Krystians life in Britain

In this article I'll cover the topic of renting apartments, rooms and such, so generally speaking - getting an accommodation.

Renting Apartments

Ok, I'll start from posting few prices from around England, and after this we'll move to a short conclusion.

South East England

Hastings - East Sussex (It's on the sea side, in south)
1 bedroom apartment ~ 400 pcm (pcm stands for - per calendar month)

London ~ 1.100 k pcm -yes, over one thousand pounds for a month

South West England

Plymouth ~ 500 pcm

East England

Norfolk ~ 400 pcm

North West England

Manchester ~ 300 pcm

Liverpool ~ 300 pcm

North East England

Newcastle ~ 350 pcm

So, what does it tell us?

The main thing that we can notice is that prices in south are generally higher then prices in north of England.

Also, generally prices in cities/towns on sea side are higher then others, London is an exception, but it's because it's capital.

For many years prices in London were a lot higher then anywhere else.

Now, when we know how the prices around England vary we can move on to explaining general process of renting an apartment.

You have a choice of either renting directly from a landlord or through an agency.
You can find various adverbs in newspapers to rent directly.
Problem is that it's not as safe as renting through agency. I heard about "scams" and such, don't get me wrong here, I'm not trying to say that if you rent directly then you will loose your money, I just want to make it clear that going through agency is generally safer.

If you rent by contacting an agency, they will help you to find a suitable apartment, the big ones have a big offer of apartments in different parts of towns, you can find their offices in city centres or through internet.

Agencies of course, charge for their service, but according to British law they can charge you only "finders fee" which means, when they find you a place to live, you will have to pay provision, which is usually around 200£, but they vary depending on area in England.

Deposit

Usually you will have to pay a deposit, usually a months price for renting, as well as months fee in advance. That's in case when you go through agency, when it comes to landlords it's different, but it depends on ones will.

After you sign up all the papers, remember to read them, and ask about details, whether you will have to pay for water and gas or electricity, as well as council tax fee.

Remember also, that you are responsible for all damage you cause, like wholes in walls after having a big party or broken windows, you know, this just happen when you party.

Renting a room

Renting a room is a lot cheaper then renting a flat/apartment.

You will most likely pay weekly for it, prices vary from 50 £ a week to 80£ a week.

Of course, different in price is the freedom you get for it.
When you rent a room it's just ONE room, you SHARE the bathroom, kitchen and all that with family that you live with, or with other tenants.

Deposit usually is just for one week in advance, so you need a lot less money to rent a room then to rent a flat.

If you move to england alone, then I would suggest renting a room off a family or sharing a flat with someone, it's way too expensive to rent a flat on your own, trust me on this one.

You can find people to rent a place with in newspapers as well, and on internet, some of websites of letting agencies have a special option for it.

I'm not advertising any, it's easy enough to find them on internet by yourself and make your own choice.

Labels: accomodation, apartment, council tax, deposit tenant, england, foreign, great britain, live in uk, move to england together, renting a flat

Posted by Sunlust at 00:22 | Permalink | Comments

If you think about moving to England, do you consider moving alone,with a friend or maybe with few friends? Or, maybe with family?

Remember that it's always best to move with someone!

Here's why.

Together you will be able to rent an apartment a lot easier.

By living together you divide all expenses by two, you share them between you, which makes surviving a lot easier! If you can move with two friends that's even better.

Together your morale will be stronger.

One of big issues with moving to a different country is being generally lonely.
I noticed this feeling in myself after few months, few friends I communicate through internet who moved as well experienced same feeling.

If you move with a friend/family member it's a lot easier, you have someone to talk in your mother language every day, you have someone with you to share your problems, to talk about any rubbish you wish. You have no idea how important it is.

After being in England half a year I really missed my mother, my friends, I discovered then how important they were to me, even tho when I was living in same town I didn't feel that bond, now I realized how important they are to me.

If it's you and your partner then it'll make a great test for your relationship.

