National Insurance

I had an appointment this morning to formally apply for a National Insurance Number. Needless to say, it was very exciting. Over the course of twenty minutes, a nice many asked me questions and then wrote down the answers on a form, had me then look over the form, and I signed the form. They took photocopies of all things important, and I signed them to certify them as well. My number should arrive by mail in 6 to 8 weeks.

A national insurance number basically entitles me to work in the UK. Well, a visa enables you to work, this enables me to get paid and pay taxes legally. It's roughly the equivalent to a social security number, only its not issued from birth, per se. I'm a little worried about receiving the number before I actually start, but its seemingly no big deal to start work without it. For now, I'll have to send back my work contract with the 'NIN' line left blank.

In other news, Mark's references have come through successfully. We all thought he had it in him. Now all that remains to make my upcoming London residency official is the signing of the contract. Apparently this will be sent to the estate agent and we will then arrange a time to go up and sign it. I'm assuming this can be managed in the afternoon some day, thus allowing me to take advantage of the cheaper train fare starting at 11 am.

And random, but I have heard the term 'chocolate sauce' used in a couple of ads on tv. This is no big deal, but I find the emphasis on the words bizarre. Instead of using the phrase as if it were one long word (aka, emphasis put on the word chocolate), the emphasis is put on the word sauce, as if to declare the type of chocolate it is, not the type of sauce it is. My apologies if this makes no sense.