Two months......
It's been just over two months now since I left the UK. Two months ago I was swanning around Hong Kong shopping, sightseeing, eating and doing a little light work in the HK office, thanks to knitwear boy.....
Two months??? Lord it feels like two weeks. I don't think I've actually *done* a lot in that time though apart from not get a job, although with hindsight, I should have got myself here either earlier in 2006, or waited until the New Year when the job market will pick up. Now I've got less than four months to go..... time truly does fly.
I've not gone to Canberra yet. And I won't be able to go now until the end of the month because for various reasons most of which include a canine of some description, which I realise sounds totally random, so believe me when I tell you how weird it is for me.
Other than that, this week has been pretty uneventful, as New Year's tend to be. Mostly I have been trying to understand how the banking system works over here - mostly it's as upside down as you might expect - let me illustrate.....
When you open an account, you can open a Cheque account and a Savings account at the same time. You get a 'Handycard' which means you can go and get money out of the hole in the wall and buy things using 'eftpos'. You can't buy things online. There's no Visa or Mastercard symbol on your card, you are effectively reduced to being a child with your money. It seems fairly straightforward so far though - right??
OK, so being Australia, they have bank charges for *having* a bank account. It's not so bad $5 a month, but if you keep an untouched balance in your savings account, they won't charge you. OK, bonus. Righty, so you go to the shops - a little purchase here, a little purchase there. And when you pay with your 'Handycard' you can choose to pay from 'Cheque' or 'Savings'. Right, seems obvious - no???? Well apparently not. If you choose Cheque, the money will come from your Savings account. If you choose Savings, the money will come from your Cheque account. And get this - IT'S DELIBERATELY SET UP LIKE THAT.
Right, is it just me??? I mean why, in the name of all that is holy would you *deliberately* choose to have it set up reversing logic completely??? And why would every single Australian look at you like you were mad when you tell them that it's totally fucked up????
Anyway, so I thought I would ignore the 'Handycard' completely and go for something which actually worked like a normal person would expect and use the 'Debit Card'. (New fangled technology here in Oz, they've only had them for about a year - poor loves.) Anyway, that's all cool. You pay and the money comes from your Cheque account as you'd expect. The only downside is that even though you allegedly have access to your Savings using this card as well, you can't actually draw money out the hole in the wall. For what reason - I am yet to establish.
It's enough to drive a woman to drink...... mine's a mango margartia thanks!! Maybe that's why the Aussies are renowned for their drinking skills, too much trouble understanding the banks and their weird and wonderful ways???
Two months??? Lord it feels like two weeks. I don't think I've actually *done* a lot in that time though apart from not get a job, although with hindsight, I should have got myself here either earlier in 2006, or waited until the New Year when the job market will pick up. Now I've got less than four months to go..... time truly does fly.
I've not gone to Canberra yet. And I won't be able to go now until the end of the month because for various reasons most of which include a canine of some description, which I realise sounds totally random, so believe me when I tell you how weird it is for me.
Other than that, this week has been pretty uneventful, as New Year's tend to be. Mostly I have been trying to understand how the banking system works over here - mostly it's as upside down as you might expect - let me illustrate.....
When you open an account, you can open a Cheque account and a Savings account at the same time. You get a 'Handycard' which means you can go and get money out of the hole in the wall and buy things using 'eftpos'. You can't buy things online. There's no Visa or Mastercard symbol on your card, you are effectively reduced to being a child with your money. It seems fairly straightforward so far though - right??
OK, so being Australia, they have bank charges for *having* a bank account. It's not so bad $5 a month, but if you keep an untouched balance in your savings account, they won't charge you. OK, bonus. Righty, so you go to the shops - a little purchase here, a little purchase there. And when you pay with your 'Handycard' you can choose to pay from 'Cheque' or 'Savings'. Right, seems obvious - no???? Well apparently not. If you choose Cheque, the money will come from your Savings account. If you choose Savings, the money will come from your Cheque account. And get this - IT'S DELIBERATELY SET UP LIKE THAT.
Right, is it just me??? I mean why, in the name of all that is holy would you *deliberately* choose to have it set up reversing logic completely??? And why would every single Australian look at you like you were mad when you tell them that it's totally fucked up????
Anyway, so I thought I would ignore the 'Handycard' completely and go for something which actually worked like a normal person would expect and use the 'Debit Card'. (New fangled technology here in Oz, they've only had them for about a year - poor loves.) Anyway, that's all cool. You pay and the money comes from your Cheque account as you'd expect. The only downside is that even though you allegedly have access to your Savings using this card as well, you can't actually draw money out the hole in the wall. For what reason - I am yet to establish.
It's enough to drive a woman to drink...... mine's a mango margartia thanks!! Maybe that's why the Aussies are renowned for their drinking skills, too much trouble understanding the banks and their weird and wonderful ways???
posted by Keyboard Addict at 10:29:00 am
<< Home