Visa Blues

First of all, a huge thank you to Mike for signing dozens of pieces of paper to give me the certified copies of everything that I needed for my visa application! He patiently sat with me this morning while I fussed around putting the last things together - including reprinting the last six pages of the form because I managed to lose them! So the Australian High Commission will shortly receive a lever arch file containing inches thick paperwork...

I've just taken it all to the Post Office and paid £7 each way to send it Special Delivery with a Special Delivery envelope included inside so that they can send it all back to me, and I do feel a palpable sense of relief now that it's gone! For starters, there's all the original paperwork that can now go back in the files.

The only thing I would say about the weighty process I've gone through is that is has felt weighty - serious, not trivial. It's a more than cosmetic exercise taking on the citizenship of another country than one's own, and it's interesting process thinking about it.