Oh yes, that's some good stuff. I met few couples who came to England either for summer or for good, to work and live together. Some of them splitted apart and came back to their country apart, but those who survived, really love each other. They went through all the problems and obstacles and that can seriously make your relationship deeper and meaningful.
* My tip: Get lots of condoms from your country, because English ones are pretty expensive ^_^ *

Now the problems you may face while moving together.

If you are planning to move with a friend...well, it's better of course, but there are bad sites as well.

When you are moving alone, you are FREE. You can just rent a room from an English family, get any job and generally make for living. You are the master of yourself in your free time, you chose what to do, when to do it, what to eat etc etc. If you find a job quickly you are set.

If you move with someone then it's two of you, you BOTH have to get a job to make for living and if you work at the same place, will be really able to spend ALL the time with the same person and not freak out?

It doesn't seem to be a problem at first, but after half a year of living with same person you can really get fed up, believe me...

If you are willing to move with your partner, it's like I said, it may either work miracles for your relationship or destroy it.

One more thing, if you know someone who already lives in England, then go for it, especially if that person can find you a job and provide shelter.

You can also try and find someone through internet, but that's not the same as moving to someone that you know from real life, there's the issue of trust. And when it comes to something like moving to a different country, you just HAVE TO trust the person you are moving with/to.

So I would like you to think about it. Every option has two sides, just like a coin.
It's an important matter, it really changes a lot so don't underestimate it.

Labels: england, foreign, great britain, live in uk, move to england together, start life thoughts my-life, uk, work in uk

Posted by Sunlust at 07:03 | Permalink | Comments

Series Part 1: Do You have what it takes to move to UK ?

It's very important in every aspect of life to plan things, as one intelligent man once said “failing to plan is planning to fail”.

First of all answer yourself this question : "Why do I want to move to UK?"

So, why do you want to move to UK? Will you live here only for few months to get some cash from a work that you found through internet? Or are you moving with your family or planning to?
Or maybe you want to come for a year or more to study English but you would like to work part time so you can have some spare cash etc?

Whatever your reason/goal is I’ll try my best to provide you with tips, information and material that will help you.

Answering this first question is very important, not only because it’s important why you want to move to England, but also do you really want to move to England, and do you really have to do it to reach your goal?

Also, with clearly focused target it’s a lot easier to reach it and to succeed.

I would like you to think about it for a while, do you really want to face all problems with moving to England. Depending on your aim you will face different problems, of course most of them will be same, but there are some that will occur only in some cases.

In next parts of this series I will try to explain few main problems that you will face, and it’s only up to you to answer the question “Do I have what it takes to move to UK?”

Important thing is to realize that it’s nothing simple to move to England, most people who came to England can’t find job, many of them end up begging for money or asking in embassy to send them back to their homeland… Do you want to be one of them? I don’t think so.

Don’t understand me wrong, I am not saying that I am some super hero, because I work at office in England, I had good preparations made and a plan in my head, what I lacked was a blog like this one to help me to plan things, and to give me general output on stuff.

I’m also not saying that you can’t move to England and have a successful life without reading this blog, I just hope to make it easier for my readers, to share my experience.

Main topics that I will talk about in this series of posts:

- Problems that you will face coming to England
- How to prepare to journey
- What transport should you choose to come here – prices, websites etc
- Whether to move with friends or alone
- Transport prices within UK
- Prices for renting rooms, apartments etc
- General expenses
- Maybe even some slang :D

So stay put because in next days I’ll be expanding those topics.

Labels: foreign, how to start series posts, work uk england britain job agency temp job seekers

Posted by Sunlust at 11:17 | Permalink | Comments

Last summer I had a problem with a wound on my arm, it needed fast medical help.
To get it I went to a hospital (duh). They had a special entrance for emergency affairs, and even tho I didn't yet have National Insurance Number, I did receive help after filling a simple form ( didn't need a passport etc, just basic data like address)
Good thing is that they asked me about my nationality and I received a form with polish translation on it, and doctor who I was consulting with, had a special book in which he had translations of most common terms. I had to wait about 30 minutes to receive consultation, but it wasn't that bad.
Assistance was great, I don't understand how people in England can moan about it, they obviously haven't been to Poland ever.

