Neighbourhood Spotlight - Shoreditch

And now for something completely different, we go to the East side of London, more specifically Shoreditch.   Located minutes from the City of London and home to the hip and fashionable (or to wannabes and fashion victims if you're so inclined), Shoreditch is located in the borough of Hackney and covers the E1 and E2 postcodes.  So what's it like to live amongst the cool kids?  We spoke to Chris to find out.

 
Name: Chris
Age: 27
Shoreditch Resident for: 1 year
Last place you lived before moving to London? San Fransisco 



Do you live in a flatshare or on your own? 
Flatshare.

What’s your nearest Tube station? 
Old Street

How would you describe your neighbourhood’s overall vibe?
Shoreditch pulls unique and impressive triple duty as London's capital for developing technology, cutting-edge agencies ... and hipsters. Those constituencies ensure that Shoreditch is busy nearly every hour of the day. When the sun goes down, the area is a magnet for young people looking for a good time. I'd compare it favourably to H Street NE in Washington, DC or the Valencia Corridor in San Francisco - scenesters, people out to have a good time, kind of gritty, etc.

How safe is your neighbourhood?
It's getting better! I won't lie to you and tell you that it's all roses and buttercups, but it's certainly safer than places I've lived in the United States (I'm looking at you 25th and Harrison, 94110). I've never had a problem and have never even felt unsafe in my neighborhood, but crime does happen in higher numbers than in West London. Part of it is the demographics (younger, poorer), but I would say that the reputation of Shoreditch and Hackney is overblown. I feel about 2930842390 times safer here than in parts of the three other US cities I've lived in.

What do you like most about where you live?
The ENERGY. There's something so incredibly motivating when you're surrounded by artists and techies and musicians who are all hustling. London is THE place in the UK for many artistic, technical and cultural people...and East London is THE place in London for that same crowd. Everyone you meet in Shoreditch is working on something.

What do you like least? 
The Shoreditch twat (sorry mom, it's a technical term). Just like in any hipster crowd you get the entitled, annoying people who suck at life.


If you could live anywhere in London, where would you live? 
Hmmm. Somewhere east or a bit north. There are other neighbourhoods that have Shoreditch's charms - like Camden (grittier) or Angel (more posh) - but I love it here and that's probably not going to change. 

What Exactly is a CV?

While job hunting in the UK, you’ll notice that many companies and job adverts will request that you send in a CV. Now, you’re probably wondering, what the hell is that? CV stands for curriculum vitae and is essentially the same as a resume. The major difference is that while resumes tend to be brief (1 -2 pages), a CV is expected to contain a lot more detail.

For a CV, you are expected to list your entire job history and describe in detail, your job title, your responsibilities as well as any achievements or merits earned at that position. As you can imagine, this can cause a CV to be quite long. This is expected though as most CVs should be a minimum of 2 pages long.

You can also include additional information on your CV that you would never put on your resume. For example when I was job hunting here, I put my nationality, British/American, to explain why most of my experience was in the US and to indicate that I have a right to work in the UK. While it’s not necessary to include this information, you can if you feel that it would be beneficial.

Looking for CV templates?  More information?
University of Kent - Lots of Sample CVs
CV Tips - CV Templates & CV Writing Tips

This Week in London: 26 April - 2 May

26 April

• Cringe @ The George
• Ricky Gervais Live: Science @ Wembley Arena

27 April

• East End Film Festival @ various venues

28 April

• Science Museum Lates @ London Science Museum

29 April

• Orla Kiely Sample Sale  @ Chelsea Old Town Hall
• Gorillaz @ Roundhouse

30 April

• Break & Bowl @ Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes

1 May

• Camden Crawl @ various venues in Camden 
• Canalway Cavalcade @ Little Venice

2 May

• Camden Crawl @ various venues in Camden

Cheap Ways to Call Home

As you can imagine, calling the States can be really expensive.  Want to reduce your phone bills?  Here are a few alternatives.

Phone cards

You can get there are pretty any off license in the city.  They tend to be pretty inexpensive.  A tenner can get you up to 500 minutes which isn't too bad.  The downside is that the card may run out in the middle of a conversation and trust me, no one wants to have to walk down to the off license at 11pm to get another one! 

Callback services

This is a method of making a cheap international calls via a third country.  The way it works is that you'll be given a unique number to call that will trigger the return call.  Once you get the call back, just dial the required number.

