Irish Eftpos

Let's just say Irish banks are a little behind NZ. This is seriously their version of EFTPOS:

"Paying with Laser is simplicity itself. With a swipe of the card by the retailer, all you do is check and sign the sales receipt. The transaction is then debited from your Current Account generally within 2-3 working days."

To get such a magical card you must pay the Government 20 Euro, no jokes people they tax this serious technology so it doesn't get outta hand.

As you might have guessed now we have a flat we are settling down and ENTERING THE SYSTEM. This means 3 things: 1. we get a bank account, 2. we get PPS (social welfare ID) numbers and 3. we get ID cards from the Garda (police). 3. is actually quite important as if we haven't registered with the Garda by the 4th of September they can boot us out of the country.

So we're working on 1., it's pretty boring really but 2. is great. You go to the social welfare office and get a form from the cheerful man at the counter and he tells you which of the 3 types of numbers for ques you must take. You fill out your form and take a number from the machine, guard this number with your life - it is your one chance to see a grumpy, underpaid, unmotivated civil servant for the day. We were numbers 176 and 177, the que was up to 90 something when we sat down at 2.29pm. Now you sit and wait, try not to laugh at the fashion statements being made or the people going to the wrong booths sitting down and wondering why there is noone behind the glass with the large "closed" curtain down.

As you wait a delightful female voice announces all three ques in the same way "number 847 please go to, booth 13"

At 4.12pm my number is called, short of being an olympic sprinter however I couldn't have gotten across the room fast enough for the lovely lady, so she called Emmett's number as well. Fortunately we were together, I don't know what would have happened if we weren't, maybe we could have fought for it. Then in a nearly painless 10 minutes our forms were checked, signed and copies made of our documents. We'll have our numbers in a speedy 8-10 working days, neat.

Aimee