Anyway, that was an emergency, what if we have a tooth ache or something that is bothering us, like a fever etc.

An important thing I want to note here, if you just have a simple cough or feel head ache, don't go to doctors, because in England you tend to visit doctors only with important matters that simple medicines from pharmacy can't solve.

So, about doctors, to get to a NHS (National Health Service) doctors you first have to register at one, then after you are registered there (you will need your NI number again) you have to set an appointment. Thats the worse part, because even tho people sign up only with more or less important issues, it will probably take few days, over a week to get an appointment, you will probably have to take a day off to get there in time as well, so try not to be ill :D

Prices

From what I know, till you are 18 years old, you have free (it's paid from taxes) dental protection, which means that all fillings etc will be free. After that it's very, very expensive, I'm not sure about the prices, and they vary in different parts of UK anyway.

About medicines, basic ones you will receive in emergency situations for free, others I would describe as averagish priced.

Remember, general rule about health is that it's better to prevent then to cure.
So stay fit and healthy, brush your teeth and it'll surely save you lots of money and effort. :D

Labels: foreign, health uk england britain nhs

Posted by Sunlust at 09:50 | Permalink | Comments

Ok, thats a very short article, just to post the CV.

As I mentioned in one of my other articles, I'm going to post my CV.
Some of the informations are changed, in some places I left stars, because I consider my personal data as top secret.

It is a proper CV, made for me by people from a government sponsored agency that help to find a job, and it was accepted in few Recruitment Agencies, so I'm sure it's good.

Mirrors for download:

Mirror 1

Mirror 2


Everything that is in italic needs to be deleted and swaped with Your data.

Enjoy and put into good use.

Labels: cv, foreign, work uk england britain job agency temp job seekers

Posted by Sunlust at 11:42 | Permalink | Comments

This short article will explain how to obtain a National Insurance Number (NI number) in England, as the title shows, duh.

Getting National Insurance Number is essential, it's best to get it as soon as possible after arriving to UK, as it takes long to obtain it.
You can get a job without having one, but in a long run it makes life a lot easier, and it's free.

First thing You need to do is to call JobCentre Plus and arrange a meeting.

At the moment the number is : 0845 600 0643 (8am - 6pm Monday to Friday)

Jobcentre's plus site is : http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk

On that site You can find various different information on seeking job an such, useful.

Before making the call, prepare some documents, because usually they ask many questions, they will also ask for documents that You can provide to prove your address, that You work or actively seek for job and your nationality etc, and those documents will be needed during the meeting as well.

List of documents:

- Valid Passport
- Valid ID Card
- Two or more passports if of dual/multi nationality
- Home Office documents (more about Home Office agenda in next article)
- Work Permit (If you come from European Union then You won't need one)
- Letter from employer (not essential)
- Contract of employment - very important, ask your employer for one
- Evidence of actively seeking work (if you are unemployed, you can get it in your local JobCentre Plus)
- Payslips (usually recruitment agencies send them through post, so always save them)
- Mortgage agreement (I don't have one, maybe in future...)
- Rental agreement - again, very important document, it proves Your address in UK
- Letter confirming where residing - usefull if You don't have rental agreement
- Marriage / Civil Partnership certificate
- Birth certificate - not essential
- Deed poll
- Driving License - If You have one, not essential
- Police Registration Certificate


If You can't call, then there is a JobCentre Plus office in almost every city in UK, You can just go there and talk with an advisor regarding the meeting.

After You set the meeting, it usually will be in few months from the time You call them, they will send a letter on address that You provided.

It will contain the time and date of meeting, documents You should bring with yourself, etc.

Then, after the meeting it takes another few weeks to actually get the number, they will send you a form first, then a plastic card with number on it, don't loose it!