Neighbourhood Spotlight - Wandsworth Common

Keeping things south of the river, we go to Wandsworth Common which is located just west of Clapham Junction.  It is part of the Wandsworth Council and is located within the SW17 and SW18 postcodes.  To learn more about that it was like to live here, we spoke to Eamon, a camera-shy former resident.

 
Name: Eamon
Age: 25
Wandsworth Resident for: Just under 1 year
Last place you lived before moving to London? San Francisco




Do you live in a flatshare or on your own?
Flatshare, with two other blokes

What’s your nearest Tube station?
Balham, but Tooting Bec is easier to walk to because you don't have to make any turns, and you might catch a bus on the way. Wandsworth Common Overground Rail is right in the neighborhood, though, and gets you right to Victoria super quick.

How would you describe your neighbourhood’s overall vibe?
The overall vibe is semi-suburban fancy town. Bellevue Rd. is full of little cafes, and contains the famous Chez Bruce. It runs along the edge of Wandsworth Common. On a sunny day, the park is full of attractive joggers, moms with strollers, teenie-boppers, and people playing rugby and football. It's quite pleasant, but doesn't feel very urban. The scent of money is in the air.

How safe is your neighbourhood?
The neighborhood feels very safe, although my flat building was broken into and robbed.

What do you like most about where you live?
The best part of the neighborhood is the Common itself. It is incredible to have such a big, pretty park right on your doorstep. I can't overstate how idyllic it can be on a sunny day. The second best part is being walking distance from Tooting, and all of the great food that is there. It's secretly the best curry mile in London.

What do you like least?
The part I liked least was being so far south and away from the action. It can be a mission to get home from North London, and the night busses take forever to get there.

If you could live anywhere in London, where would you live?
If I could live anywhere it would be..... I'm not really sure! I'm in N1 now, and so far, so good.

Using Your US Driver's License in the UK

For the few brave souls that want to drive on the wrong left side of the road, you can officially use your American drivers license for up to a year after you have established residency.  After that you are supposed to apply for a British license.  This is mostly because there is not a standard driving test in the US.  Each test differs based on the state where you lived. And instead of the reviewing all state driving requirements to see if they satisfy British standards, the government here has decided to just make all Americans go through the entire process.  I suppose its easier.  But its also a pain in the ass. 

If you obtain a provisional license during this period, you are not subject to provisional license conditions.  You can just go and take the driving test.  But if you fail, the test, then you have to go through the whole process again and provisional license conditions will apply.  These include things like having a learner's tag put on your car as well as having restrictions where you can drive and with how many people.  So if you get your provisional license before your 12 mos are up, BE SURE TO PASS THE TEST! Unless, you really want to take it again.

You could also just risk it and assume that if you get pulled over the police really have no way of knowing how long you've been in the country.  But I wouldn't risk it.

For more info: Directgov

Self Defense - Pepper Spray is Illegal

Unless of course, you've already been attacked.

Yes, you read that right.  Pepper spray is illegal in London.  It is deemed a weapon and held to the same standard as a gun.  Except if you've been attacked you're not allowed to carry a gun.  But you can be allowed to carry pepper spray if:

1. You report your attack to the local authorities
2. You register your pepper spray with said authorities.

Not that London is the most dangerous place in the world but it just seems strange that a major city would outlaw pepper spray.  The logic behind the law is that if pepper spray is legal, then anyone, including criminals, would be able to use it.  Now, I would like to respectfully point out that guns are illegal in this country but that hasn't stopped the criminals from shooting people.

You're probably wondering what your options are if you're a woman who finds herself walking home alone late at night.  Well you can carry a really nice shiny whistle or even perhaps a portable air horn and hope that someone hears your and bothers to help.  Or you can take self defense classes.  Yea, that's pretty much it...

This Week in London: 19 - 25 April 2010

19 April

• Lou Reed's Metal Machine Trio @ The Royal Festival Hall
• Alternative Fashion Week @ Spitalfields Traders Market

20 April

• London Burlesque Week Official Opening Gala  @ Cafe de Paris

21 April

• Bill Fontana: River Sounding @ Somerset House

22 April

• Designer Sample Sale @ Truman Brewery 
• Caramel Funk @ Bar Sequence

Understanding Council Tax

What is Council Tax?

