Errand Days Are Always Fun

Unfortunately we had to take a break from vacationing today and get our lives sorted out. It was also Andy's last day in Scotland. Our first stop was Mailers (the company who's renting us our flat) so that we could sign our lease! This was exciting, but unfortunately we can't move in until September 10th because we have to wait for Ahkmed (the current resident) to move out.

After signing our lives over for a six month period, our next stop was the bank. Beth had recommended the Bank of Scotland, so we walked in and told the guy behind the counter that we wanted to open accounts. Shortly after he started talking, he informed us that we weren't eligible for an account with a debit card until we had held accounts with them for 6 months....which doesn't help us much for the next 6 months. So we said thanks, but no thanks and walked out.

We strolled about half a block down the street and breezed into the ROYAL Bank of Scotland, which is apparently different than the REGULAR Bank of Scotland. The ROYAL bank agreed to give us debit card accounts, so we handed Gareth (the guy helping us) all the cash we had (which was about £2,500 each), signed our lives away once again with a whole new stack of paperwork, and we were set!

Next up was a quick pit stop into Argos, which wasn't a big deal for Liz and Andy, but once again I am too easily amused so this place was fascinating to me. You walk in and there's this long counter with catalogues and calculator-looking thingies beside them, and people flipping through the catalogues and writing things down with those little baby pencils like the ones they give you when you play miniature golf.

You flip through the catalogue, pick out the item you want (which for us today, was a hair dryer and a straightener) and type in its little product code in the calculator thingy. The calculator thingy tells you if they have it in stock or not. If it's in stock, you write down your product code on the little piece of paper with your mini-golf pencil. Then you get in a line and pay for everything you wrote down on your paper, all before you've even seen whatever it is you bought!! Next, the lady behind the cash register gives you a number (mine was B9, kinda like in bingo...I'm seeing a pattern here...maybe the Argos people have a slight obsession with low-impact gaming activities?) and you go into the back of the store and sit in a waiting room until another lady behind another counter calls your number. You walk up to the counter with your receipt and the lady hands you everything you bought in plastic bags, and you're done! So basically, Argos has come up with a brilliant way to eliminate shoplifting.

Anyway, after that unexpected adventure, Andy headed off to find a new suitcase (his old one bit the dust on his way to Scotland), and Liz and I walked to the Job Centre to register for National Insurance Numbers (these allow us to work in the UK). That concluded our errand running for the day, so we headed home.

When we got there, Keith told us we were going out for supper, so we all piled into the car and headed up to Stirling Uni to pick up Beth from work. Everyone decided on Indian food (not my favorite, but I can be a team player when I want to be!) so we went to Mr. Singh's for a nice sit-down meal. After everyone stuffed their faces (and I picked at a plate of rice, lentils, and non-spicy chicken), we walked down to the local bookies and placed bets on dog racing. We all lost, but thankfully our bets were all less than £1, so mostly it was just a fun introduction to the national past-time of old men while their wives are out shopping. Once we got home I helped Andy pack his new suitcase and we all went to bed pretty early, because Andy had to get up at 6am to catch his train home, and we were all exhausted from the week's shenanigans.