Life's Certainties: Death & (TV) Taxes

Erica and I have been married for a little over two years, and during that time we have not owned a (working) TV. Many people advised us before we got married to not have a TV for our first year of marriage thus forcing us to interact more with each other. We followed this advice and were so pleased with the outcome that after year one we were in no big rush to go out and get a TV. As we considered moving to the UK though we both considered the possiblity that we would get one once we got over here. Erica for BBC's period pieces, I for some football, and both of us for some quality Britcoms. (Remember, they created the office.)

Here's what we discovered upon arriving in the UK. The British government imposes a TV licencing tax//fee of £145.50/$216ish (only £48/$78ish if your TV is black and white) per year on each household that uses a TV to watch content as it is shown live. (Taxes for basic items? Didn't something happen in Boston Harbor because of that idea?) The proceeds from this fee go to funding three channels, BBC 1, 2, and 3. While the BBC is very much akin to PBS in the states, with the amount of funding they receive it is able to run three different channels and create such critically acclaimed period pieces as Pride and Prejudice.

Watching DVDs only is permitted as is watching a TV show on your computer after it has been initially shown, but watching live TV on your computer is not. If you are found to be watching TV illegally you can be brought to court and fined up to £1000.

Got that?

My first question was, how do they figure out if you are acting illegally in this regard? The answer...

TV Police

The UK government has a national registry of addresses that have paid the licencing fee allowing them to keep track. But it goes further. They have officers who can detect if you have a TV!

From the official TV licencing website:
Enforcement officers may use a hand-held detection device to measure both the direction and the strength of a TV signal. This makes it easy for us to locate TV receiving equipment in even the hardest-to-reach places. (i.e. hiding it in your attic) We also have a fleet of detector vans that can detect the use of TV receiving equipment at specifically targeted addresses within 20 seconds.

How exactly does all this fancy equipment work? Nobody really knows. Many have conjured, quite accurately I am now thinking, that these claims are a hoax to scare people into buying the licence.
http://www.bbctvlicence.com/Detector%20vans.htm

The detector van watch website and others are all part of an amusing anti-BBC campaign online.

All of this craziness makes not having a TV something to enjoy once again.

Marmalade Breakfast and Wedding Banns

A few Saturdays Zac and I went to a marmalade breakfast in the neighboring village of Otham (probably the most rustically picturesque village in our area of Kent). This "breakfast" (tea and toast, to be precise) was held at the parish church, and was essentially a sale of preserves- jams, marmalades and curds. We sampled the lemon curd and the marmalade on our toast, which was fantastic. I had been intending to buy some lemon curd there, but our money was otherwise engaged. That is to say, there was also a table selling one of the former church member's household items, and Zac and I got quite excited over the "20p" table. Zac's wonderful finds: old leather wallet, metal booklet for holding stamps, and an old-fashioned glass paperweight. My wonderful finds: a metal iron-worked tea pot, something else which I won't name since its a gift for Inga, and an antique wooden tray. Anyway, you may be thinking, "Why would Erica and Zac intentionally buy these silly old things" but consider, we paid hardly anything for them and now we've got what looks like the personal effects of C.S. Lewis to grace our desk with.

Our other exciting event was hearing banns read at church a few weeks ago. For those of you who don't know what this lovely ritual is, think of that moment in movies when the officiating clergyman says "If anyone has any objections to this marriage, speak now or forever hold your peace etc etc." In this case, banns must be read at the local church of both the man and woman (regardless of whether or not they attend there) three separate times before the wedding otherwise the marriage is considered void. The vicar today did say that if anyone had any objections they should discreetly mention them after the service, which I thought polite of him. (I can't remember if that part ever gets read in the US at weddings; I only know that I was not under any circumstances going to allow it at our wedding).

It is Official

We arrived in England and managed to take part in the coldest winter in 31 years.
(deep breath) okay...we are done talking about snow.