It is a local tax on domestic properties.  Now not all properties have to pay council tax.  Similarly, not all people have to pay council tax.  There are also discounts available.

How is It Calculated?

The amount of council tax that you pay is based on the valuation band afforded to your property by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and the tax rate that your local council has assigned to that valuation.  All properties are placed in a band according to their value in 1 April 1993.  (There are no current plans to carry out a re-valuation).   Below is a breakdown of the different bands.

Neighbourhood Spotlight - Clapham

We return south of the river to go to Clapham.  Located in SW4, it is part of the Lambeth council.  So what's it like to live in Clapham?  Current resident, Mike tells all.

Name: Mike
Age: 29
Clapham resident for: 9 months.
Last place you lived before moving to London? Cape Town, South Africa




Do you live in a flatshare or on your own?
Flatshare with 2 others.

What’s your nearest Tube station?
Clapham North

How would you describe your neighbourhood’s overall vibe?
Funky, freaky and fun all rolled into one.

How safe is your neighbourhood?
Compared to South Africa I think everything is safe, so it's hard to say. I would say it's about average for central London. You'll run into a fair few drunks coming home late at night on the weekends, but that's probably as dangerous as it gets.

What do you like most about where you live?
The ability to crawl home from multiple night hot spots. Its also far enough from central London to have a vibe all of its own, but it's close enough to catch 1 night bus home from almost anywhere.

What do you like least?
Northern line commuting at rush hour.

If you could live anywhere in London, where would you live?
At the moment, here, thats why I chose it. Where to next? Probably West London, somewhere close to Hyde or Regents park.

Flatshare Vs Living Alone

This is one of the first big decisions that you'll have to make when you move here.  There are advantages and disadvantages to both living situations.

Flatshare

Benefits

London is a large and expensive city. The rent is high and the bills are plentiful. It helps to live with other people so that you can split your living expenses. By dividing up these costs, you can also live much closer to central London and in a nicer neighbourhood.

Also because London is such a large city and it can be difficult to make friends, it might be ideal to live with a few other people when you first arrive. That way you have at least one person that you know in the city. You never know, you might even end up being good friends! Shocking but it can happen.


Drawbacks

The sharing of bills can become a real problem. Some people are able to forgo any billing issues by either having all the bills included in their rent or by paying their share of the bills directly to the landlord. Otherwise, all of the bills will have to be put in one flatmate's name and it will be their responsibility to ensure that the bills are paid and that the other flatmates pay their share. As you can imagine, this can get messy if someone doesn't have the cash to pay their share of the bills or if the person who has the bills in their name refuses to tell you how much you owe (true story!). So if you are thinking about moving into a flatshare, keep these billing issues in mind.

Also, the dividing up of chores can be problematic. Using the common sense adage of "clean up after yourself" works great in most places except for the bathroom. Unless you have a set cleaning schedule that is strictly followed, inevitably there will be one person who always ends up cleaning the fun areas - the toilet & the bathtub. So have a schedule in place and please stict to it. Alternatively, you could always just hire a cleaning lady to come by once a week and do it for you.

Lastly even if you have the chore and billing issues sorted, you just might not get along with your flatmates.  They might be too loud, cook smelly food, hog the television, act weird, the list goes on. Most try to test the house chemistry during the inital viewing.  But at this time, everyone is on their best behaviour.  You are either desperate to either find a place or to replace an old flatmate.  Or some people are really good at hiding the fact that they're completely insane. Either way, you always run the risk of potential personality clashes.

Going Solo

Benefits

Now of course, if you're living by yourself, then you don't have to worry about dividing up bills or chores or personality clashes. You can keep the place as messy or as clean as you want. Hell, you can either walk around the place naked. You don't have to worry about people accidentally eating your food or having their crap everywhere. The only person you have to worry about is yourself.

Drawbacks

You will be the person soley responsible for paying all the bills. This includes rent, council tax, water, electricity, gas, tv tax, cable & phone bills. You can get a discount on your council tax if you're living alone but it will only reduce your burden by 25%. Now if you have a great job, then you can probably afford to still live in a great neighbourhood and pay all of these bills. However, if you're job pays you pennies, then you may have to live in either an okay neighbourhood or further outside central London. You can get around this by trying to find a property that include all of your utilities. It's a bit tough but it can be done.

