Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Monday in London - Part One

Well today is my third entry about our time in London from April 26-29. When I last left this story, Brit Boy and I were calling it a day on Sunday night and heading back to the hotel. We watched a bit of television. We watched a good film about Jane Austen. It was an account of her looking back on her life and a marriage proposal that she turned down, etc. It was a nice Sunday thing to watch. After the film, we turned in for the night. We had to get up really early the next day to get to my visa appointment.

So the next morning we got up, got dressed, and headed for the tube station. We had a little while to wait, as we left early to make sure that we made it to my appointment on time. We figured, better to be early, than miss the appointment due to some delay. The weather had been pretty mild the other days, but turned quite cold on Monday morning. We stood around for a while and were frozen and then I suggested that we go huddle together in a phone booth. It was cozy and only our feet were chilly which was an improvement. So we walked over to the town centre and went to have a cup of coffee and to get in out of the cold.

Then we walked back over to the immigration office. They let you in every thirty minutes according to your appointment time. You have to go through security and a metal detector. Then you join the queue and wait to be called to the window to present your documents. So Brit Boy and I waited and then we were called. The lady looked through my documents and stamped my forms and we were then sent to the other floor and paid. Then we went to the waiting area and waited again to be called for my interview.

Now, as I said in a previous entry, I wasn’t really nervous anymore, I just wanted it to be all over with at this point. I had been working towards this point for two years and passed a test and everything, so Brit Boy and I were ready to have this completed. We had one of the first appointments of the day, which was nice and gave us the rest of the day to do what we wanted. There weren’t a lot of people there this time like there were two years before.

So we waited a while and we were eventually called to our interview window. We sat down and I passed all of my documentation into the glass drawer and through to the interviewer. He was a man of few words. He congratulated me on doing so well on my test that I took months ago and that was about all that he said. He didn’t ask me any questions at all and I was fully expecting some questions since last time I had to answer a lot of them. I had to present documents to show that we have been living here as husband and wife and then I had to split them into year one and year two. So my interviewer sorted through the documents and picked out things here and there and then typed into his computer. He was cool and looked like he had come into work after playing a gig the night before. (smile) I loved it that he was so laid back, but the best thing was his appearance. He was wearing khaki pants, and a basic shirt, but his accessories were fab. He wore about eight various friendship-like and beaded bracelets, and a skull ring on each hand. And he had long hair that was sectioned off into three braids that he had tied back. So he was a great surprise and a great person to deal with. (smile) He finished his tapping into the computer and said that he would go and get it approved and he walked to the back. Brit Boy and I were thrilled. So he comes back and says that my application is approved and that we would have to wait a while for them to get my visa ready. He congratulated me and I thanked him. He was wonderful.

Brit Boy and I went to sit back down and we waited for about two hours. Then they called me to retrieve my passport with my new visa inside. Woo Hoo!! I was now all visa-ed up!!

When we got outside, me and Brit Boy hugged and he said, “Now you can stay!!!” It was a great moment. I will never forget the smile on Brit Boy’s face.

Well, I will end it here for today. Tomorrow I will finish up my story of our trip to London. I have a few more photos to share. Until tomorrow…

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