Ten days out of Cyprus so far

It feels like a LONG time since we flew out of Cyprus! But it's less than two weeks. We seem to have got a lot done in the time, and I'm very much enjoying significantly cooler weather in the UK, with a lot of cloud and a bit of rain.

Tim has collected his National Insurance number, organised a bank account (they only let him have a basic one to start with, but he can upgrade to a regular one in a few months), and applied for funding for his course. We've taken his 'statutory declaration' into Newman College as an alternative to a police check for child protection purposes, since as part of his course he'll be working in a classroom.

Tim has bought a UK mobile phone, and has ordered a keyboard which should be delivered early next week. He has a 16-25 railcard which gives him a third off any rail travel anywhere in the UK, and this week we both had weekly bus passes, enabling us to hop on and off any 'Travel West Midlands' buses anywhere in the region at no cost, by just waving the pass. Tim will get a student termly travelcard when they become available, since he will have a fairly significant bus journey each day, but it wasn't worth getting the student summer special pass.

We've been around on the buses a fair amount this week, so he's starting to get used to them, and also getting to know Birmingham city centre somewhat. It's very different from how I remember it; several areas are pedestrianised, and there are new indoor shopping centres (known as 'malls' elsewhere in the world).

Tim is going to attend Christchurch, Selly Park regularly; it's the church we went to for three years prior to moving to Cyprus, and one we have visited for at least one Sunday each time we've been back to Birmingham. We went there last Sunday and saw the new building for the first time - something that was planned and discussed even before we left, nearly eleven years ago. Tim has already been asked to play the piano there this Sunday, and perhaps be part of the music group in future. And he's offered to help at their holiday club later on in the summer.

So he's settling in... and today we've enabled Broadband Internet at my mother's house, where Tim will be staying, at least for the first few months while he's here.