Now, if You are already employed, then provide Your employee with Your brand new Insurance Number.

Whether You will be looking for a new job, willing to claim JSA (Jobseeker's Allowance - more on it in following articles) person that will speak to You over the phone will always ask for You NI number, so have the card in Your wallet, same as debit card and ID, etc.

Labels: foreign, National Insurance Number, NI, work uk england britain job agency temp job seekers

Posted by Sunlust at 23:32 | Permalink | Comments

In this article I'll explain shortly how to get a mobile phone in Britain, and general "rules" for getting it.

What do You need to get a mobile phone:

* Passport - like I wrote in one of my previous articles, passport is the most useful document You have, and You will need to show it in mobile shop as a proof of your identity in order to get a phone

* Bank account, Debit/Credit Card - It doesn't matter how old You have Your account, when I was getting my phone it was only 4 days old, and I had only like 60£ on it, don't forget your pin number >.>

* A document with your address in England, i.e. tax slip, rent slip, bank statement, that will prove that You live in England "for good"

Where to buy a phone and difference between "pay as you go" and "contract"

I got a phone from "Phones 4 You", but to be honest I wasn't really happy with customer service there, the chick tried to sell me a shitty Samsung phone (sorry to samsung users, but they are just "worse" :/ )on a 35£ contract. When for 40£ in Orange I could get a Prada phone, which I did, review at the end of this article.
It's really best to first check prices and compare them on internet, or in branches of company that You want to have a phone with.
And then either go to "Phones 4 You" or "Carphone werehouse" and ask what they have to offer.

By the way, branches that are available in UK:

- 3 ( three )
- Vodafone
- Orange
- T-Mobile
- 02
- Virgin

(I think that's all, if You know more then comment and I'll edit this post.)

Pay as you go

It's best if You have a mobile and You are happy using it.
You can buy only a Sim card, then take off simlock from Your mobile at special places, You'll probably see a big sign on a window saying that they take off simlocks. I'm not sure about the price (will update).
You can also get a phone and a sim card, problem is that they're quite expensive in pay as you go.
Obvious advantage is that You only top up (buy credits for Your phone) when You need to. But if You don't have a phone yet, a good idea might be to take a cheapest contract and get a free phone.

Contract

Cheapest contract with a decent, free phone I seen was at O2 I think. It was 15£ and a good mp3 phone with 1 gb memory card.
Contracts are either for 12 months or 18 months, and depending on the cash You pay every month You get more free minutes.

Prada phone review

OMG It's a Prada phone! It's shiny, it's stylish, it got a pretty box, neat case, and even a little cloth to clean the screen, now how amazing is that?

In box You'll get headphones - really nice, with little Prada sign on each of them, usb cable, recharger.

Features

It has mp3 player, camera, video recorder, voice recorder, it reads documents, it has internet and radio and finally a huge touch screen!!!
Even though it costs me 40£ per month in a contract, I get free 850 minutes, 300 text's and 150 minutes to orange a month for this price. I don't call to often, to be honest I just wanted this phone because it looks cool :)

Thats it for advantages, now cons.

Mp3 player - With phone You get only a 256 mb card, enough for 3 hours of music? And its mp3 player can rewind tracks, but I find it really slow, also If You want to listen to music AND browse photos it's impossible...same with using camera & listening to music
Camera - I is only 2 megapixel, recently there was a Nokia phone with 5+ megapixel one :/
Battery - it runs out so quickly! It only lets You listen to mp3 for like 5 hours.
If You want to browse internet, make photos, record a video and listen to some mp3 afterwards the battery will run out really quickly.
Documents - It's quite weird because this phone can read .txt files, .pdf files, and it can't read .doc files...

So, if You can spare 40£ a month, and need a stylish, representative phone then Prada is Your choice. If You try to save money, and just need phone for emergency and for an occasional call to Your mum, then go for a cheapest contract You can get.

