HSBC blocked my account this month because I paid my rent. They blocked access to my internet banking because I transfered the money on that into my Natwest account that my rent comes out of. So i went into the bank and yeah that did nothing, i had to wait for them to send me some shitty fraud form which basically told me someone has been in my account and it told me I'm most likely to be a victim of phishing, etc etc. And i keep forgetting to send the form back, and it stays blocked until I do. Annoying you woulda thought a phone call would sort it out. I hope they don't do this every time I pay my bloody rent. If you lose your travel money card theres a 24/7 number to ring and they send you a new one. But I don't think I can be bothered to get one anyway 'cause now I'm thinking theres no real advantages!

Bad times Kel, hope you get it sorted with minimal twatting about.
I don't think it'll happen all the time tho, you should be ok.

Just a quick word regarding the ex.rate, that word being:

FUCKING GRIM!

It's as of today, on an all time low (well maybe not all time, but as low as I can remember)

$1.74 to the pound.

I don't like the sound of that! If things don't improve pretty fucking sharpish I'm gonna be saving my pennies in Chicago otherwise I'll be all out of dollars come Fest time. I wished I'd changed more at the time now. Arse!

Easy to say with the benefit of hindsight tho ain't it.
You could just as easily been rubbin your hands together if it had shot back up.
I think i'm just gonna leave it all in my account and see what it's like on the day I take it out of the bank while i'm over there.
3 weeks to sort itself out.

Have a good one in Chicago mate!

I'm kicking myself for not buying at 1.79 by forgetting to bring my passport. Will probably leave it in the current account now and use the Nationwide Visa debit card. It's pretty easy to get one if you're thinking about it.

No way, that's four cents better than me. It was also $1.69 at Heathrow at the weekend.

We are nerds.

Yeah fair point, I'm just a bit pissed off with myself for spending too much time getting way too drunk and not enough time watching the money markets!!

Cheers mate, Chicago should be fun!