eligibility to work, so I do not need a university to sponsor my visa.

Things I'm already doing/plan on doing:
1. Searching for jobs on LISJobNet.
2. Setting up a couple of informational interviews with academic librarians (probably in London) to ask questions and make contacts.
3. Browsing some university library websites to get a sense of what types of resources are offered to students, and how they're presented.
4. Making sure that my application materials are correctly sized and have the right date & phone number format! :)

But I have so many questions!

1. Do I need to apply for chartership with CILIP? Would that be a prerequisite for being considered for a position?

2. What are some of the key differences between working in this field in the US and UK? In particular, I wondered about: electronic resources, citation styles, research, and instruction. But any insight regarding cultural differences would also be appreciated!

3. Are there any good information sources regarding this type of transition?

4. Would a librarian trained in the US be particularly qualified/desired for any specific type of position?

5. Can you share any anecdotes about working in, or using, academic libraries in both countries?

Thanks in advance for your guidance!

Converting a US-formatted Microsoft Word document to UK formatting?

dhens — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 11:28:48 -0800

Is there a way (a macro perhaps?) to change the spellings and punctuation in a Microsoft Word document (.docx) from "American" style to "British" (or should I say, 'British') style in one fell swoop? I have a manuscript which I wrote to submit to an American academic journal in the humanities. After being rejected by this journal, I am looking to submit it to a British journal. This latter journal wants UK spellings and punctuation -- that is, single quotation marks ('like this') for main quotes and double quotation marks (I said, 'John told me "be careful" as he was walking away') for nested quotes.

The spelling should be fairly easy to change -- just set the language to English (UK) and American spellings like "color" and "center" and such will get red squiggly underlines. For the punctuation, however, I find myself in a bind. Ctrl+F/Replace is not an option for several reasons:

Let's say I replace all double quotation marks (") with single quotation marks ('). If I then try to change single quotation marks to double, I will end up changing all of things I just changed to single quotes back to double quotes! Also, all of the apostrophes I have in the manuscript would end up being changed to double quotation marks.

I am using Microsoft Office 2007 on Windows 7.

Thanks!

I'd like to buy 6 months of unlimited Internet in England.

iamkimiam — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 10:25:57 -0800

I'm moving house next weekend and new place does not have WiFi. It's a six month lease and I'll probably be moving out of the country after that. I use a lot of internet (streaming music, downloading podcasts, films, sending large files, using cloud services, etc.) and so I need something unlimited or pretty near it. Everything I'm seeing online so far is either too much £ for too little internet (£20 for 2GB per month, seriously??) or too much commitment (12-18 month contracts for phone, broadband and TV). I only need internet. What are my options, if any? Thanks!

Please recommend interesting/funny/awesome TV series to a bored shut-in

abbagoochie — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 18:19:15 -0800

I've finished watching all my favourite things and am televisually lost while I wait for Breaking Bad and Boardwalk Empire to start again. Can you suggest English/American/Australian etc series (will also accept interesting BBC documentaries) that are actually watchable? I am kind of half heartedly watching Archer at the mo, and just winced through the pilot episode of How I Met Your Mother. I tried the pilot of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia but the intro sequence seemed too close to bad improv. Help me root out the stuff worth eyeball time! As a guide, things I like/d (apart from the aforementioned BB and BE):

- Pulling (UK)
- Catterick (UK)
- Human Remains/Nighty Night/the pilot of Lizzie and Sarah (UK)
- Twin Peaks
- Downton Abbey
- Girls
- Dexter
- Wilfred
- Eastbound and Down
- Futurama

I know there must be a ton of stuff I'm missing. Please help me to make it through this awful stomach bug that won't seem to go away!