November 30, 2007

So far the mechanic says the car isn't worth fixing. However, after doing some looking we can't replace the car for what it would cost to fix it, so we're seriously considering fixing it. Right now we just have to use the bus, which runs Monday- Saturday. I think we'll have to go to the village chrch this Sunday since we can't go into town.

England has an interesting structure. It is composed of counties- I'm a bit confused about how many there are in reality because they keep restructuring them and calling some one thing and some something else. But it's something like 86. This map is curtesy of the projectbritain.com website. I circled Cambridgeshire. I'm always surprised when I look at a map of England at just how far north Cambridge actually is. It always looks like it's really far from London. But it's not- England is just a small place. :) Wales is about a 4 hour drive from here to the coast.



Each of the counties has a County Councils, to whom you pay taxes for schools, healthcare (which is government provided), roads, libraries, trash collection, and I don't even know what else. Anything that is government run basically. You pay the Council Tax in 6 month installments, and the tax amount is based on the type of property that you live in. A property tax like we have in the US wouldn't work because lots of people here don't own property, they rent. Anyway since our cottage is older we pay less tax. Bonus. :) For those who are interested, our tax is basically $3600 per year. I don't know how that compares to property tax in Michigan.

The County Councils are sort of geographical- we are in what is called South Cambs (short for Cambridgeshire.) Today I got a very interesting magazine from our Council with an extremely amusing little article in it. Here is what is says, and I tried to simulate the fonts too:

Your Duty

Did you know you are responsible for waste collected from your household? If you employ unscrupulous companies that do not dispose of your rubbish correctly, you too could end up in court.

We take fly tipping very seriously. In addition to pursuing the tippers, we also want you to take responsibility. In August we prosecuted four people for not ensuring their rubbish was disposed of properly. It was fly tipped, costing hundreds of pounds to clear.

Remember:
*an advert in a newspaper or telephone directory does not mean the company is legitimate
*it's your duty to check that anyone taking waste away has a license. Ask to see a copy of their waste carrier's license. If they can't provide it, or you're unsure, telephone the Environmental Agency on 08708 506506 to check
*it your waste is fly tipped, you are responsible as well as the person who took it away
*always record the registration number of the vehicle used to take any waste away and always get a receipt

I don't have any idea what fly tipping is, but it is obviously something to be dreaded and feared lest it happen to your rubbish and then you end up in court. :) I just had to share that funny article with you. When I find out what fly tipping is I will let you all know. I wonder what articles in the US seem strange and unusual to our British friends living there. :)

Pr for us as we figure out how we're going to take care of Nelly while we're gone. We have a few options- we could leave her here and ask our landlords to pop in and check on her, we could take her to a cattery, or we could hire a house sitter. Unfortunately we can't just get a student to do it because we live far enough out that it's hard for students to get into town. There are some professional companies that do it but it can be expensive for a long time. On the other hand the catteries have such a small area for them that I can't see Nelly really enjoying that. But if we leave her here we'll need a magnetic cat flap, and if something happens to her it might be a day or 2 before the landlord notices. We will be in Australia for 3 weeks in January, right on the heels of being back home for 2 weeks- in fact we've considered going straight from Detroit to Sydney. Anyway pr that we can get all these details worked out.