I carry no phone An aspiring Luddite In a wired world.	Jeff Berry is an early adopter of the Internet and the Web, a late adopter of Twitter, and declines to adopt Facebook. With the death of Google+, he's experimenting with federated platforms . He admins a medievalist Mastodon instance, and can found on the PlusPora diaspora pod. He hates cell-phones.

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Musings on the Movings, Part the Second Random thoughts and notes ... Apparently, you can't lease a car in the UK unless you are on the UK voter rolls. This is fairly annoying, since a lease seemed like the perfect solution for us. After all, I'm hoping to be able to stay in the UK post-graduation, which will necessitate finding a job, but there's no guarantee, so buying a car seems a bit excessive since if they do kick me out in a few years, I'll have to liquidate it. That is now the scenario, though. I can rent for a few months, and, I suppose, could the whole time, although that gets expensive. I could do something like the state-side zipcar, but we tend to travel enough that that option is also not cost effective. Which means that I'll be looking for a used car shortly after we arrive, and renting until then. Similarly, you can't get a mobile phone contract without an established UK address, which probably makes sense. It's still frustrating though, since so much of what we needed to get done pre-arrival, including finding a place to live, required a mobile. So pay-as-you-go it was ... at least it came with unlimited data for the first month or so, which was a life-saver. Satnav is a real blessing in rural England. And, of course, with no UK credit rating, if you want to rent housing, you need to be prepared to pay the first six months up-front. Fortunately, we learned that before we went, so we were prepared. The first house we applied for wanted a one year contract with the whole year up-front. That we weren't prepared for or to do. So we stuck to our guns and said "six months" while we kept looking. In the event, we found a house which was in a better location, better equipped and £200 cheaper pcm (per calendar month); so that was all to the good. Of course, before they'll release the keys to me, I need to have "Tenancy Liability Cover" a not-unreasonable requirement. The place the letting agency recommends also does "Tenant's Contents Insurance." Now, if you desire that latter option, you can get a quote online. But if you want the former, you need to do it by phone. Which is now an international call. It occurred to me that USAA, which handles a lot of overseas military clients, might be able to do it for me; they can handle car insurance which I will also need, and which I'm told can be something of a trial until you have a UK driving license. More on this developing situation as, well, it develops. All of the above means that, although the signature Aspiring Luddite haiku (up at the top) is still, for the most part, technically true, I do now own a mobile - I just don't always carry it. In my defense, it's a Samsung running Android and not an iPhone. We also use it primarily for satnav. In fact, it may amuse you to know that, although I had the satnav running before we left the car park, it took us five days to figure out how to answer the phone. It also took the aid of the DJ in Milton Keynes who was interviewing us for The Groove Lounge. (The show is the 24/07/2013 one, our bit starts at about 1:35, but the whole show is worth a listen.) I am pleased to say that I still find text messages pretty irritating. I did get an ssh client installed, but the screen is too small for effective use of elm. In a larger sense, though, as much as I hate to say it, it makes sense for me to have a mobile now for actual phone-like purposes as opposed to using it simply as a portable satnav. US-side, well over 90% of the time, I'm either at work with a phone, at home with a phone, or someplace where I don't want to take phone calls - like out for dinner with my wife. That model, however, will be changing dramatically in a month or so. I won't have an office with a land-line, and I'll be spending more time in transit or at places like archives. So I shall simply have to bite the metaphorical bullet and begin to actually carry it. I'm not changing the haiku, though. Luddite'sLog, Around 4 August, 2013 © 2013 Jeff Berry

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