They never said it was easy, but they never said anything about hidden expenses. I went to the OVC today to sign up for their London Options Package [absolutely necessary, as we've discovered, for bank account purposes] which knocked my current bank balance by an unnecessary R390.00. I dodged numerous optional extras ("a London travel card?" "insurance?") and managed to escape unscathed until the last moment – oh, and by the way, you need a police clearance if you intend to teach children. Hang on. Legally my students are adults. But they're still children in the education system. OVC lady said 'better safe than sorry', but is it necessary? The clearance costs R70.00 which is fine, but then you have to courier it to Pretoria (close on R300.00) and it takes approximately 28 working days. That's fine. Only, I'm here for another 21 working days. So it'll have to be couriered to Londontown. Whop on another R300 if you're lucky, and my South African bank accounts are going to be empty empty! I will email Greenwich and ask them if they think it is necessary. Perhaps.
Breathe. So how do you transfer cash between SA and UK? Well…
Standard Bank offers a reduced exchange rate fee of 1.5% if you take traveler's cheques, although those cost to exchange when you get to the Land of the Big Ben. Cash is charged at 1.75%, but then you have to carry it. Travelex offer an international cash wallet which is essentially a debit card that (1) costs you R100 once-off, (2) charges you the 'standard' 1.5% exchange fee and (3) charges you £1.50 every time you draw cash, up to £3000 from a Barclay's Hole-in-the-Wall. Transferring between bank accounts charges you on both sides. Apparently you can exchange traveler's cheques for free if you locate an obscure Lloyd's branch, stand on on foot and cluck like a hen. It's that simple.
In other news, I got stuck behind an ancient Volvo Sport coming up Molteno Drive — we both took it in first gear, and took us aaaaaages. I found the model for interest's sake, thought you'd appreciate it, and it's a 1958 Volvo PV544. See the advert below for image (the one I was stuck behind was cream, looked neat) love the awesome 50s nuclear family branding, especially love that the woman looks like bridezilla (housewifezilla?) with her frame taking up approximately a third of the image!
Image courtesy of
http://www.finecars.cc. As for the random title, it's from John Lennon's
I am the Walrus - an obscure reference to my current state of wisdom-tooth pain. The right side of my face has swollen, my gums are sensitive, and I have to cut up my food into tiny bite-sized chunks. We think it's a gift from Karma for completing my MA – officiating the wisdom and whatnot. I'm too old for this. Yay
Listerine for frequent mouth-swishing, gargling fun.
And finally, this is what is left of our coffee table, thanks to Pumla:
Props to the Corvette for sitting so nicely while I took the photograph. Pumla is so pregnant – our furniture is thanking Superman that she stops work on Thursday.
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