Labels: foreign, lg prada phone mobile britain review cons pros contract pay as you go

Posted by Sunlust at 10:29 | Permalink | Comments

Let's say that you just arrived in England. Most people come to England without knowing where to search for work.
In this short article I'll provide few tips from my own experience, even though I live in UK only for 8 months, I consider myself as a "professional Job seeker".

There’s few things that you should have with you most of the time:

- Passport - They will ask you for it when you will try to open a Bank account and at any recruitment agency, and when you will want to rent a room/ apartment,
- Driving License - If you have one, maybe you don't realize, but if you come from any country that is a member of European Union your driving license is valid in UK, and for about 20£+ you can exchange your driving license to a UK one - really useful in getting a job,
- National Insurance Number Card - When you first arrive to England you won't have English National Insurance Number, but once you get it, carry the card with you at all times,
- CV - Essential for getting a better job then manual one, and in some agencies they will ask for a CV whether you look for an office work or for a manual one.

Recruitment Agencies and such

Not many people realize that England is a great place to find a job! It really is. You have not only Recruitment Agencies, but also government-sponsored companies that will help you with your CV (I'll provide a good CV example in other article), with confidence during an interview, and that will advice you where to look for a job suitable for you.

Unemployment in UK exist only because of English teenagers who are too lazy to work and rather have two kids and live with parents and claim benefits then study or get a better job. I see it every day, 15 year old girls with a child or two and a young chav who isn't even sure if it's his kid. (Sorry for off topic)

As soon as you get to the place in England where you would like to live sign up in every recruitment agency and remember that keeping good relationships with people who work there is essential for getting a job, because only from those people it depends whether they get you a job or no.

Call them often!

When you work for a Temp Agency, then sometimes they will have nothing for you, that’s why it's best to sign up to few of them. But when you are without a job call them, once a day, just asking if there is ANYTHING you could do, they won't mind, they are used to it, so you better get used to it too.

Of course, there are downsides of getting a job through Recruitment Agency. An agency earns money each hour that you work. They "sell" your work to a company that they cooperate with, so that company, pays let's say 8£ per hour of your work, but you get only 6£, the 2£ left goes to recruitment agency.
It's a good place to find first job, just to make some money for living, so you don't die of hunger, but in a bigger perspective it's best to find a job through Job Centre or Friday-Ad or any newspaper that posts job offers.

Keep improving!

In your town, even if it’s small, there has to be a library, there usually you will be able to find out about free courses. Maybe there’s Learn Direct, maybe something else, but there has to be something that will provide you with free improving your skills.
It’s very important to show your employer that your skills and personal development are essential for you and that you are willing to invest energy to learn new stuff.
Most people come to England with some education and some skills and just stay same, get any job and generally stop improving. The key to a real success is to keep improving, learning new stuff, not to be stagnant.

More on this topic in few days when I gather more info and get used to my new job.

Labels: foreign, work uk england britain job agency temp job seekers

Posted by Sunlust at 02:00 | Permalink | Comments

If You would like any of those wallpapers in full size, comment and leave your e-mail and I'll be happy to send them to you.

Labels: art, foreign, passion, photomanipulation, photos, style, wallpapers, wallpapers art photos photomanipulation passion japanese style

Posted by Sunlust at 01:37 | Permalink | Comments

Parts of this text come directly from my conversation with my friends in poland, whole topic came from watching "prison brake", one of those US tv series... thing is, it's just so perfect! I'm sure that 90% people that will watch it will judge it as "good" or even better.

Problem is, this series doesn't bring anything new to the gerne. Not only that, it won't teach you anything new, you won't think of any new ideas or issues after seeing whole series. Last thing that could save this poor show is shocking the viewer or moving any higher emotions, showing gore or some big tits, but no - we don't get any of that as well, thats just so sad.

Now, tell me, how something so valueless and pointless can be so entertaining and "interesting" to an average viewer.
My friend called this new type of movies and series as a "new wave of movies that will suit whole audience".

