Integration

I'm pretty awful with money. I'm one of those great spenders, which isn't exactly helped by my bad memory and even worse sense. I've not been able to indulge for the last few months, though. My Educational Mantinance Allowance was late coming through by 3 months. It was a little agravating, especially as I managed to forget my PIN when I finally attempted to withdraw some of the massive shedload of money that had finally been payed to me.

So I'm in the bank, in line for a new PIN. There are two Poles in front of me, one was closing their account. They're talking to each other in Polish - a language I really need to learn - and the bank assistant goes to fetch some paperwork. I carry on standing there, these two men talking in front of me, and I notice to my right that the bank manager had just left his office with a young Polish couple. Speaking fluent Polish, he has a brief chat and sends them on their way. He then comes back and finishes of the paperwork fully in Polish, shakes hands, they leave. At this point, I'm standing there flabbergasted. This is a British bank, but they've seen fit to hire a banker that's fluent in Polish. On a wall, there's a poster advertising the Polish services the bank offers - in Polish. My reaction? Happy as anything! We've read so often in the papers about the BNP making headways in the North, of angry Brits moaning about the EU migrants. But when it comes down to it, we're as welcoming as anything. It's the same at my local church - the second reading is in Polish - and across Accrington.

I sometimes really love living here.

(I presume it was Polish they were speaking, having no knowledge of Slavic languages whatsoever!)