Neighbourhood Breakfast Watch

Throughout the country there are neighborhood (or should I say neighbourhood) watch areas much like there are in the states. The logo for these areas looks like this:


As I pass these signs though, they looked strangely familiar. I could not place it until I remembered this from our days in Chicago:


Alas there are no bagel places around and Erica and I are now facing an unquenchable (wish that was on a triple-word-score) craving.

In Bruges (Don't Watch The Movie, Take Our Word For It)

The month of sisters draws to a close. Allie and Evan were with us from New Year's Eve until the third week of January and then Inga came in and is leaving for her mission trip to the Ukraine on Sunday. We took advantage of Inga's presence and headed to the continent yesterday. Our destination was the Belgian city of Bruges/Brugge. We awoke at four a.m. in order to catch our six a.m. ferry across the channel. We ended up going with SeaFrance for our ferry service and it was easier, cheaper, and more enjoyable than our previous experience with Norfolk line. The big plus is that was arrived in Calais rather than Dunkirk; Calais being much prettier. We made it to Bruges by 9:30 (losing an hour somewhere in the water) and proceeded to wander around the historical center of the town. We stopped in a cafe almost immediately. The girls ordered tea while I ordered a hot chocolate. Now in the course of my life, I have learned to not be picky about my hot chocolate. Whether it is Swiss Miss mix, Hersey's syrup heated up, or something better, you just drink it. Well this hot chocolate came in its own pot with a bowl of sweetened whipped cream, and sugar rectangles (to be geometrically correct). It was fantastic! (And I suppose it should because it ended up that it cost €6/$8.22!) In the course of the day we covered all of the historical part of the town at least once. The highlight of the day was a thirty-minute boat ride on the canals. The town has some beautiful architecture and the buildings were designed with the canals in mind. Many buildings had tiny doors that opened directly onto the water. We will be posting pictures in the coming days.

The Snow Has Returned

It had been snowing for a good portion of the day, and around 4 p.m. it really started coming down. I was at work unknowing and realized that things were going to be crazy when Erica called me at five when I got off saying that she was stuck in traffic. Three and a half hours later, we are home, and our car is sort of in the church parking lot a mile away. We were blessed by a mob of 25 people or so in Bearsted, (a town we pass through) who pushed people up the hill in the center of town. Our cardboard box came in handy again a few times, and we're home. Fortunately we don't have to be anywhere tomorrow. So after a cup of Mexican hot chocolate we're enjoying a quiet evening, and probably day tomorrow in.

It's Like Academic Challenge, Except With Alcohol

Our holidays were good. Erica and I woke up Christmas morning and opened a handful of presents (Her's including the complete works of the Bronte sisters and some silver earrings. My including an antique pocket watch). We then bundled into a car with a married couple we know to spend Christmas with family, albeit, not our family. The day was memorable. About 18 people and crazier than the Scott family according to Erica. We ate so much food that it should be a post in and of itself. Erica's sister Allie and Allie's husband Evan arrived New Years Eve with presents from the states, coincidently the same day that our Christmas package from my parents showed up. We got home from the airport and had Christmas morning all over again. Both sets of parents heard our laments about the lack of quality Mexican food over here. We ended up with three packages of real corn tortillas, beans, salsa (which is much better than its British counterpart that tasted suspiciously like bruschetta), enchilada sauce, and Mexican hot chocolate. Last night we had Erica's school buddy Lorna over and ate fish tacos. We stopped by our nearby fish and chips place and got a big piece of cod for the fish. Erica said they looked at her pretty oddly when she, a single girl, ordered a huge piece of fish and no chips. The tacos turned out real well.
Tonight we're headed over to the pub I used to work at for a quiz night. Quiz nights are pretty popular over here. You get a team together and try to answer trivial questions about a variety of subjects. The pubs put them on because it gets people in the door, and usually gets people laughing and drinking. It costs £1 for each person on the team and the winning team gets the kitty. Not expecting to show particularly well considering we know next to nothing about British pop-culture. I'll be happy if we do not finish last.
Inga should be showing up towards the end of the month/start of February and we're going to be taking some day trips with her as well as Allie and Evan. We'll keep you updated with pictures and such.
We love you all and miss you. Come visit!