I can understand some old series like "friends" or "er" that were capable of entertaining lots of viewers, but not on this scale.
It really seems that in our times series like "doctor house", "lost", "prison brake" and movies like "300" are only made to "suit" us and to "be watched", not even to give entertainment.(it's just what I've seen and can judge, I'm not sure how many more of that shit is going on at the moment)

In old times movie, or cinemas grandfather - theater had to move certain feelings in audience to be judged as "good performance", in our times more and more seems to be pointless and shallow. How come that mass entertainment changed so much, from topics that would have deep meaning to this bullshit that we have to watch.

Same with computer games, maybe that comparision will suit more readers if there are any...
In old times games were good, playable, interesting, now it's all about graphics, not about the idea.

When I watched "300" I expected something whole, deep, interesting, meaningful, not a show with killing through whole movie, going to cinema in our times seems to be really pointless, no higher emotions, nothing influential...

Generally about Entertainment

In our times people tend to watch telly all the time, few hours daily, people watch same things all over again, same movies, same episodes of their favourite series, etc. Maybe that's why it's all boring and it doesn't give us any emotional experiences, because we "been there, done that".

General rule on drugs, alcohol, cigarettes is that, "the more you take, the more you need to feel same effect". I experienced it a lot, especially with marihuana. I think it's similar with television. We watch it more, hence we need more of it to feel same effect. Problem is - the same effect won't come. We won't feel great emotions, drama and action, we got way too used to it, tv in our times insteed of beying a once-a-time entertainment became something we have every day, any time we want.

I decided not to watch tv every day, not to take drugs, alcohol, smoke cigarettes, etc. And I know that the longer I can maintain that state, the better it'll taste when I decide to try them again.

Thats a great way of motivating myself. If I achieve something, like finishing a IT course which I'm starting next week, getting a new job, beying able to maintain Lotus-Seat position, then I'll be happy to reward myself with a night out drinking, or some cool drug, watching few movies with mates and relaxing while smoking weed and cigarettes. But doing it every day not only lowers my chances of self development, but also makes the effect dull and boring.

Think about it.

Well, that's my take, I'm not a good writer, but I really wanted to share my view.

Labels: drugs 300 alcohol giving up addiction cigarette tv series, foreign

Posted by Sunlust at 01:15 | Permalink | Comments

So here I am, I started this blog to post my thoughts on different topics and not have to copy all of them from my Diary on computer, but just to have it all here, in one place so all interested people, and people who I want to get help from can access this easier.

From today morning ((when I wrote this it was 14th of april) I quit: smoking cigarettes, drinking alcohol, smoking weed, watching movies etc, playing games on computer, generally speaking I decided to try the ascetic way.

"Be strong, o man! lust, enjoy all things of sense and rapture: fear not that any God shall deny thee for this." AL II:22

For the past half a year I was living in UK, working through temp. agency, drinking or smoking weed almost every day, playing games, watching tv, chilling out basicly. 11 days ago I went to Poland, my home country and had the time of my life, I drunk a lot, took drugs, spent almost every day with a girl I enjoy beying with. After this time and lots of talking with my friends I decided that it's time to get my life straight and to come back on spiritual path.

I'm not very good at writing blogs and diarys, but I'll try my best to describe what I'm going through and what's going in my head, and hopefuly I'll help some people with those little stories of mine.

At the moment my biggest problem is to find something that I should improve in and do as a job.
I know... for a person that considers himself as a spiritual being its quite a basic thing.

Anyway, today I bought a book: "An introduction to The Golden Dawn Tarot" by Robert Wang. I'm satisfied and I started to study it straight away. Reading it helps me to improve my english (which I always enjoy) as well as repeat some basic information about whole Magick.

Damn, it happened again, each time I start a diary or a blog I loose interest in it and I don't know what to write.
Well, I gonna leave it as it is then for today, and tomorrow write something new.

Sunlust.

Love is the Law, love under Will.

Labels: foreign, life, my-life, start, thoughts

Posted by Sunlust at 01:03 | Permalink | Comments