Phonetics & Photographs: June 2018

Things To Know Before You Go

National Insurance Number

June 24, 2018

Here are some cherry blossom trees.

We are going to need them.

What is a National Insurance Number?

Good question.

I don’t know that we really have the equivalent in Australia. Of course, we may, and it might just be one of those things that happened automatically so I’ve never had to be aware of it, but still. I think it’s probably more like a Social Security number in the US, but don’t quote me. Contributions to National Insurance appear to go towards pension and maternity leave, things like that.

Long story short – you need to get one.

You will need a National Insurance (NI) number to register for most employment accounting, such as self-employed or Limited Company set up. You do not need a NI number in order to start work, which is just as well, because, as you’ll see below, it can take a while to get it sorted…

Here is what will happen when you try to set up a national insurance number;

1. Being a member of Generation Google, you will probably search online for what to do, which will turn up https://www.gov.uk/apply-national-insurance-number

2. From here, you will call the listed number - 0800 141 2075 - go through the menu items, and be placed on hold

3. You will continue to hold for anywhere from 15 minutes to nearly an hour (my personal record)

4. Once you do speak to someone, they will ask you why you are applying for a NI number, and ask you to provide information such as your full name, your passport and visa details, and your current and/or mailing address.

5. You will be given a reference number - WRITE THIS DOWN - and told that the application pack will be sent out in 7-10 working days.

6. You will also be given a number to call if the pack doesn’t arrive within the given timeframe.

a. If this is a 03456 number - this number is no longer in use, even though it’s apparently sometimes still given out

b. If this is 0800 141 2079 - this number didn’t work for me on multiple occasions: it spontaneously hung itself up before I was able to make any choices or speak to anyone

c. NB: if your pack doesn’t arrive, my advice is to call the same number that you did the first time and beg for help from the people there. Chances are they’re the only ones you’ll be able to get into contact with anyway.

d. NB to the NB: if your pack STILL doesn’t arrive, you call back yet again, find out that an internal error was made and it was never sent in the first place, and have them send it to your new address, because by now you have actually sorted yourself out enough to move.

7. You need to complete the application and send it back as soon as possible, as it can take up to 6 weeks for a NI number to be issued.

a. NB: it has been reported that some banks may accept the cover letter of your NI application pack as proof of address. The author has yet to see this in action. Most banks ask for a completed letter including your allocated NI number.

8. You may need to go in for an interview to get your NI number sorted. In which case, they should contact you to set something up. I didn’t end up needing to, I just received a letter with my number a few weeks after I sent in the completed pack.

Whew! And another one bites the dust! How are we feeling? Everyone okay? Hang in, we’re nearly at the end, guys. We can do it!

Things To Know Before You Go

Biometric Residence Permit

June 24, 2018

Finally! An easy one!

Getting your Biometric Residence Permit sorted out is definitely one of the easiest steps on this list. All you need is your passport with its visa vignette and the letter that came with your completed visa application.

When you submitted your visa application, it would have given you a choice of places to get your BRP – probably post offices close to where you said you’d be staying on arrival to the UK. Your chosen location should be on the letter that arrived with your completed visa.

You will need to go to that location before your vignette expires or within 10 days of arriving in the UK, whichever is later. I would get this one sorted ASAP, both because it’s easy and because your BRP is essential if you want to do any international travel (or, you know, remain in the country you actually applied for a visa for, but international travel as well).

Give yourself plenty of time for collection, because your post office could be dead quiet or the bustling centre of the universe depending on the day. And once you’ve got your card, please, whatever you do, don’t lose it! You will need your BRP along with your passport if you’re planning to do any international travel – give them both to the border agents on leaving/returning. Some (if not most) workplaces will require you to at least present your BRP in order to work there. And, again, it’s another piece of documentation that gives you a footprint – one more step away from being a ghost.

Operas

Coraline

June 24, 2018

Show: Coraline

Type: Opera

Venue: The Barbican

Date: Wednesday 4^thApril 2018

Seen with: Tout Seule

Ticket: £57

View: Middle of the stalls, so pretty darn good!