Being all alone can be difficult especially if you're sick or get injured.  Unlike a flatshare, there may be nobody to take pity on you and get your medication or pick up some food for you.  If you happen to make some friends, then they can help.  Otherwise, I would have the number of a few takeout places just in case.

Verdict

I personally am team "going solo".  I've lived in a flatshare and it just didn't work out for me at all.  However, I have some friends who live in amazing flatshares and would hate to live alone.  So at the end of the day, go with what you're gut and wallet says.

Zebra Crossings

Although know around the world as part of the Beatles cover for their Abbey Road record, the zebra crossing is a pedestrian's best friend.  At these crossing, all drivers are required to come to a full and complete stop when you step foot into the stripped zone.  Drivers are alerted to the presence of these crossings by a zig-zag traffic lines leading up to the crossing.

However be forewarned, some drivers seem to either not realise that the crossing is coming up or they just don't give a shit.  Because I've definitely almost been hit being crossing the road at these stop.  So be sure to take care when crossing.  Its always best to wait on the side and see if any of the drivers are starting to slow down or annoyingly speed up.

999 Is a Joke In Your Town...

...Is how the song have been if Public Enemy was formed in the UK.  But they weren't. They were formed in the US and therefore used the American emergency number 911.  However here in the UK, the emergency number is 999.  Sure, you could dial 911 but the joke will be on you.

I've only had to call this number twice since being here.  The first was to make a noise complaint.  FYI, the cops don't deal with those things.  You have to make an official complaint with your council!  The other was for a domestic dispute that got WAY out of hand.  Unfortunately the cops didn't really do anything about the "minor disagreement" that ended with a woman being punched and dragged across the flat by her hair.  But I'll save that for another post...

When you dial the number you'll be asked which service you want to be connected to: fire, medical, police.  You then get connected to the appropriate party. And voila! Help is on the way.  I will say that the police showed up very quickly for the domestic dispute.  So no, 999 is not a joke in this town.

Neighborhood Spotlight - Acton Town

To the jungles of Zone 3, we go to Acton Town.  Officially located in Greater London, this western neighbourhood is part of Ealing Council.  So what's it like to live outside central London?  Former resident, Tisha (yea, that's me!) shares her story.




Name: Tisha
Age: 27
Acton Town Resident for: 6 mos
Last place you live before moving to London? DC via Maryland



Did you live in a flatshare or on your own?
I lived by myself.

What was your nearest Tube station?
Acton Town

How would you describe the neighbourhood’s overall vibe?
This very much was quite a suburban neighbourhood.  Its very quiet.  There are lots of families with kids.  People were constantly barbecuing or working in their gardens. There are a few high streets here and there.  But for the most part there are loads of houses and parks.  It was quite nice to be surrounded by so much greenery and still be in so close to London.


How safe was your neighbourhood?
Its quite interesting.  On one hand, I felt perfectly safe walking around late at night.  I would frequently walk from either the night bus or from the Tube station really late and never felt threatened or scared.  It was also extremely quiet.  I could hear the train at the Tube station at night or in the morning.  But at the same time, I lived extremely close to a massive council estate.  I would periodically see a police van parked nearby with a CCTV mounted on top of it.  Its presence alone made me think that perhaps this place isn't a safe as it seems.

What did you like most about where you live?
I loved all of the parks around.  Gunnersbury park is in walking distance.  Since its not as popular as Hyde Park or Regents park.  I could just sit out on a blanket is peace and either read, write or just soak up sun without worrying that a bunch of people coming to ruin my serenity.  I also liked that it was very quiet.  Its nice to leave the hustle and bustle of the city and return to silence.

You get more of your money.  My studio flat was also amazing.  I had my own kitchen, a massive living space and a really nice bathroom for a very reasonable price.  A comparable property in Central would cost and arm and a leg.

Also I used to work in Uxbridge.  So it was perfect to have the Piccadilly line right there to take me easily to work. 

What did you like least?
I hated that it was so far away.  Because its in Zone 3, it would take FOREVER if you caught a night bus home.  So I would frequently rush to catch the last train home but that always seemed to cut my night short.  Also as most of my friends live in central London, I wasn't able to entertain in my a flat which kind of defeated the purpose of having all that space.

