So this morning, I decided I would go shopping. "I've put it off long enough," I said, "The time has come!"
Right before I left the house, I got an email from our bank saying that they had frozen our account due to "suspicious activity." That would be Jim and me running from ATM to ATM attempting to withdraw enough money to pay the rent for our flat and then, last night, running from ATM to ATM so that we could get enough cash to pay for cough syrup and lozenges for poor sick Jim. (The place wouldn't take either of our credit cards, because they don't have chips in them).
To call the bank in the States from my mobile (that's what they call cell phones here. It's pronounced Mo-BILE...long I) it costs about $5 a minute. So, I can't do anything about it until Jim gets home with his phone, which we don't pay for. "Not to worry, " I said to myself, "I will use my CREDIT CARD!!!"
Happy with my decision to continue my plan to go shopping, I went to the post office, where I mailed a package and a letter and then tried to pay with my credit card, which was promptly rejected--they don't take American Express. So, I scrounged up enough cash to pay for it and then, spirit crushed, decided that maybe shopping wasn't such a good idea after all, and came home to the comfort of laundry to be done and my computer.
Fortunately, this day is not completely a wash, because I plan to go out tonight, damnit, and by then, hopefully, we'll have the bank situation resolved. Please note that all of this drama could be avoided were we able to open a bank account here in the UK...but that requires a permanent address, which due to other completely avoidable restrictions, which I am not allowed to discuss in this blog, we don't have yet. I promise my next blog will be written when I am in a better mood!