Cast: The Royal Opera; the woman playing the Mother/Other Mother had lost her voice so she walked the role and it was sung by another lady off to the side of the stage. I think they said something about her learning the music in an afternoon or a day or something like that. In any case, it was very impressive.

Verdict:         Coraline was one of the shows that I was so excited for that I didn’t really do any research, I just bought a ticket. It booked out pretty quickly, so I ended up paying more than I usually would for the ticket, but did end up with a pretty great seat.

I struggled with the show at first, but that’s completely on me. See, for some reason, I went in expecting the same or similar music to the Coralinefilm, which is composed by the wonderful Bruno Coulais. He composed some of my favourite soundtracks, not justCoraline, but Les Choristes, The Secret of Kells, and Song of the Sea. His music is full of children’s choirs, made up languages,  building harmonies, and it’s melodic. Above all, it’s melodic. It may contain strange and unsettling melodies at times, but it’s melodic.

The Royal Opera’s Coralinewas not melodic. Thanks to one of my past students (Hi Glenn!) who insisted on doing his exam program on music one year, I know enough to say that the music was dissonant.  Which is to say, sounds that don’t seem to fit together and kind of sound wrong together. Sounds that you want to move or change so that they do sound right together. At least, that’s my understanding. If anyone would like to offer up a more clear explanation, please feel free!

Anyway, the music was dissonant, the whole way through. Which was fine, and I certainly see why – Coralineis a dissonant kind of story. It did just take me till part way into the first act to get my head around it. Once I did, I could see exactly how and why decisions about the composition had been made. And I enjoyed it, I did! The set was great, swinging from one side to the other to let Coraline through the doors. Miss Spink and Miss Forcible were very funny, played to the hilt by their actors even though one of them was suffering from a cold at the time. The Other Mother’s hand was properly terrifying when it got severed and came out to chase Coraline around the room. The mirror world in which the other children were trapped was appropriately spooky, and the stage effects showed a professionalism and restraint that comes from an experienced production team, which is always nice to see.

And yet… I don’t know, I just felt that there was more that could’ve been done. If the music had switched from dissonant to melodic when Coraline entered the Other Mother’s world it would’ve been an appropriately eerie touch. Obviously Coraline couldn’t have been played by a younger singer, the role was too challenging for that, but the result was someone playing a child who didn’t appear to have ever interacted with a child in real life. Every stereotypical pout and stomped foot pulled just a little at that feeling of reality that a really good show maintains effortlessly.

Overall, a very interestingproduction, and I do use that in all senses of the word. I know a lot of people took their children to see Coraline, and there were certainly a lot of children on the night that I went. I don’t know that I would’ve enjoyed it when I was a child – I don’t think I would’ve understand what they were trying to do with the music. And seeing as the Other Mother’s hand properly freaked me out at 28, it’s probably a good thing I didn’t see it as a child after all…

St Albans

June 05, 2018

Recently I was lucky enough to be invited home for dinner by one of the lovely ladies that I work with. I'm currently providing Speech Therapy services in a school, and one of the nursery school teachers had been offering dinner invitations since my first day on the job.

So one afternoon, I hopped in her car and made the hour+ journey back to her home in St Albans.

Goodness gracious me.

I had no idea of what to expect, other than lots and lots of food. Which was certainly forthcoming - her son is away at university and I think I may have activated the 'mum' gene when I walked in the door. I could almost see the wheels turning in her head; 'I have someone to feed! Excellent!'.

So dinner was absolutely delicious, and I am so grateful to both herself and her husband for hosting me. For privacy reasons, obviously, that is as much as I will say about them, lovely as they are.

Instead, let me show you St Albans.

St Albans was a Roman town, Verulamium, that later took it's name from the first English saint, St Alban. Or so the story goes. In any case, there is an absolutely gorgeous cathedral that apparently has some medieval ?paintings ?designs inside. We didn't get to go in, which is a pity, but just means I will have to return!

The town has been in many films and television shows, and you can see why - it's absolutely lovely. Shout out to my mum - it's even been in Foyle's War!