If you could live anywhere in London, where would you live?
I still am in love with the Angel/Islington area as well as Shoreditch.

Blast from the Past

2008 Serpentine Pavilion by Frank Gehry

Is 20 Degrees Celcius a Good Thing?

The answer is yes if you like warm weather as 20°C is 72°F.

Now it will take a while for you to wrap your head around the temperature differences.  Officially the conversion is:

°F = °C  x (9/5) + 32.2

Or you can just multiply the temp in Celcius by 2 and then add 32.  It's not as accurate but gives you a general idea of how warm or cold it is outside.

Of you could just start to refuse to look at the news and always take a jacket and umbrella with you whenever you leave the house.  Trust me, you'll need it even if the forecast says sunny and 30°C.  But we'll save any discussion (read: moans) about British weather for another day.

Why Does My Credit Card Have a Chip?

All debit and credit cards here have a golden stamp on them like the one in the picture. This stamp is a computer chip.  You see, unlike the American system where we just swipe our credit cards and keep it moving, here they use a chip and pin system. So when you make your purchases, your card will be inserted into a chip reading machine and you'll be asked to enter your PIN. Its basically the same process as buying things with a debit card back home. But with one more PIN/password for you to remember.

Does your card not have a golden stamp?  Then its probably American (which you should keep!).  But don't worry.  You can still swipe your card to make purchases. But you'll probably have to explain it to the cashier as most aren't accustomed to dealing with 'swipe' cards. Some may even insist that you have to enter a PIN even after you tell them the card must be swiped. They will search your card in vain for the telltale yellow chip. But after a few frustrating moments, it'll dawn on them that they need to swipe it. If not, just throw an American fit, demand to see a manager and then kindly suggest that the manager do a better job training their people.

The British Say WHAT??? - The Empire Strikes Back

Because you know, the first two lists weren't exhaustive.  And I have a feeling that this one won't be either...

British	American
to let	to rent
creche	day care center
dummy	pacifier
nappy	diaper
petrol	gasoline
revise/revision	to study/studying
swot	nerd, studious person
carriageway	highway
motorbike	motorcycle
roundabout	traffic circle
bangers & mash	sausages & mash potatoes
toad in a hole	sausages in Yorkshire pudding batter
Yorkshire pudding	baked pancake batter
twit	idiot
git	annoying, childish person
tight	cheap
skint	broke (no money)
pissed/paraplectic	drunk
tick	check (as in checking a box)
sacked/struck off	fired
made redundant	laid off
mack	raincoat
spot	pimple
fag	cigarette
trailers (movies)	previews
caravan	trailer (ie. trailer park)

Ooh Look! A Double-Decker Bus!

These buses are as synonymous with London as Big Ben and rain.  You'll be glad to know that these buses are generally used by sober individuals.  So if you want to spare yourself the ickiness of the night bus, hop on during the day.

Like the Tube, you can use either your pay-as-you-go Oyster card, your monthly/weekly farecard, or you can pay cash at the window.  However, be forewarned that it it much more expensive to pay cash.  The difference being £1.20 with an Oyster card and £2.00 without.  This seems quite small but realise that you have to pay each time you get on a bus.  So if your journey involves more than one bus, then you have to pay either £1.20 or £2 per bus that you take.  Also keep in mind that if you are paying with cash, that you should try to pay with small bills.  Most of the drivers won't have change for £10s or £20s.




If your Oyster card does not have enough money to get on the bus, that you will have to pay £2 cash to get on.  You can not recharge or top-up your Oyster card on any buses.  And if you give the driver £1.20 and flash him your Oyster card and a smile, he'll look at you like you're crazy and demand £2.  So it's best to check your balance before you get on the bus and not have to hear the dreaded two-beep klaxon emanating from the Oyster reader that indicates that you have insufficient funds.

The biggest complaint about the buses is that they are unreliable.  This is true as they have a tendency to change their routes at the last minute and terminate at an earlier stop then you anticipated.  Like when you're trying to get to Fulham Broadway from St. Paul's and the bus decides to terminate at Sloane Square.  Not cool.

Now most people think that when this happens that they'll have to pay to get on the next bus that will continue to their final destination.  But quiet as kept, in these situations,  you are entitled to a free transfer to the next bus.  To get one, just ask the driver for a bus transfer. He'll print up a little receipt of you and this will allow you free passage onto the next bus.  Sweet!

