Home is where the heart is.

I realize it's been several weeks since I posted last, and that is because I wasn't planning on posting until I got back to London. Well, I'm still in Canada! It's two weeks and on the way to three. Sorting out the visa paperwork is proving to take longer and have more red tape than I had originally anticipated. But, more on that later.

When I logged on and saw the title of my last blog, I smiled to myself. I've learned something very interesting. Somehow, over the last few months, London has become home. I noticed it shortly after I arrived in Calgary. Now, of course, part of the reason is that I have no place to call my own here. I'm living out of a suitcase, staying with friends or my parents. But it's more than that. I really want to get back home now, to London. To my flat and my neighbourhood and to work. I miss the office and the guys I work with. I miss learning or discovering something new every day. I miss my flat, with it's view and it's little washer and U.K. television shows. I want to go home and get back to my life.

Now, I'm sure there are a lot of you wondering why I'm still here. Well, here's the story.

I think I've mentioned that when I lost my passport the day I flew out, I also lost the visa that was stuck inside it by the British High Commission. So, when I came back to Canada on Thursday, March 16, I couriered an application for a new visa off the the British High Commission (along with my passport). On Wednesday, the following week, I received my application back, with a note advising that I hadn't sent them enough money. A real blonde thing to do, I hadn't double checked the amount required and sent $157 instead of $187. So, I turned it around the same day and sent a note along asking that they contact me if they couldn't get it to me by Friday, since my flight was due to go out on Saturday.

Well, no passport/visa arrived on Friday, but late in the afternoon an email arrived advising me they had received my application and were processing it. I rebooked my flight for Tuesday, on the basis that the first time I got the visa, it only took them a day or two to process. I waited for word or the document, but nothing arrived by Tuesday, so I rebooked my flight again for Friday.

Thursday afternoon I finally received another email from the British High Commission. This time, they advised me that in order to process my application, they would need a letter from me explaining why I'm reapplying, a new work permit with my new passport number on it (the work permit took almost a month the first time!) and proof that I was financiall able to maintain myself over there (what part of "work permit" makes that unclear?!). I replied with a letter via email explaining why I'm reapplying and that I had filed a Declaration re Lost Passport when I got my new passport, which would prevent anyone else from using my old passport and visa. They emailed me back the next day saying that they would just require a copy of that Declaration and would then finish processing the application. Happy Day! I was very excited that I was in the home stretch. That was Friday afternoon. I phone the passport office (toll free number to Ottawa) and they advise that to get a copy of this document, I would have to go through the Access to Information people! So, the Access to Information legislation is preventing me from obtaining my own document filed by myself with the government. My tax dollars hard at work! I faxed off an application to the Access to Information people, telling then that this is urgent and describing the situation I was in. I've heard nothing from them. If I don't get anything by tomorrow, I am going to the passport office in Calgary, camping out in their offices until they give me a copy of this thing. It's really quite ridiculous. Give me City of Westminster Waste Management any day!!!

So, my flight is rebooked for next Friday, and I am going to do everything possible to make sure I am on it!! Pray for me!!!