This will be a smattering-of-mumbojumbo type post. Let's use some headers! Yes? I agree.
1. MOVIE TIME
I'd previously mentioned a movie theatre that I went to in the main part of Hamilton, the Speciality Theatre, where I saw the new Tyler Perry movie. That was fun. It was small, but fun.
I decided that this past weekend, I was going to go and see the new Disney movie, Brave. The reasons for this were three-fold:
a) I wanted an excuse to take the ferry
b) I wanted an excuse to have one of those Dulce De Leche desserts again
c) I wanted an excuse to sit in a dark room with air conditioning
All of those things came true, making me a very happy girl! The movie was okay, the story a little lacking, but the animation is amazing. The red hair, the accents, all have the Hayley half-stamp of approval.
However, and this is a spectacular "however", the theatre, well, it left a little to be desired. I gave the man my $12 (while he made some weird old-man comment about my height, and I think I heard him say, "I'm the meanest man in the hood...", then he old-man giggled. He had to be over 70 years old. It was odd.), and walked down a short hallway that I was certain was going to reveal a lovely, cushion-seated theatre. This is what happened, and this is with all of the lights on!
It felt like I was in a Disney movie, as the princess that was locked in a dungeon. It was also, along with the old "meanest man in the hood" man, odd. All of the seats were on the same level, which rocked-the-house-dope for me, but left all of those little children with an issue, given that I am, as we all now know, a giant.
2. MONEY
The Design
The money here is stunning. The first thing that I noticed was how gorgeously designed their bills are. They accept American essentially as Bermudian here because it's almost always on par, but the design of the money leaves the US bills in the dust (as does all of the other money ever).
The Bermudian money is so colourful, so brilliant, so, well, Bermudian. They're designed it vertically, which makes them not only genius', but also the best ever!
Look at that!
For those of you who know me, tell me that this is not exactly what the money that I would fall in love with would look like!? I know, a lot of people love money because they can buy things with it, make their lives "better" with it, but for me, this is a piece of beauty, a work of art. I didn't spend my Bermudian money here for a week because I wanted to look at it, it was too pretty to "give" away.
There's a little tin/foil/plastic piece just in the top three-quarters of the bill (that dark space you see above each animal), and it's a security measure of some sort, much like the new $100 in Canada, that look like plastic entirely.
The "Process" (and you know I loves me a process)
I've mentioned before that it's a terrible idea to go to the bank here at lunch hour, because for some reason, not an intelligent one, the bank tellers also take lunch at that time. I have simply given up on human banking here, as of right now, and am using their machines quite frequently. This isn't news, I know, possibly not even that interesting, but there is one machine here (actually two at the main branch), that is different than the one in Toronto. In Toronto, I can just walk up to any bank machine for my given bank, and put a cheque or cash in, tell the machine how much, and that money is in my account. If it's a huge cheque, it takes time to clear, but otherwise, the bank is immediately trusting that you haven't put a flat, dried-up old sock in an envelope and called it $2000.
In Bermuda, they have these two machines that you just put cash in (when transferring from Canadian to Bermudian from your Canadian account, and then depositing that Bermudian into you Bermudian account... seven times in three days... for two weeks... more on that to come!), just as cash, not even in an envelope, the machine immediately counts it (you can hear it happening), registers how much it is on screen, how many of each bill is there, and asks you to accept. You accept, and it's your money, no process after, no waiting for it to clear.
It's impressive!
TD's Poor Excuse for a Banking Process (that apparently other humans will put up with, but not me)
Yes. Dems be fighting words. When you move to another country, you expect to come across some bumps, some things that will need to be sorted, you know, some randomness that you really couldn't foresee. In preparing for that I had everything planned (yes, that is counterintuitive, and some would argue counter-intelligent). I'd spoken to the bank, made sure that I could take out a first and last months rent amount if I found a place immediately, was assured that I could, had my weekly limited raised to a bit more than that amount, was assured that it had been done and applied to my account, alerted them that I was moving to Bermuda so that there were no flags when I used my TD or VISA card here, was assured that it happened and was applied to my account, took out some travel money out to sustain me for a few days, and made sure to check my weekly limited before I left, which I was again assured had been put in place.
So, it was to my amazement that not a single element of that was of any use or mildly implemented when I got to Bermuda.
Essentially, and I will keep this short, they would not let me have my money unless it was in small segments, a week at a time. The moment that this was most annoying was when I had to send my deposit and rent to my landlord, and just didn't have the money, here. It was all sitting in Toronto, wrapped in a nice little bow, but I was not allowed to touch it. Certainly not by transfer. A wire transfer was possible, but that could take two to five days to come through, so the issue was still there.
TD, in the end, after I spent $60 on my new phone bill (just received it, what a treat) calling them to sort all of this out, and my father going in to the actual branch and discussing with them that perhaps their process is whack (though I'm sure he used better words, and more loudly), had to change the entire account type that I had in order for me to take out what I needed. We're not talking millions here folks!
It would appear that I am the only person who ever moved to another country and by some mystery, actually wanted the money that they saved, and entrusted in a bank to keep for them until they needed it. Weird!
A warning, all of those things that I just typed.
Funny how the only thing that I've had to really piss and moan about in Bermuda, is an issue that happened because of people and a company in Toronto.
3. FESTIVALS
This will be short, because the video does the talking. I left work after 7pm tonight, so Harbour Nights (the weekly, Wednesday night festival) was in full swing. This is what I walked out of my office to!
I am in love with Bermuda for everything that is happening in this video.
4. FOOD!
Breakfast
The same people who had the balls to ask to take the "picture with the giant", actually make a very good breakfast sandwich. I decided that the sandwich was worth more than the possible embarrassment of walking back in there, so I went and got one this morning.
I'm just going to say it, is there a surplus of pig on this island? I mean, look at all of the bacon! This in no way should be construed as a complaint! Look at how the cheese and egg slope over the bacon! Every bite was a little taste of heaven slapping me in the face with excellence!
Lunch
I don't have a picture of the food from this place (called D'Angelini's, I think that's how they spell it), but the view surpasses any picture of a chicken wrap that I could put up here.
Also available for lunch, apparently, as I discovered at the grocery store tonight, Lunch Tongues. The good news? They come with gelatine! Lunch tongues without gelatine? Who wants to live in that world? Not me!
Dinner
I went to Flanagan's again. The place with the Rockfish served Tuscan style. I haven't taken a picture of the actual food yet because, well, I choose to eat it when it comes to me, immediately. No time for pictures, only time for food-in-face-hole.
However, here is a picture of the view. Gorgeous, except that huge cruise ship that is just as intrusive to the view here as it is at the office a few doors up.
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