Another slightly annoying thing is that bus stops are frequently taken out of service.  The only way to tell is if you look up at the bus stop sign and notice a yellow sign taped to it that says, "Bus stop not in use".  The drivers are also suppose to tell the people on the bus if an upcoming stop has been taken out of service.  But they usually don't.   So if the driver flies past a stop.  He may not be being an ass.  He may just have piss poor communication skills.

For the most part, however, the buses are quite reliable. They run quite frequently during the week (every 4-5 minutes) and during the evening and weekends they run usually every 10 minutes.  They also can make for really cheap tours of London especially if you're in the front seats at the top as you can get a pretty good view of your surrondings.  And for me, I personally still get a bit of a thrill sitting in the top and secretly giggle to myself  "Wow I'm in London!" There's just something very British about the whole thing.

Links:
Online Bus Maps
Bus Time Tables

Bankers Are Wankers! - Opening an Account (Student Edition)

Our last BAW! feature dealt with opening an account if you are in the UK for work.  But what if you're a student? Does the same process apply?

Well yes and no.

If you are a student opening a bank account you will still have to supply some form of ID (passport w/ visa), proof of address (certified copy of acceptance letter or similar such document).  But you will also have to have some cash to open the account and to prove that you can support yourself.  This can be in the form of student loan checks.

Again, the four major banks (Barclays, NatWest, HSBC and Lloyds TSB) will
require these basic things but may also have some additional requirements, so I'd be sure to confirm their eligibility criteria and requirements before I showed up for opening an account.  Please note that when looking for information about student banking you will need to look in the International Banking sections of these websites.  Any mention of Student Banking on the main pages applies only to permanent UK residents.

Again, most of the difficulties with opening any account here are due to administrative flakiness.  I've done a bit of research and it seems that the worst offends of student bank account flakiness are Barclays.  They seem to have a habit of either misplacing people's student loan checks or taking their sweet time to deposit them. Also unfortunately with Barclays, you can't get a debit card until your student loans have cleared.  But you can't check to see if the funds have cleared unless you have a debit card. It creates a fun game of which comes first, the debit card or the cleared funds?  And it can last FOUR months!

Don't want to wait four months?  Then I'd try opening an account with the other three branches.  And yes, this includes NatWest who seem to be rubbish at opening a regular current (checking) account but seem to get it right when opening a students account.   (Just as long as you bring a certified copy of your acceptance letter!)  Lloyds and HSBC seems pretty straight forward regarding opening student accounts.  I've not heard any horror stories about using either of these. In fact, the person that I interviewed about her nightmare with NatWest, went straight to Lloyds and was able to open an account within days.

A good alternative to all of this banking drama can be to not open an account at all.  If you have a Bank of America account you can use any Barclays ATM free of charge.  So as long as you keep funds in you BofA account, you can have access to British sterling.  Of course that becomes a pain, if you want to pay bills etc.  However as the UK is quite old fashioned, you can pay all of your bills here in cash by depositing cash directly into the companies account.  They all have one.  Just check your utility bill the next time you receive and it and look out for their banking details.

What Exactly is a Bank Holiday?

A sarcastic person would say that "its obviously the day that the bank is closed".  I am that person.  Kinda.

It's actually the UK equivalent to a federal holiday.  As the Bank of England is closed, so are the other banks and accordingly all of the businesses.  The stores on the other hand will be open for Bank Holiday sales.

There are currently 8 bank holidays.  These include New Year's Day, Christmas Day, Boxing Day (the day after Christmas), Good Friday and Easter Monday as most people observe these holidays.  They also include the first and last Monday in May as well as the last Monday in August.

Below is a list of the forthcoming Bank holidays.



Good Friday - 2 April
Easter Monday - 5 April
Early May Bank Holiday - 3 May
Spring Bank Holiday - 31 May
Summer Bank Holiday  - 30 August
Christmas Day - 27 December*
Boxing Day - 28 December*

*Date observed

Note this means that outside of these days, there are no other public holidays.  There is no time off for Memorial Day, President's Day, Martin Luther King's Birthday and certainly, absolutely no time off for the 4th of July or Thanksgiving much to the chagrin of many Americans.  It's okay.  They can console themselves with their (minimum) 25 days vacation!